Silver efex is it worth £160 +???

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Roger
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That's the rough price on Amazon anyway. I saw a thread on here showing a photo that had been processed to B/W using Silver efex and as the OP mentioned that it was a plug in - I thought to myself 'sweet!' 'Can't be much!' :gag:

So I'm wondering if you have silver efex do you think its been a top purchase or money on the fire.

Would I be correct in thinking that you can achieve similiar b/w using ps or lr without this plug in or is it something that if I don't buy I couldn't possible replicate anything that this program can do rendering my lr black and whites to mediocre until I buy it.

I like to covert loads of my pics to b/w and I certainly wont be purchasing it. Bloody cheeky price if you ask me :cuckoo:
 
It does seem very expensive, been toying with the idea myself but as basically a plug in for Lightroom I can't bring myself to spend as much as Lightroom cost in the first place. A fiend of mine has it and swears by it. I guess it depends on how much B&W you do.

I think with practice you can get pretty close with Lightroom alone, SE just makes it a lot quicker and easier.
 
mhk1058 said:
It does seem very expensive, been toying with the idea myself but as basically a plug in for Lightroom I can't bring myself to spend as much as Lightroom cost in the first place. A fiend of mine has it and swears by it. I guess it depends on how much B&W you do.

I think with practice you can get pretty close with Lightroom alone, SE just makes it a lot quicker and easier.
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Yeah, thats what I figured. I'm sure it speeds things up which would suit a pro i guess. for me, might as well use lightroom. I still imagine all the fine tuning in SE would just be more time on the computer and less time outside.
 
It's not just b+w it adds grain contrast etc, stuff you'd have to do separately in photoshop, it's a bit expensive but if you do a lot of b+w you might find it worth it. personally I prefer the final result to PS, and I have my own presets (which you can do in PS too) which speed things up. Why not give it a try and see if you like it.
 
I am playing with the demo at the mo, me thinks I will stick to B&W processing in Lightroom, too expensive for the amount I do.
 
chris02 said:
I am playing with the demo at the mo, me thinks I will stick to B&W processing in Lightroom, too expensive for the amount I do.
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me too. What is affectivley a add on to top end software is beyond me. As mentioned before 160 + for an add on to a complete software package is a joke in my book.
 
No it is not. I did pay this amount for Viveza - now that was worth it.
 
No - Photoshop can do virtually the same
 
Why not try the Virtualphotographer plug-in which is free and has loads of effects, both colour and mono, which you can then tweak to your heart's content....

Presumably it doesn't quite match up to the £160 Silver efex but I think it would keep you happy for a long time, and you can't argue with the price.

Here are a couple of mine which were done with VP:
toadstools
ruined cathedral (two versions)
 
I think Silver Efex is Great!!

It does not do anything you cannot do in PS, however its quicker and has cool features, especially if you have a large workflow.

Not sure if you have, but download the free demo and have a play.
 
All Nik Software is fantastic, but very expensive, it is worth it though. If anyone works, or knows of anyone who works at a university or school there is a much cheaper acedemic version avaliable, full programs with out the full price.

The price is not cheeky, there is an unbelieveable amount of work goes into the software, and the free training avaliable is second to none.
 
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There was a convert to B+W pro plug-in, that was either cheap or free (can't remember now) don't know if it's still going but it wasn't bad.
I have to say I'm not convinced theres enough new in SE2 to be worth upgrading for.
 
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I'm about to get the academic version of Silver Efex pro 2 and it is about £90 still expensive but better than £160. Its worth going that route if you know any students or teachers.
 
Dervish99 said:
All Nik Software is fantastic, but very expensive, it is worth it though. If anyone works, or knows of anyone who works at a university or school there is a much cheaper acedemic version avaliable, full programs with out the full price.

The price is not cheeky, there is an unbelieveable amount of work goes into the software, and the free training avaliable is second to none.
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+1. Sfx is great!
 
swanseamale47 said:
There was a convert to B+W pro plug-in, that was either cheap or free (can't remember now) don't know if it's still going but it wasn't bad.
I have to say I'm not convinced theres enough new in SE2 to be worth upgrading for.
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Have to agree with you Wayne,i downloaded trial of version 2 and all i could see was an updated interface,which was 'prettier' but hardly worth upgrading for..:thumbs:
 
I know there is new stuff there but am I going to use the new stuff enough was the big question for me, I also found it a lot slower to load.
heres the 2 versions for comparrison.
SE 1.0
5594153831_6c31312012_b.jpg



SE 2.0
5594154029_675fff8e80_b.jpg
 
It's good at what it does, but as said, the same results can be achieved in Photoshop if you're willing to put the time in.
 
A simple search on Google for free black and white actions will bring up thousands that will do exactly the same. All you will need to do is find an action that will give the results you want, load them into your host programme and at a click of a button all done free of charge.

A brilliant Irish photographer Cieran Whyte has some free actions on his blog which will give anyone a start. The actions are here
 
Certainly not that easily.
Mimicking the various film options would be difficult to get right, especially the spectral response and grain (which is pretty realistic) of 20-30 different films. The colour filters effects are easy enough to duplicate, and the structure (midtone contrast) are easy enough, the toning vignette and burn edges not too difficult I suppose, the control points a little harder to fake.
But the convienience of having them all in one place with a few clicks, and being able to save your favorites as one click presets, very handy. The time it would save if you do a lot of B+W probably makes it worth the money, I certainly prefer the B+W to photoshops own.
That said it is a bit on the pricey side.
 
Danny_Two said:
It's good at what it does, but as said, the same results can be achieved in Photoshop if you're willing to put the time in.
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That's the thing time. I use a few of niks plugins, I have the complete collection, and the time they can save you when working on hundreds of images really do make them worthwhile. If just doing a few images for yourself then it might be difficult to justify the expense.

They also play well with lightroom if you use that.
 
Hi.

I decided to download the demo vs as recommended by Wayne. (only just got around to doing it!) and so far I'll have to admit its pretty darn good. I'm totally into black and white at the moment and this program seems to do exactly what I look for in a b/w conversion with minimal time and fuss. Its early days yet, but may have to seriously consider purchasing it. Still think price tag is high and not sure if its gone down since I first posted. I'll check it out anyway.

Thanks for all you opinions. As they helped!

cheers

Roger.
 
If most pf yor shots is BW then you should go for it. Also if you already experienced in lightroom or photoshop you may know how to do the same steps withput graphical interface. Also there is one more good tool Alienskin Expoure. Try to get themo of that one.
I love even more then silver efex.
 
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