Your Vision. Realized.

Q: Can I install and activate Optics on multiple computers?

Your Optics license can be activated on one computer at a time. You can install Optics on multiple computers and use the license tool to activate & deactivate to move your license.

Q: Does the Optics standalone load Photoshop PSD files?

The Optics standalone does not load PSD files. The following file formats are supported: JPG, PNG RAW, TIFF.

Cinematic Effects Plugins for Photoshop and Lightroom

Blockbuster Effects Made Simple

Bring your creative vision to life with Boris FX Optics, the ultimate photo editing toolkit. Designed for photographers, digital artists, and creators of all skill levels, Optics transforms your images with professional-grade effects inspired by the film and television industry. Whether you're enhancing photos, creating dynamic cinemagraphs, or crafting one-of-a-kind visuals, Optics is your go-to solution.

Why Choose Optics?

Hollywood-Grade Effects:
Access over 160 stunning filters and thousands of presets, including cinematic lens flares, glows, light leaks, and particle effects.
Seamless Integration:
Works directly inside Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom or as a standalone application, blending into your workflow without interruptions.
AI-Powered Masking:
Save time with intelligent masking tools that isolate subjects and apply effects with precision.
Customizable Controls:
Fine-tune every detail of your effects to match your vision perfectly.
Authentic Film Stock Emulation:
Recreate the magic of vintage and modern film looks for timeless, cinematic results.
Transform Photos With Dynamic Particles:
Transform photos with a fast and easy-to-use particle engine that creates unique effects with organic elements.

Optics in the Hands of Artists

Experience Optics For Yourself

Designed For Pros.
Easy Enough For Everyone.

Photographers

Add cinematic flair and enhance the story behind your shots

Hobbyists

Create stunning visuals with easy-to-use effects and tools inspired by Hollywood

Social Media Creators

Engaging content that grabs attention in feeds

Designers

Craft eye-catching visuals that captivate audiences

Real Reviews from Real Artists

System requirements

Mac OS

OS Requirements

Monterey (12.0) and higher

Processor (CPU)

Apple silicon or Intel (Sandy Bridge or newer)

System Memory (RAM)

8 GB minimum, 16+ GB preferred

Graphics Processor (GPU)

Apple silicon integrated GPUs are supported, as are AMD GPUs on most modern Intel CPU Macs.
Mask ML requires an Apple silicon integrated GPU with macOS Monterey (12.0) and above.

Windows

OS Requirements

Windows 10 & 11

Processor (CPU)

Intel x64 (Sandy Bridge or newer)

System Memory (RAM)

8 GB minimum, 16+ GB preferred

Disk

High-speed disk array or NVMe SSD

Graphics Processor (GPU)

Most modern graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD are supported for GPU acceleration, but for best performance, we recommend workstation powered by NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation, or AMD Radeon™ PRO Series.
Mask ML requires an NVIDIA GPU with compute capability 6.0 or above (Pascal), or an AMD Radeon™ PRO Series GPU.

Transform Your Photos

Optics is a comprehensive plugin designed for photographers and digital artists. Combining innovative technology with visual effects inspired by Hollywood, Optics provides everything you need to bring your creative ideas to life.

Download Free Trial

The Best Lighting Effects

Explore the largest collection of procedural lens flares, lighting, gobos, and particle effects for photography. Just say no to stock footage elements. Quickly design, edit, and save your own libraries of presets of favorites with Optics.

Artist Tested. Hollywood Proven.

Optics gives you access to the same plugins and filters regularly used on the most popular films and TV series with the addition of top tools from the Boris FX Suite.

Add Lens Flares, Light Rays, Ultra Zap (lightning), UltraGlow, Light Leaks, and many more effects from our Emmy Award-winning Sapphire collection, or retouch skin easily with Continuum’s Beauty Studio.

Stunning Particle Creation

The Particle Illusion category is a fast and easy-to-use particle engine that creates unique effects and elements.

Particle Illusion features 1700+ particle presets to enhance photo editing, including Smoke, Fire, Water, Sparkles, Explosions, Dust, Sci-Fi, and more. Learn more about Particle Illusion.

You can also create and export cinemagraphs — photo animations — using Optics in Photoshop, Lightroom, or the standalone application.

Physical Camera Characteristics

Optics is the only Photoshop plugin that emulates the physical characteristics of optical camera filters, whether it’s historical film stocks, color grading, or lens and diffusion effects.

Add beauty and depth to your digital images with diffusion filters like Mist, Fog, Net, Halo, and more.

Packed with Effect Presets

600+ film stocks and film looks
126 optical lens flare presets from Boris FX Sapphire
800+ Gobo lighting patterns
1700+ particle presets, including Abstracts, Dust, Smoke, Fire, and more

AI Masking and Paint Tools

Optics features masking and paint tools powered by Machine Learning to replace backgrounds, isolate effects, or fix and touch up pixels.

Mask ML with point and click object masking
EZ Mask, Gradient, Mask ML, Paint, Path, Snap, Spot, and Selection mask types
Combine multiple masks using blend modes
Paint, clone, and blur with support for Wacom tablets
Exchange masks with Photoshop

Must See Effects

Effects showcase

New for Optics 2025

AI-powered masking, dynamic particle brushes, multi-layer presets, UI interface improvements and more

Download Free Trial

Smart Masking with AI

Easily create precise masks with the power of machine learning. Mask ML enables point-and-click object segmentation, allowing you to isolate and enhance specific areas of your image with just a single click. Add adjacent areas seamlessly with successive clicks for perfect masks every time.

Watch

Paint with Particles

Unleash your creativity with Particle Brushes, which let you paint dynamic effects directly onto your images. Whether you’re animating particles or creating them as you draw, these tools deliver endless artistic possibilities. Explore preset categories like Brushes-Animate Particles and Brushes-Emit Particles for instant inspiration.

Introducing Looks: Instant Multi-Layer Presets

Save time and streamline your workflow with Looks. Create custom multi-layer filter and mask setups and access them instantly in the new Looks Tab within the Filters window. Export and share your Looks for effortless consistency across projects or load pre-configured Looks for quick enhancements.

Enhanced Camera Compatibility

Stay ahead with updated libraries:

EXIF Library: Expanded support for the latest digital cameras.

RAW Camera Library: Broader compatibility for RAW file formats, ensuring you can work with files from the newest devices.

Updated User Interface

Advanced Workspace Customization
Customizable Filter Group Order: Tailor your workflow for maximum efficiency.
Export/Import Favorites & Presets: Save and share your most-used settings with ease.
Streamlined Filters Menu
Hierarchical Filter View: Quickly locate and apply effects.
Hide/Show Filters: Focus only on the tools you need.
Enhanced Viewer & Shortcuts
Compare Shortcuts: View before-and-after edits instantly.
Full-Screen Viewer: Immerse yourself in your edits with full-screen mode.
Zoom Shortcuts: Effortlessly refine details with more zoom options.
Additional Improvements
Overlay Mask Toggle (Shift-M): Visualize your masks effortlessly.
Extended Tool Tips: Get instant guidance right where you need it.
Save As Improvements: Automatically populate file names for faster saving.

Get Social With Us

Connect. Share. Inspire. The Optics community is a vibrant network of photographers, designers, and artists pushing the boundaries of creativity.

Show Off Your Work

Tag your images on Instagram with #borisfxoptics

@boris_fx

Learn From The Community

Trusted by the industry’s best

“Optics expands your creative potential, hones your unique vision. But more importantly, let’s you have fun and play.”

Curtis Jones explores stunning, remote habitats and shares how he’s using cinematic color grades in his photos.

Read

“Optics is at its best when you don’t play safe with the program... so go crazy!”

Michael Larzhay shares which Optics effects he uses most, why the EZ Mask is a must-have tool, and how the plugin has made him more efficient

Read

Ask Us Anything

Forum

A place for Optics users to ask more complex questions and request new features.

Forum

Discord

Join our Optics Discord to exchange tips, get quick help, and connect with fellow VFX artists.

Discord

Help Center

Search technical questions or open a ticket with our knowledgeable support team.

Support

Everything You Need To Get Started

Download Free Trial

Tutorials

Ask Us Anything

Forum

A place for Optics users to ask more complex questions and request new features.

Forum

Discord

Join our Optics Discord to exchange tips, get quick help, and connect with fellow VFX artists.

Discord

Help Center

Search technical questions or open a ticket with our knowledgeable support team.

Support

Frequently asked questions

What is Optics?

Boris FX Optics is a standalone image editing application that includes 174 filters for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. Optics is developed for professional photography and designed to accurately simulate optical camera filters, specialized lenses, film stocks and grain, lens flares, optical lab processes, color correction as well as natural light and photographic effects. Many of the award-winning Sapphire filters as well as Particle Illusion are also included.

Optics is available as a Adobe Photoshop/Lightroom plug-in, as well as a standalone application for macOS and Windows. One license will run both the plug-in and standalone per workstation.

Can I install and activate Optics on multiple computers?

Is Optics the same as DFT from Digital Film Tools?

Optics was formerly called DFT (Digital Film Tools) and was acquired by Boris FX in 2019. The original development team behind DFT now works for Boris FX and has released a new, updated version called Boris FX Optics. For legacy DFT owners, beyond new features and improvements, Optics now adds many of the filters from the award-winning Sapphire video collection as well as Particle Illusion – bringing top Hollywood feature film lighting effects and looks to Photoshop.

What happened to the individual Digital Film Tools Photoshop plug-ins?

All the Digital Film Tools products for Photoshop are now either included in Optics, or have been replaced with a newer equivalent from the Sapphire filters inside Optics. Individual plug-ins from the Digital Film Tools library are no longer available for sale, however we now offer affordably priced annual and monthly subscription options to the Optics collection.

Does the Optics standalone load Photoshop PSD files?

Can’t see your question listed above? Visit our Help Center

Your Vision. Realized.

Cinematic Effects Plugins for Photoshop and Lightroom

Blockbuster Effects Made Simple

Why Choose Optics?

Hollywood-Grade Effects:

Seamless Integration:

AI-Powered Masking:

Customizable Controls:

Authentic Film Stock Emulation:

Transform Photos With Dynamic Particles:

Optics in the Hands of Artists

Experience Optics For Yourself

Designed For Pros.Easy Enough For Everyone.

Photographers

Hobbyists

Social Media Creators

Designers

Real Reviews from Real Artists

System requirements

OS Requirements

Processor (CPU)

System Memory (RAM)

Graphics Processor (GPU)

OS Requirements

Processor (CPU)

System Memory (RAM)

Disk

Graphics Processor (GPU)

Transform Your Photos

The Best Lighting Effects

Artist Tested. Hollywood Proven.

Stunning Particle Creation

Physical Camera Characteristics

Packed with Effect Presets

AI Masking and Paint Tools

Must See Effects

Effects showcase

New for Optics 2025

Smart Masking with AI

Paint with Particles

Introducing Looks: Instant Multi-Layer Presets

Enhanced Camera Compatibility

Updated User Interface

Get Social With Us

Show Off Your Work

Learn From The Community

Trusted by the industry’s best

“Optics expands your creative potential, hones your unique vision. But more importantly, let’s you have fun and play.”

“Optics is at its best when you don’t play safe with the program... so go crazy!”

Ask Us Anything

Forum

Discord

Help Center

Everything You Need To Get Started

Tutorials

Ask Us Anything

Forum

Discord

Help Center

Frequently asked questions

Not ready to purchase yet? Get started with Optics now

Designed For Pros.
Easy Enough For Everyone.

Not ready to purchase yet?
Get started with Optics now