I typically feel pretty set in my ways once I find my groove, but every now and then, a I get the urge to branch out and try something different. Those urges are highly motivated by the really nice word, “FREE.”

Right now, the onOne Software Perfect Effects 8 Premium Edition is a free download. Thats right, Free-ninty-nine! Thats like $0.00 and it’s not like an ad-based program or a kind of gimmicky program, it really is a full licensed version and it is quite freakin powerful!

I’m a huge Lightroom and Photoshop fan, and even with the affordability of Creative Cloud, people might think they’re bit expensive. With alternatives like Perfect Effects 8 that also complement amazing and powerful software such as the aforementioned, beginners and amateurs can save a bit of time while editing!

onOne Software Perfect Effects 8

Installation was pretty dang easy. Took me less than 2 minutes. And after opening the program, putting in my license code, and clicking through a helpful amount of guide boxes, I was on my way!

I quickly made a folder and exported a couple images from Lightroom in different sizes to test it out. I found my images, went to the Effects module and was blown away with how many presets there are! They’re easy to apply and all of the presets show you a little thumbnail with the effect applied.You can stack effects, edit the intensity of each one, and see how everything works on the fly. Pretty freakin’ neat, super convenient and nicely intuitive.

Personally, I think that theres quite a few that I don’t see fitting my workflow or my style, but I guess that’s the beauty of it! It’ll appeal to everyone! I’m sure there are lots of uses for this piece of software–from skin smoothing, black and white, and tinting–and it’ll help speed the workflows of many who are out there who don’t have the time or desire to really dive into an image.

onOne Software Perfect Effects 8

The software is very demanding on the hardware of your computer.

  • It has a minimum requirement of 8GB RAM
  • 64-Bit only
  • Works on Windows 7 and higher
  • Works on Mac OS X 10.7 and above

Even my pretty beefed up machine struggled at some points. The lower resolution images seemed to work quite a bit faster than the full size, but that also depends on how you decide to work on the images as well (they give some options on DPI and such when you choose to edit).

onOne Software Perfect Effects 8

Overall, a pretty solid piece of program. There have been a few pieces of standalone software that I’ve tried, and this seems to be one of the good ones! It works as a standalone program or can be installed as a plug-in. Pretty rad eh? Check it out!

Oh, and software can be downloaded from onOne… free of charge. Perfect Effects just one piece of onOne’s Perfect Photo Suite 8. There are reviews on previous versions by Scott Bourne on Photofocus.com if you need to see how good their software is. I’m confident that the new version will be just as good!