Is focus magic effective?

[marliz]

I am looking at the Focus Magic web site and it looks like it could be very helpful, but wonder if that is so in the "real world." Do many on the forum use it? Is it very difficult to choose the right settings (the demos may not be like the photos I will be working with.

I have too many shots that are blurred, though I got rid of the worst of them, because my camera (recently replaced) didn't have image stabilization and my older hands aren't as steady as they used to be.

I think there is a trial, but it is very short. Thirty day trials really are more helpful to me since I can't work on my photos every day. So I'm hoping for some feedback.

Also, is it the only plug in that helps restore photos with camera shake or motion blur?

Thanks for any help!
Peggy

[crazyfly1]

I personally like FM. There are two plugins, one for sharpening/out of focus blur and one for motion blur. Sharpening works for me on a lot of images. There are just a couple settings to adjust similar to radius and amount in Photoshop.
I'm not sure how well "fix motion blur" will work for camera shake though. For that I would use smart sharpen in Photoshop, I think it's been available since cs2.

[marliz]

Thanks for the response. I watched some of the videos on their website and it looked fairly easy using the "light circles" but I wasn't sure how that would work with a lot of photos. I will download the trial and try to work on it some.

I think I saw another plugin foor helping with blur, but can't remember the name :-(
If anyone knows which it is, please pass it on.
Peggy

[smak]

A "blurred" photo cannot be sharpened back into focus. Sharpening just emphasizes edges with more contrast.

[marliz]

You can tell I'm still learning, even though I've used Photoshop since version 5. I'm trying this year to dig more deeply.

It seems that there are out of focus photos and motion blur photos which, according to the video demos on the Focus Magic site, can be improved -- not by sharpening, but by some mathemetical alorigim (forgive spelling); but I'm guessing that camera shake photos wouldn't benefit because the motion blur would not be in one direction. Unless a two stage fix worked. I think I'll giive it a whirl with the short demo period anyhow.

Thanks for the responses.

[Kraellin]

i tried focus magic a couple years ago and it was about the best around at the time. not sure what's out there now. i also used 'unshake' which was a freebie at the time. and whereas what smak said is mostly true, some images can be improved if not too badly blurred. just dont expect some magical supercomputer cia/fbi type perfect re-focusing result

here's the address for 'unshake' : http://www.hamangia.freeserve.co.uk/

[marliz]

Thank you, Craig. I am on a Mac and they have a test copy of Unshake for the Mac. It looks like it might help on photos that aren't too bad. Appreciate the link!
Peggy

[plugsnpixels]

Craig, thanks for the heads-up. I hadn't heard of Unshake before!

For my grad school thesis I researched digital imaging (such as it was in 1990-92), and I recall there being some software that did this very type of thing (helpful for law enforcement types–unblurring license plates and faces, etc.). Of course I don't recall what it was called...

[Kraellin]

marliz, you're welcome. unshake is pretty good, especially for a freebie. it definitely rivals focus magic and in some cases is probably better. but all focusing type software, at this point, is going to be a bit disappointing. we've probably all see those magical computer programs and crime shows that take a totally blurred image and with the rotation of a few dials, magically brings it into focus... yeah, right so, the expectation, based on tv and movies is high, but the actual results fall quite a bit short

plugs, you're welcome. also, i noticed in your lists that Poloroid Dust & Scratch Remover is missing and that one is a total must have for retouchers/restorers. (of course, i'm old and blind and senile, so if it really is there somewhere, then there's my excuse ).

and yes, there was another program out in the early or mid 90's but i've totally lost track of it. i think it was back in the win98 days and it did or was based on a deconvolution method. see! old and senile

[BertieF]

I know this thread has been dormant for a while.

Before I launch into Focus Magic, I would like to recommend Image Skill's Magic Sharpener which I find very effective. Image Skill seems to be a one man band and through all the problems I've had with vista, technical support has been excellent; accurate, fast and very polite. First rate in fact.

Whereas . . Focus Magic's registration got corrupted and the provided serial key now longer works on reinstall. I have now emailed them 3 times and had no reply at all, other than a delivery failure as one of the email addresses on the site is no longer valid.

So even though the software works pretty well, the backup support is non existent.

UPDATE: a new key finally arrived after 48 hours (not the promised 15 minutes), but the support email addresses are still not (as far as I know) working.

Purchase at your peril.