Silver Efex. How'd you rate it?

SFX is bang on!

What mono conversion/look are you after? A lot of it is down to your base image of course.

Scott
 
Its a very competent tool. It does what it says on the tin well, quickly
 
Blimey Charlie! 15 mins after posting its had four recommendations!

I've just seen that it has a trail period too, that should fill a few hours over crimbo :)

Thanks all.
 
Recommendation from me too. I love its simplicity but amazing results.
 
Er, quick stupid question, what difference does it make if you put it in LR or PS? Have still got all the same options?

Ignore me, I've realised how it works :bonk:
 
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Digital Silver Imaging have Nik Silver Efex Pro on offer for $159.99 (£100) with a free upgrade to Silver Efex Pro 2 until Feb. It is not a scam, they are a partner of Nik Software.
 
EdBray said:
Digital Silver Imaging have Nik Silver Efex Pro on offer for $159.99 (£100) with a free upgrade to Silver Efex Pro 2 until Feb. It is not a scam, they are a partner of Nik Software.
Click to expand...

Now down to $139.99.

But once you've paid postage, duty and VAT it's probably not worth the hassle/expense of buying from the States:'(
 
Just to play devils advocate I find that for about a 1/5th of the cost Topaz b&w efex is a very able tool.

Andy
 
SEP2 is highly recommended by me as well, don't forget that it also makes a great colour images as well.
 
Nikon Fan said:
SEP2 is highly recommended by me as well, don't forget that it also makes a great colour images as well.
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Can you explain more Barry please?

My purchase of Nik Silver EFex Pro 2 arrived yesterday morning, so whilst my wife was putting the finishing touches to the dining room ready for today I had a play with one of my digital Hasselblad Images I took a couple of weeks ago on the H1D with Imacon 528C digital back:

I used a portrait of Coby, taken on the HC 150mm lens (103mm 35mm equiv), this was then converted to mono by Silver Efex Pro 2 using the Kodak Panatomic X 32 ASA(ISO) film filter with an additional yellow filter selected. Very impressed with the smooth tones and perceived luminance from the skin tones.

Mega version which shows the grain beautifully

cobysilverefex.jpg
 
Once you have edited your image in SEP and returned to Photoshop, just change the SEP layer blending mode to Luminosity.
 
Another recommendation from me too :thumbs:

Does anyone find that the conversion generates a fair bit of noise or is it just me? Its not hard to get rid of though

Nikon Fan said:
Once you have edited your image in SEP and returned to Photoshop, just change the SEP layer blending mode to Luminosity.
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Just tried that as well. No idea what it did but I like it!! :thumbs:
 
Not meaning to be a party pooper but if you have photoshop I think the best thing to do is to learn how to do the conversions yourself. Silver efex is a nice tool but it seems as if people use it without understanding how it is changing the luminance in particular areas, the contrast, how it is creating that 'silver efex look' .. And I believe that understanding how your software is doing these things is essential to improving, twiddling sliders in efex is dandy but once you know what tools you need to get a certain look in photoshop its not much hassle at all and gives you a much tighter grip over the end product. Knowing exactly what you need to do afterwards may change your entire outlook on how you shoot the image in the first place.
 
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