# Perfectly Clear?



## distant.star (Nov 1, 2012)

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I just got an email solicitation for a plugin called "Perfectly Clear." Has anyone used this? Any experience?

They say it will instantly make a whole range of corrections -- thereby saving lots of time.

http://www.photowhoa.com/perfectly_clear_photoshop

Curious to know if anyone has any experience with this.

Thanks.


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## RLPhoto (Nov 2, 2012)

looks like snake oil to me.


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## unfocused (Nov 2, 2012)

I'm not familiar with this particular product. 

The effects/shortcuts appear similar to what other software offers, but this one doesn't appear to offer a trial version to download. It's not such a low-price that I would want to risk it without a trial download.

Nik and OnOne are two of the better known software plug-in suppliers and both offer free trial versions.


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## Shizam (Nov 2, 2012)

They do offer a trial:

http://www.athentech.com/download-photoshop-plug-in
http://www.athentech.com/download-lightroom-plug-in

I've used this software for PS, its amazing at what it does, but what it does isn't really ment for a desktop solution. It full-auto autocorrection in that you point it at a photo and it 'fixes' it, and unlike other autocorrection software you get fine grained control over various correction parameters which is pretty unique. The downside is it doesn't lend itself well to an advanced workflow since it works globally on the image.

This software is best suited to a fire-and-forget workflow, as in you just want to batch-fix images and assume it works.


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## Perfectly CLear (Nov 9, 2012)

Hi There! Perfectly Clear here!  

@Distant.star Yes we have a Free 30 day trial that you can try out! Check our website here for more information on our software: https://www.athentech.com/products.html

@UNFOCUSED - We are not effects or shortcuts, rather patented science that will not clip, and maintain real color while correcting every pixel in your photo Automatically. Perfectly Clear is your first step in your image workflow to save you tons of time and get you a beautiful photos automatically. Nik and OnOne are there for creative effects. See the science behind it: http://athentech.com/Science.html.

Please feel free to email us at [email protected] if you have any questions or concernes!

Perfectly Clear Team


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Nov 11, 2012)

Just to see what would happen, I downloaded the Lightroom version. Since I already had a different external editor, I had to point to Perfectly Clear.\
I then tried it on a D800 image that I had previously edited in lightroom. The main subject was clear, but it did brighten up a purple object. Unfortunately, the shadow became purple too. Then, I tried saving it and got a out of memory message. OK, I only have 8GB, but it must use a lot of memory.
I tried a image next from my New G1X that had been edited. I did not like the result, the background was too dark. The lightroom one button auto exposure looked better. So, I tried to improve on that, and it did produce a improvement in highlights of a snow scene when based on the LR adjust as a starting point.
Finally, I tried a extreme low light image taken with my 5D MK III at ISO 56200. It was lit by incandesent light and whites were a golden beige color. The whites turned to blue green which was ugly. I could adjust the slider, of course, but it did not correct the tint nearly as well as I could in Lightroom. The NR was extremely heavy, and much of the fine detail was lost. Even pullinng the sliders all the way down did not help that much, I had to uncheck the NR slider. With lightroom, I had finer control of the noise so that I kept the fine detail while reducting the noise. I also could use the brush in LR to selectively apply NR which worked much better.
After trying it, I think that DXO does a better job of guessing the corrections to apply, but I much preferred my edits in LR most of the time. 
For a $200 price tag, it seemed badly overpriced, $39.95 might be more reasonable, but I'd probably skip it for that price as well.
Still, someone who did not feel comfortable with using the LR sliders might do OK with it, but might also be frustrated with the tint controls and excessive NR.


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## bycostello (Nov 11, 2012)

if it worked or was any good it would be talked about all over the forums etc... if they need to come to you then i suspect it isn't.....


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Nov 11, 2012)

bycostello said:


> if it worked or was any good it would be talked about all over the forums etc... if they need to come to you then i suspect it isn't.....


Since the question was asked, it seemed appropriate for them to post a helpful note. Its not like they were spamming the forum.
I think I had tried it a few years ago. For a P&S user, or a first cut at processing 1000 images, it might save some time, but, I'd still spend about the same amount of time fixing images in any event.


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## distant.star (Nov 11, 2012)

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Thanks, Spokane. That's about what I would have guessed, but I figured it was worth asking about.

For me, I think, I'd just be reluctant to give up that much control over the image. I'm slow, but I end up with what I really want.






Mt Spokane Photography said:


> bycostello said:
> 
> 
> > if it worked or was any good it would be talked about all over the forums etc... if they need to come to you then i suspect it isn't.....
> ...


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## 87vr6 (Nov 11, 2012)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> bycostello said:
> 
> 
> > if it worked or was any good it would be talked about all over the forums etc... if they need to come to you then i suspect it isn't.....
> ...




You don't find it fishy that they found this thread? I suspect they are new, and have plenty of office time to google search for their name to see what people are saying... They found this thread, made 1 post and are gone. I see this plenty on various other forums I frequent.


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## TexPhoto (Nov 11, 2012)

Those bastards! How dare they make one post and are now "gone". Better that they spam the hell out of us!...?

They did not start this thread, they just stepped in an provided some information. Jeez, so far I really like these guys.


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## Andy Williams (Nov 12, 2012)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Just to see what would happen, I downloaded the Lightroom version.



Hi There - Andy from Perfectly Clear here! I'm deeply interested in your results, I use a D800 and Canon 5D Mark III, and have no such troubles so I want to find out why it didn't work for you. Would you mind terribly emailing me at [email protected] ? I'm in the air right now, flying from LA to NY but will be around the rest of the week and can arrange a time to call you if you email me your number - thanks!

Andy Williams
COO, Athentech


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## Andy Williams (Nov 12, 2012)

bycostello said:


> if it worked or was any good it would be talked about all over the forums etc...



This is one reason why I came to Perfectly Clear after 8 years at SmugMug  Perfectly Clear powers millions and millions of corrections on devices daily - and zillions of prints at labs worldwide, and has done for nearly 10 years. I really believe this is the best plugin that folks like you don't know about and I mean to change that. I just fired off an email to the CR owner about maybe a deal and some advertising here. Thanks for the heads up! 

All the best,

Andy Williams
COO, Athentech


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## jsexton (Nov 12, 2012)

I tried the trial of the Perfectly Clear software and I did like the Noise Reduction results but found the interface a bit clunky and couldn't find a way to batch process easily. All shots were from a 7D shot in RAW with no post until I ran the images through PC. Did notice a bit of lag and I'm on a beefy machine (Dual Xeon 2.4's and 16 GB ram) so I'm still evaluating it.


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