Tiffen DFXCMPV2 Dfx Complete Digital Filter Software V2 Stand-alone Version - Windows XP, VISTA or Macintosh v10.4.6 and higher

 

 

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Tiffen has delivered a winner with this software. They have packed more filters in here than any photographer would likely use in a lifetime. This particular more advanced version of, Tiffen Dfx Essentials Creative Digital Effects Software, is super simple to use. Each filter can be used at preset levels, or it can be tweaked with parameters. The workflow is different and more photo-like than the twisted difficult to learn menus and words in Adobe Photoshop Elements.

With this standalone version, you load your digital image, which appears in the center panel. Across the bottom are selections for different gangs of filters - much like choosing from the Tiffen filter catalog. You click on the gang, then click on a selection with that group - so HFX may have gradients included. Then a panel on the right fills up with all the intensities for that filter, HFX will vary from 1 to 8 with greater softening effect. You then click on the filter you want, and the preview in the center updates your picture. Don't like the effect, tweak it with parameters.

If you need to add another filter, simply go to the lefthand panel and click on a + button to add another filter. Don't like a filter in the stack you added, click the zap button on that filter and it's gone.

Happy with what you did, simply save the picture out to a JPEG file. Honestly, the software is this easy to use. No you will be truly amazed at the simplicity.

There are some more sophisticated tools in here. They are just buried a bit. To find the usual suspects for blemish cleaning up, color balance correction, red eye removal, etc., you have to select the Image Filter. Then click on the Paint Filter. Now the right hand panel does almost nothing. But a brand new big old tool bar shows up just above the bigger image preview. You can do all kinds of standard Photoshop Elements kinds of things here.

This is super lightweight or non-system taxing software. I ran this on a Quad Core 2.85GHz tricked out screamer (Vista 64 bit) and an Acer Aspire One netbook (with the super slow Atom processor and XP). The software worked equally well and performed equally stably on both computers.

I have also written a much more extensive review of the Tiffen Essentials program. This version 2 is simply a much larger set of filters with much more control over their parameters. Please look up my name at this product listing: Tiffen Dfx Essentials Creative Digital Effects Software.

There is one flaw that I've been able to find, printing capability or controls is really poor in this software. You sort of have to rely on the print driver to set things, and then the sofware asks if you want to scale to fit the page size. There's no page setup or controls over the output. It's really pretty minor flaws.

Tiffen has produced one more version of this program, it is this full package of filters, but set up as a plug-in for Photoshop. This is probably the way a lot of people will go. Photoshop CS4 and Elements do run circles around the Tiffen photo editor, but they have a steeper learning curve. If you already know Photoshop, why learn something else? The plug-in package works with Elements and CS4.

There is one complaint out there about this software, most complain that Photoshop can do every single one of the things this software does, so why bother, why should it exist? What those complaints seem to forget, they had to learn a whole new language and whole different way of working to apply those filters to their work. Yes you certainly can do most all this, the options in Photoshop are just too huge and named such weird ways. The plug-in is just the way to go. Afterall, Shakespeare used the English alphabet like everyone else - so we should all be able to conform to Adobe's idea of how a photographer should work. I say, grab the Tiffen filters, they are excellent.

This software is amazing, and so much fun for the money!! I particularly like the defog and colored enhancing filters, but there is no limit to how creative you can be with so many choices. There is only one drawback (and why I didn't give it 5 stars): after applying a filter and saving, a lot of the meta data is lost. I emailed Tiffen about this, along with some sample photos. After checking it out, they said there was a bug in the EXIF that will be fixed in the next version. So beware, you will lose some meta data. I am still happy with my purchase, and use this software often as part of my workflow.

Update 1/10/11 - I finally updated my Mac from OS X 10.5 TO OS X 10.6 and this sofware didn't behave property. An update to the latest version 2.0.2.2 is required when updating to Snow Leopard and is available for download from Tiffen.com. I did not have to re-enter my license code, it must have been stored somewhere on my computer.

Not sure if Amazon is shipping the latest version or not. The update fixed everything but NOT the EXIF data loss problem.

This software has the effect of making me think in different directions in a positively creative way. It's UI is intuitive. You can take any image and start experimenting with all the "What ifs?" that you can possibly evolve your ideas into.

I've got the stand-alone version and it works just fine, as my main thrust is always in dabbling into new avenues of presenting the essence of the image. Besides, think of all the $$$ you save in comparison to buying these filters separately for your camera.

I should mention that it's only crashed once, on the first day, when I pushed so many different buttons it wasn't even funny. So that was purely my own fault. All in all, this has become my new favorite "box of idea crayons", and the price is worth it.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Bad Customer Support
I really like this software. I had this installed for a couple of months when I had a system crash and had to re-install all of my software. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Thomas J Mattera

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Service!!
Speedy Delivery!!! Was anticipating delivery 5 - 6 days. Would do business againh with this person.

Published 11 months ago by David D. Chan

2.0 out of 5 stars Let the Buyer Beware!
I would love to recommend this product because it seems very useful on the surface. Sadly, I cannot. Read more

Published 12 months ago by L. J. Moskowitz

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply put - the program you are looking for
This will give your pictures the professional look you have always wanted. The amount of control you have over the end results is amazing.

Published 14 months ago by Randolph G Davis

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing lens effects with a mouse click
Even though I am strictly amateur I used to lug around all sorts of lenses in my camera bag and try for special effects in my photographs. Read more

Published 15 months ago by S. A. Walsh

5.0 out of 5 stars Much much friendlier than CS4
Tiffen Dfx v2 is much easier to use than CS4, and is compatible with both Window XP Pro, XP Home, Vista 1 and Mac OS X 10.4 or above for 64 bits PC. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Trim Damage

4.0 out of 5 stars Great concept - hard for amateur to use.
Great concept and a money saver to boot.

This software installs easily.

The problem is that Tiffen assumes that we all know all their vernacular. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Inventor

1.0 out of 5 stars Get Nik Software
This is a low-end photo enhancing software. I would put your money toward NIK Filters instead.

Published 21 months ago by J. Dick

5.0 out of 5 stars Tiffen DFXCMPV2
A great product from Tiffen...all the filters you could think of and more. This software is just fantastic in improving photos. Read more

Published on September 11, 2009 by DJinAZ

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing software! Great effects, and a great deal.
I am a huge believer in this software. The options for processing your shots in color and black and white are almost endless, and the user interface is incredibly easy to use. Read more

Published on August 23, 2009 by Clinton J. Wolf

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