Very good results already in the simple auto-mode combined with a huge amount of features for special cases make FocalBlade the sharpener of choice. ... FocalBlade from The Plugin Site reaped the deserved victory in this comparison. The combination of very high image quality, good usability and large amount of features plus fastest rendering leaves no open desires. Rating: 87 of 100 points.

ColorFoto Magazin July 2012

Razorblade-sharpen your Photographs with FocalBlade ... it’s way better than everything else I’ve reviewed. In case you’re wondering: it does a lot better than Adobe’s built-in filters do. ... FocalBlade is not just another Unsharp Masking thing. It doesn’t even come close to Photoshop’s Smart Sharpen. In fact, it’s way smarter than that. ... FocalBlade should be in every serious photographer’s tool chest. It allows you to sharpen images much better than any other method or application I’ve tested before.

IT Enquirer

FocalBlade is the definitive sharpening tool. ... it is brilliant at creating a sharpened effect ... FocalBlade achieves fine results even on images of low quality... The plug-in is flexible and easy to use, delivering top quality results ... The speed at which FocalBlade performs is impressive. The amount of control you have over the sharpening of an image ... is also exceptional... When extreme sharpening occurs, the plug-in doesn’t produce halos, as many other sharpening tools do.

Photoshop Creative Magazine Issue 7

I wish I had tried it earlier! Without a doubt, this is the best sharpening plug-in I’ve tried, and it beats the pants off the many sharpening actions I’ve found on the web. Its user-friendly interface and powerful sharpening algorithms make it a good investment for digital imaging newbies, and a must-have tool for advanced users.

ShutterTalk

... what makes the tools in FocalBlade unique is that you can control how you sharpen images without introducing negative side effects (increased noise and halo) ... FocalBlade allows users to sharpen poor-quality images without boosting inherent noise... one of the biggest advantages of FocalBlade is the user interface design... Similar plug-ins ... don't have the well-organized user interface and excellent documentation... it makes the plug-in easier to use.

Photoshop User Magazine April/May 2006

It is not so often I get as impressed by a new program as I did with FocalBlade. ... Its purpose is to give the user a powerful tool to sharpen images and i.e. in Photoshop do it better and with more easiness than with the built in filter "Unsharp Mask". So it does! The best thing, I think, is that it can sharpen the edges separately from the surface.

Ekdahl.org

FocalBlade is probably the most versatile sharpening program around ... an absolute snip at $49.95. ... makes FocalBlade a gem ... Photographers have had a long time to wait for a sharpening plug-in that has the controls of FocalBlade. I doubt that I will ever want to use USM again.

Royal Photographic Society Journal

... this tool will make your life easier ... There is a workflow for every level of skills. ... the learning curve is fast and easy. ... Need I to say I adopted Focal Blade for my everyday workflow ? It's that easy to use and working so well ... Highly recommended if you're serious about your images.

Canonians.com

PhotoWiz' Focal Blade is one of my two favorite third-party filters for very powerful special effects sharpening. You can get almost unlimited effects and still remove over-sharpening artifacts.

Ken Milburn

The very best tool available to help you with the task of sharpening your photographs.

Cybia's "Best Of The Best" Awards

FocalBlade was created to provide you with a whole range of powerful features in one single filter. ... The dialog box is well designed and easy to navigate with everything in it's place. ... A lot of work has gone into producing this product and it's well worth the money.

Cybia.co.uk

It is better than commonly built-in sharpening functions from any photo editor software. ... Focal Blade increases the patterns due to jpeg compression much less than other -built-in- sharpening tools. ... Focal Blade allows you to sharpen your digital photos very conveniently.

Digital Photo Software Guide

Photoshop comes with a sharpening filter but it is rather limited in capability. The Plugin Site's FocalBlade gives me far better control over how my photos are sharpened for display

DesktopScenes.com

Adobe's Photoshop CS is ... a powerful and useful tool but only when used with a few plug-ins, namely Photowiz Colorwasher and Focalblade. These two plug-ins allow me to bring out the true colour of an image and to sharpen it extremely accurately without too much time and effort. The results are excellent.

Barry Wakelin Photography

FocalBlade is - as part of a collection of Photoshop-compatible plugins - known worldwide for its quality and user-friendliness ... This software was programmed to avoid straining the hardwear, so even computers with little RAM render quite fast when applying the plugin.

Fotos.de

FocalBlade lets you sharpen your photos
without the risk of damaging them ... It is easy to use in Novice or Expert mode with interactive explanations for each feature and an online manual that gives you more detailed instructions.

Canvangelist Issue 13

FocalBlade (FB) is designed as a single pass sharpening plugin, and seems to me the ultimate of its type. ... FB is generally fast and easy to use. ... It gives the finest possible control over sharpening, and is a far and away the best product of its type so far.

About.com Photography

FocalBlade ... is suitable for optimizing individual images with a lot of care - an ideal mixture of control and comfort. ... adds no noise to the result.

Sharpening: Good
Usability: Very Good

c't Magazin 6/2005

This is an incredibly powerful tool for sharpening your images, and it produces excellent results. ... One of the more powerful features of FocalBlade is the masking feature ... [it] helps you target the sharpening only to areas that actually need it, which also enables you to apply a bit stronger sharpening than you might otherwise be able to get away with.

Tim Grey DDQ

FocalBlade was my first commercial plug-in for sharpening photos. It's still my favorite. ... Support is among the best on the Web. ... FocalBlade is a very flexible tool. ... You'll also find that FocalBlade is reasonably priced.

The Lights Right

The non-optimal example image (on the left) shows clearly more details after using FocalBlade (on the right). Being able to influence dark and bright halos seperately helps to achieve good results.

DOCMA 2/06

Arguably the number one sharpening tool

Imaging Resource - A Sharper Image

It gives you more precise control than Photoshop ... FocalBlade’s ease of use, level of control, and zippy performance warrant taking the plug-in for a spin. ... The Mask Display option alone is worth the purchase price. With multiple techniques suitable for almost any image, FocalBlade could quickly become your one-stop answer for image sharpening and blurring.

Pros: Multiple sharpening and blurring modes; ability to enhance fine details by entering a radius value of 0.5 pixels or fewer; resizable window; handy X-ray negative edge-mask display; convenient text description of controls; handy Screen and Print buttons; swift; easy to use.
Cons: None significant.
Rating: 4.5 of 5

MacWorld

Now there’s a delightfully simple – and powerful – tool that seems to cover all the sharpening ground you’ll ever need ... If you ... need a more effective sharpening tool that the one you have built-in to your graphics software, look no further than FocalBlade. For $49 it’s the best value sharpening plugin available, beating others ... hands down in terms of features for the money. ... I can see it becoming entrenched in my digital kitbag for years to come and I give FocalBlade five out of five GO INSIDE Magazine review lights!

Go Inside

I highly recommend using ... FocalBlade. ...If you want the ultimate control and damn the torpedos, go for FocalBlade ... enough power to keep you experimenting for hours ... clearly labeled and entirely user friendly ... will clean up halos and aliasing, no matter how far you push the sharpening. ...You can get almost unlimited effects and still remove over-sharpening artifacts.

PEI Magazine September/October 2004

FocalBlade is a plugin so professional yet simple to use. If seeking an affordable yet powerful Sharpen/Blur effects plugin, Focal Blade will make your work and production more efficient.

3D USER Magazine Taiwan

FocalBlade ... packs a great deal of capability. It has a well-organized and helpful interface... The results on screen and on inkjet were very good ... particularly useful in limiting grain or noise effects in flat areas.

Digital Photo Pro Magazine
December 2006

Very well received by the photographic media ..., it has a reputation for excellent sharpening without introducing unwanted artifacts such as halo effects. ... One particularly useful feature is its display of several split view modes so that you can compare original and sharpened versions side-by-side with variations of the current settings.

John Lewell, The Digital Photographer's Software Guide

Sharpening tools like FocalBlade often achive better results than Photoshop.

c't special - Digitale Fotografie 02/10

A multilevel, powerfull sharpening tool with many options, and great results. ... better results than any other sharpening tools. Gives most natural results, which is very important for prints!!

Customer Service: very good.
Overall Rating: 5 of 5
Value Rating: 5 of 5

Photographyreview.com