ColorPerfect, Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and PhotoLine
ColorPerfect (formerly ColorNeg and ColorPos) our plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and PhotoLine is available for both PC and Mac in 64-bit versions as well as the standard 32-bit. It allows the digital editing of all photographic media while maintaining or establishing color integrity. In this it is best to process digital image data directly after digitization or capture. That is so because the currently common image editing tools - be it other software products or imaging processors in digital cameras - are ignorant of color integrity. A shortcoming that eventually triggered ColorPerfect's development.
The three modes: ColorNeg (negatives) | ColorPos (positives) & PerfectRAW (RAW data) | TouchUp
ColorNeg mode allows you to convert scans of color negatives as well as scans or digital photos of black and white negatives into superior quality digital positive images.
ColorPos mode can be used to work on scans of slides and prints as well as on digital photos while also maintaining or establishing color integrity. Since our release of ColorPerfect 2.0 ColorPos mode features the PerfectRAW tool intended for the color correct processing of digital camera RAW data.
ColorPos mode is closely related to ColorPerfect's third mode TouchUp which provides a reduced feature set intended for further processing of pre-edited image files that already have color integrity. TouchUp does not perform an initial adjustment of brightness, color balance and black point.
Get acquainted with ColorPerfect's essential features in our video tutorial today!
We recently set up a system to record tutorial videos which we plan to use more frequently in the future to provide tutorials and demonstrations. Among a few others we currently have an extensive feature overview video. It introduces the most important aspects of ColorPerfect.
This video is offered upon downloading ColorPerfect. Alternatively we put it here, too. You can download the sample image used in it if you like. For subtitles you can also view this on YouTube. Back to the non-YouTube version.
ColorPerfect 2.0 with PerfectRAW excites digital photographers, current state & prospect
A few days after we published ColorPerfect 2.0 a photographer and long term ColorNeg user from Germany wrote to us (translated to English): "I was very surprised by the difference to the established RAW converters. Not only the color but also the tonal rendition is significantly better. Compared to other RAW converters an image processed with PerfectRAW seems like opening a dirty window to finally get a clear view on the world."
We are looking forwards to hear what you will say. Despite of the euphoric reactions of our existing users this place also seems suitable to objectify the view on ColorPerfect. We are convinced that ColorPerfect, our concept of complete color integrity and most recently PerfectRAW constitute innovations with the potential to impact digital image editing in general. The road ahead is still long though. Currently several thousand hours of development both resulted in the physical and mathematical foundation and in a market-ready product that is already available to all photographers ranging from professional large format or digital shooters to leisurely photographers today.
ColorPerfect gets embraced by more photographers each day. It provides a finely tuned portfolio of tools which like every complex system takes some time to get acquainted with before it becomes intuitive. The graphical user interface of ColorPerfect for some platforms is less fancy than modern products made by the large corporations and this web page on ColorPerfect is not yet fully comprehensive and will get extended over time.
If you have any questions or whishes please don't hesitate to get in touch via our contact form.
Using ColorPerfect to edit images that no longer have color integrity
The common lack of color integrity in digital images does not mean that ColorPerfect would be generally useless for images captured using a digital camera's JPEG mode or such that have been pre-edited by other software. For such images which no longer have color integrity and for which color integrity is impossible to produce or restore our tools will simply work less well than for images with color integrity. Limited scope adjustments can actually often improve images without preserved color integrity, too. Such images lack the physical relations to allow any major adjustments however and while they can be improved in TouchUp mode they will never match the quality that could be produced using an image editing workflow with color integrity.
Supported versions of Adobe Photoshop, PhotoLine and Adobe Photoshop Elements for PC & Mac
On Windows PCs one or both of the 32 and 64 bit plug-in versions of ColorPerfect can be used with Adobe Photoshop 7 through CS6 as well as Adobe Photoshop CC through CC 2022. PhotoLine can also be used as a host. It is fully supported from its release 16 onwards. The third host you may use is Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE) in its versions 2 through 15 as well as 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. For installation instructions detailing what to install where please refer to ColorPerfect's PC ReadMe file. Note that 64 bit hosts exclusively work with Colorperfect and not with our legacy plug-ins.
On Intel Macs using Mac OS X one or both of the 32 and 64 bit plug-in versions of ColorPerfect can be used with Adobe Photoshop CS3 through CS6 as well as Adobe Photoshop CC through CC 2022. PhotoLine can also be used as a host. It is fully supported from its release 16 onwards. The third host you may use is Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE) in its versions 6 through 15 as well as 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. For installation instructions detailing what to install where please refer to ColorPerfect's Intel Mac ReadMe file. Note that 64 bit hosts exclusively work with Colorperfect and not with our legacy plug-ins.
On actual legacy PowerPC Mac hardware Adobe Photoshop 7, CS, CS2, CS3 and CS4, PhotoLine 15 through 17.10 and Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 through 6 are supported for both ColorPerfect and our legacy plug-ins. For installation instructions detailing what to install where please refer to ColorPerfect's PPC Mac ReadMe file.
ColorPerfect, ColorNeg, ColorPos and GamSat can all be unlocked with the same license key
Prior to the release of ColorPerfect we provided three separate plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop: ColorNeg, ColorPos and GamSat. These were replaced by ColorPerfect in 2010. We still offer the old plug-ins along with their original PDF manuals for download. The articles we previously published on GamSat were transformed into a subsection of the ColorPos category of this web site.
The same license key can be used to unlock our international English plug-ins ColorPerfect, ColorNeg, ColorPos and GamSat for the chosen operating system. A license costs $67.00. If you are located within the European Union that is a net price and the VAT rate applicable for your purchase will be added to that during checkout. To use the plug-ins both under Windows and under Mac OS X separate licenses are required. The license keys of the German versions are not compatible. The links to the secure shop of our distribution partner can be found below the downloads in the right hand side column of this web site.
Grid in the demo plug-in versions
This web site offers fully functional demo versions of the international English plug-ins. The demo plug-in versions of ColorPerfect, ColorNeg and ColorPos generate a grid in the final image. The grid is subtle enough that the results can be evaluated and will go away once you enter your license key which can be purchased via a secure web page as detailed above.
Old plug-ins, PDF manuals and ColorPerfect's built-in help system
Instead of a printable manual ColorPerfect currently features a built-in help system. Users who are familiar with the original ColorNeg or ColorPos plug-in will quickly get acquainted with ColorPerfect. Mastering ColorPerfect by means of the old manuals will likely be more confusing than helpful, so we ask new users to resort to the plug-in's help system right away. To do so please follow the instructions in ColorPerfect's ReadMe.txt file, load the linear scan of a negative or a Tiff file created by MakeTiff from a digital RAW photo in Photoshop, start the plug-in and immediately click on the Help button. Follow the order suggested to read the help texts where applicable.