Focus Magic for Mac

User Reviews

• does what it says excellently

  trackend1September 4, 2011

  Pros

  easy to use, results are very good, cost is very good for the results achieved

  Cons

  It's screen appearance be lies its ability

  Summary

  Dont be fooled by what seems to be on the face of it a cheap jack program as all the cleaver stuff takes place out of sight and the control screen looks a bit mundan however with a reasonable pixel count image in its grasp this program delivers really impressive results. Obviously it can only do so much and if you expect Hassablad results after giving it a £90 compact produced image to work with you could be disapointed although it will still improve things a lot. It gives you enough sliders & drop downs to maintain overall image control but still keeps it very easy to use. I have had some images taken at a WW2 airshow ( so slow shutter speeds of 160th-200th for prop blur) and what would in the past have been deleted are now really usable keepers. Try it as a trial download you get 10 cracks at playing with images before you have to pay a penny so whats to loose (and it uninstalls cleanly should you not like it)

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• Effective, a bit pricey, no backup

  bertiefdApril 6, 2009

  Pros

  Very effective at correcting slightly out of focus or motion blurred images. Using at a low setting (1 or 2) instead of unsharp mask for final sharpening gives excellent results.

  Cons

  Zero technical support. Emails are ignored.

  Summary

  Effective programme, but only marginally better than cheaper competition - google for image sharpeners. Although there is said to be a lifetime update service, a system crash will invalidate your key and requests for a replacement will not be actioned. Effectively your licence will last until you have a system crash.<br /><br /><span class='notifyMsg'> Updated </span>on Apr 7, 2009<p/>48 hours after requesting the replacement key (promised by the site withinn 15 minutes) a new key has finally arrived. I remain impressed with the software, but I am still not happy with the level of support.

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• Undersells itself

  Martin Turner--2008August 4, 2007

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This plugin undersells itself. You would be forgiven for thinking this is yet another sharpening plugin, aimed at simplifying the complex world of unsharp masking for optimal effect. If this is what you are after, you should look at Photokit Sharpener or The Light's Right Professional Sharpener. But it isn't that at all. This is a true deconvolution refocuser. In other words, it actually refocuses blur, rather than creating a halo which the eye interprets as sharpness. This means that you can (and should) refocus the image as soon as you have loaded it. Although it's useful for recovering detail from hopelessly blurred images, Focus Magic doesn't really make them beautiful. However, on images which are almost sharp â?? a common result of using autofocus â?? a setting of 1 or 2 will make them absolutely sharp, massively refining the image and seemingly washing the sleep out of the eyes of models. I really would not have believed this until I saw it. In my book this is the most useful and important Photoshop Plugin released to date.

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• Undersells itself

  Martin Turner--2008August 4, 2007

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This plugin undersells itself. You would be forgiven for thinking this is yet another sharpening plugin, aimed at simplifying the complex world of unsharp masking for optimal effect. If this is what you are after, you should look at Photokit Sharpener or The Light's Right Professional Sharpener. But it isn't that at all. This is a true deconvolution refocuser. In other words, it actually refocuses blur, rather than creating a halo which the eye interprets as sharpness. This means that you can (and should) refocus the image as soon as you have loaded it. Although it's useful for recovering detail from hopelessly blurred images, Focus Magic doesn't really make them beautiful. However, on images which are almost sharp â?? a common result of using autofocus â?? a setting of 1 or 2 will make them absolutely sharp, massively refining the image and seemingly washing the sleep out of the eyes of models. I really would not have believed this until I saw it. In my book this is the most useful and important Photoshop Plugin released to date.

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• Undersells itself

  Martin Turner--2008August 4, 2007

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This plugin undersells itself. You would be forgiven for thinking this is yet another sharpening plugin, aimed at simplifying the complex world of unsharp masking for optimal effect. If this is what you are after, you should look at Photokit Sharpener or The Light's Right Professional Sharpener. But it isn't that at all. This is a true deconvolution refocuser. In other words, it actually refocuses blur, rather than creating a halo which the eye interprets as sharpness. This means that you can (and should) refocus the image as soon as you have loaded it. Although it's useful for recovering detail from hopelessly blurred images, Focus Magic doesn't really make them beautiful. However, on images which are almost sharp â?? a common result of using autofocus â?? a setting of 1 or 2 will make them absolutely sharp, massively refining the image and seemingly washing the sleep out of the eyes of models. I really would not have believed this until I saw it. In my book this is the most useful and important Photoshop Plugin released to date.

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• Undersells itself

  Martin Turner--2008August 4, 2007

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This plugin undersells itself. You would be forgiven for thinking this is yet another sharpening plugin, aimed at simplifying the complex world of unsharp masking for optimal effect. If this is what you are after, you should look at Photokit Sharpener or The Light's Right Professional Sharpener. But it isn't that at all. This is a true deconvolution refocuser. In other words, it actually refocuses blur, rather than creating a halo which the eye interprets as sharpness. This means that you can (and should) refocus the image as soon as you have loaded it. Although it's useful for recovering detail from hopelessly blurred images, Focus Magic doesn't really make them beautiful. However, on images which are almost sharp â?? a common result of using autofocus â?? a setting of 1 or 2 will make them absolutely sharp, massively refining the image and seemingly washing the sleep out of the eyes of models. I really would not have believed this until I saw it. In my book this is the most useful and important Photoshop Plugin released to date.

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• Does exactly what it says

  davertDecember 23, 2004

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Focus Magic has two components, one for sharpening out of focus blur, one for fixing motion blur. Though you can sometimes get artifacts, as one might expect, on the whole it does wonders to sharpen photos, espeically if the blur is enough that you can use noise reduction. It can take some time to do some tasks but it usually comes out very well.

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