Topaz Adjust 5 Review

Conclusion

Box Thanks to its powerful presets, Topaz Adjust is a great solution for quick and easy color and exposure correction, and for bringing detail out in images.

Topaz Adjust is designed to handle such basic image correction and does this well. In this way the plug-in can be kept simple to use and easy to learn which is a big plus. While it is possible to "stack" adjustments there are no layers and masks like in Photoshop so the flexibility is limited and localized adjustments are limited to dodge and burn.

We miss a history list. While it is possible to save snap shots of the adjustments as you go, there is no history list so you soon lose track of which adjustments were made. The same goes for stacking adjustments with the Apply button, also here a history list would be helpful.

As a bonus Topaz Adjust includes a large set of presets for making creative changes to the images but we find that the main strength of this plug-in is the efficient basic adjustments. For many images the only post processing required would be application of a single preset followed if needed by some sharpening in Photoshop.

Most of the adjustments are performed very quickly; noise reduction and HDR are exceptions, as they require a lot of CPU time. More annoying is that Photoshop must launch the Topaz Adjust plug-in for each image that has to be adjusted, so there is a latency period before the plug-in loads and can do its work. We assume that this is outside of the control of Topaz and wish that Photoshop could load the plug-in only once and keep it ready for future use.

Concluding, Topaz Adjust is a real time saver, and is one of the better plugins developed by Topaz Labs. It only takes a few clicks to achieve an optimal adjustment of an image or to get that special effect you are looking for. Adjust is able to get the hidden potential and details out of an image. It would be quite a task to achieve these results manually through an ordinary image editor - although we do understand that users who like to be in complete control of what they are doing might prefer this.

Did we mention that Topaz Adjust 5 comes with an excellent and instructive User's Guide? It does, a 72 pages guide is available as a pdf file from the help menu from within the plug-in. You may not need the guide when using the presets, but it comes in handy when you venture into detailed, selective adjustments.

At $49.99 list price we find that this plugin is an excellent value. It is also available in a bundle with other Topaz plug-ins (which is an even better deal). Until November 30 Topaz even offers a 30% discount on either Adjust or the Bundle; the coupon code is found at this link!

Topaz Labs also offers unlimited 30-day free trials of all their products, so you can see for yourself if Adjust is right for you!  If you end up buying the plugin and later discover that it's not for you, you can also get a full refund within 30 days, no questions asked.

Pros and Cons

PositivesNegatives
+ Simple to Use- Plug-in Slow to Load
+ Powerful One-click Adjustments- Some Software Bugs When Rolling Back Changes
+ Adjustments can be Stacked- No History List
+ Quite Effective Basic Noise Reduction- Noise Reduction Quite Slow
+ A Multitude of Manual Touch-up Adjustments- Preview not Always an Accurate Representation of the Final Result
+ Most Adjustments are Performed Swiftly 
+ A Real Time Saver for Many Types of Images 
+ Great Return Policy 

Rating

Feature Set 
 8
Versatility 
 7
Performance 
 8
Ease of Use 
 10
Value 
 8
Overall 
 8.2 (Very Good)

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