Boris Fx Optics - 2025.0

For years, there has been a silent war in the world of image editing. On one side, you have parametric editors like Lightroom and Capture One. On the other, you have pixel editors like Photoshop. But what if you need something that sits entirely in the middle? What if you want the high-end optical simulation of a Hollywood VFX studio without leaving your raster workflow?

Boris FX, the legendary creators of Sapphire and Continuum (tools used on every Oscar-winning VFX film of the last decade), has just released their latest iteration of Optics. And frankly, this isn't just an update; it’s a statement.

You want the halation of a vintage Cooke lens? Done. You want the chromatic aberration of a cheap 1980s plastic lens? Easy. You want a lens flare that reacts dynamically to highlights? Optics does it. Boris FX Optics 2025.0

Disclaimer: This review is based on a licensed copy of Boris FX Optics 2025.0. No sponsorship was received.

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You can now generate auto-masks for with a single click. This is huge. Want to add grain only to the skin to reduce plastic texture? Want to add a diffusion glow only to the background while keeping the subject razor sharp? You can now do this entirely inside the Optics interface.

9/10 Best for: Portrait photographers, VFX artists, and colorists who hate fake digital looks. Have you tried Optics 2025.0 yet? Let me know in the comments if you prefer the standalone app or the Photoshop plugin workflow. For years, there has been a silent war

Until now, Optics was the best-kept secret of high-end retouchers who were tired of "fake" looking Instagram filters. Version 2025.0 isn't a minor bug fix. Boris FX has added three major pillars that change the workflow entirely. 1. The AI Masking Engine (The Game Changer) The single biggest complaint about Optics 2024 was the masking. It was manual, clunky, and relied entirely on Photoshop's primitive selections if you were using the plugin version.