It's my Birthday, so I'm only posting this quickly, apologies for typos:

Okay, they are only giving away the Elements version, and it's the previous version, but it's free and I'd highly recommend it, hey I paid for it, well the Pro version. (Plus apologies in advance for what a pain it is to register if you haven't done one of Franzis' projects before, but it is worth it.)

Note they will send you their newsletter, and they still forget from time-to-time and send English speakers e-mail in German. Don't stress about it.

Here's my canned instructions on starting using it:

Load a picture, play with the canned effects on the left side, play with the Film Type on the right side panel (which should start on the “Finalise” tab). At the top of that panel you can choose a colour filter to apply to the original (assuming it's a colour image, the same as putting a filter on the lens and using B+W film), either as a preset or use the sliders (the presets just move the sliders, e.g. Yellow -> 60/120). At the bottom of the panel you can select toning options, which is the same theory of having a collection of presets to set sliders. Changing to "Expert" in the right panel you can add filters from the list at the top, select them in the middle of the panel and tweak their effects at the bottom (may need scrolling down). (I'd ignore that until you are comfortable using it.) The boxes at the top of the left panel filter the effects that are listed in the panel, so ignore them initially. On a faster computer you can use the Eye icon on the toolbar to disable the preview mode and show the final image in the main window, which IMHO is worth doing.

When saving the final image note that the first dialog, where it asks for the title, is going to write that over the image, it isn't the file name.

The main disadvantage is the lack of Undo operations.

Note that although they do add a Photoshop plugin it's under File->Export, not Filters, which IMHO doesn’t really count.

The thing to get your brain around is it a huge pile of image processing tools, which are gathered together into presets in the left pane. All those options do is select a bunch of processing tools and choose options for them, so they are infinitely tweakable in the right pane.

I bought a copy of BWP retail some time ago, after getting a previous version free here, but when they had a discount price - which they do quite often, so never pay the full price for Franzis' stuff, like DXO, Silkypix, others. Basically all the B+W images I do come out of B+W Projects.

I suspect they haven't updated the installer and so only have an old version of the Raw file reader (for Raw files saved by digital cameras). To add raw support for more recent cameras download this (if you're running 64-bit Windows):
http://transfer.franzis.de/projects/RawImageDllprojects_Win64.zip
and replace C:\Program Files\Franzis\HDR projects 3\FreeImage.dll with the dll file it contains.
If you're not running the 64-bit version of Windows, i.e. your computer doesn't have a directory "C:\Program Files (x86)" then the file you want for upgraded raw support in 32-bit Windows is: http://transfer.franzis.de/projects/RawImageDll_projects_Win32.zip
If you have a Mac you'll need to get the OSX version of FreeImage from SourceForge and replace the existing one, wherever it might be.

JohnL  –  6 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+26)

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Software to change your nice full-color photos into black and white pictures.
I was not aware there were so much different styles in B&W
Software works as advertised giving good results (and yes I tried, it doesn't take hours to test this one)

Mavadelo  –  6 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+17)

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I downloaded the software from GOTD and followed all of the instructions, I registered at the Franzis website and entered the User ID and Registration Code I received in the email, and then when I launched the software I was asked for a Serial Number in order to activate the program? A note at the top states that there are 30 days remaining?

Nowhere does it state that this is a trial software for 30 days only. The fact that this is a 30 day trial should be stated in the description, otherwise please provide the Serial Number.

CFT  –  6 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (-4)

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Hello,
because readme has the last line which says

6. After the installation is over, please run the program and enter the Registration code from the letter you have received earlier to activate the program.

<strong>Hello, because readme has the last line which says 6. After the installation is over, please run the program and enter the Registration code from the letter you have received earlier to activate the program.</strong>
Save | Cancel

Helen  –  6 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+13)

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I would appreciate knowing the difference between:-

Black and White Projects 3 / Black and White Projects 4 "Elements".
Does adding "Elements make this a sub - standard version?
I have found the difference between Black & White Projects 4 and the lesser "Elements version"
I think maybe today's offering is a lesser version and not worth deleting version 3 for. As always, the publisher doesn't make it easy.

Nigel  –  6 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+13)

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BTW the installer did not complain that it's being run under Vista SP2 and not windows 7 or above but I am unable to test the program due to the inability to register without granting them special access to one of my inboxes!

I was able to try out B&W 5 pro trial and it worked fine under Vista SP2 with no complaints about not being windows 7 or higher as did the B&W 4 trial...

I was impressed that it was able to load a large jpg 8858 x 12402 pixel image without problems BUT on saving, without warning, it reduced the image to 2925 x 4096 which is BAD!

TK  –  6 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+10)

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