Tiffen Dfx 3 review

Raw processing and photo-editing software is almost as commonplace these days as digital cameras. You can process photos on your tablet, your laptop and even your smartphone, and it’s getting ever easier to do so. However, a large, complex application is often the only way to achieve the desired results.

For those without a black belt in Photoshop skills, or any inclination to learn them, Tiffen Dfx offers an alternative. It’s available as a standalone package (as reviewed here) or a plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture. Ostensibly, it’s a package of filters; in reality it’s much more than that.

Dfx’s defining characteristic has to be its huge number of presets. In addition to the usual neutral density and graduated colour effects for accentuating sunsets and skies, there’s also a selection of more unusual filters.

Our favourite is the selection of 113 35mm film stock simulations. With a single click, it’s simple to give a photo that distinctive Fuji Velvia look, or Ilford black and white film – it’s difficult to vouch for the accuracy of these simulations, but the looks they lend to photographs can be striking.

This is but one small aspect of Dfx, however, with thousands of other presets to choose from, most based on the range of professional glass filters the company sells for use in movie production. Again, the range of effects that can be elicited is jaw-dropping, from soft-light glamour effects to Technicolor three-strip and two-strip colour process simulations, plus lens distortions and lighting effects.

Another notable effect is the new light rays tool, which can be used to create dramatic shafts of light, emanating from a single point in the photo. Live thumbnails allow you to preview all these individual effects without even having to apply them first.

Whatever filter we tried, however, the results were high quality, in many cases dramatically improving the look of otherwise unremarkable shots. It’s also worth pointing out that Tiffen Dfx is seriously quick. It applied filters to our test photos almost instantly, an efficiency that allows before and after comparisons to be made with astonishing ease.