Boris FX releases Optics 2026.5 with AI-powered facial masking
Originally posted on 7 December 2025. Scroll down for news of the Optics 2026.5 update.
Boris FX has begun its 2026 updates to Optics, its software for applying cinematic effects to still images for retouching, illustration or visualization.
Optics 2026 itself adds four new AI tools, for automatically masking parts of the human face, generating depth maps from photos, and denoising and upresing images.
Optics 2026.5 makes the software compatible with Affinity, Apple Photos and Capture One.
Making VFX-style effects available to Photoshop and Lightroom users
First released in 2020, Optics is pitched as providing “visual effects for photographers”.
It is a renamed version of Digital Film Tools’ DFT, which Boris FX acquired in 2019, expanded with filters from other Boris FX products. Boris FX discontinued DFT itself in 2021.
It is available as a standalone application, and a plugin for Photoshop and Lightroom.
Optics 2026: new AI tools
Optics 2026 introduces a number of the AI technologies that Boris FX has been rolling out recently in its other software, particularly Silhouette, its rotoscoping and paint software.
The AI mask-generation toolset introduced in Optics 2025 is now augmented by Face ML, a new algorithm that automatically generates masks for parts of the face, including eyes, lips and skin.
Three new utility algorithms, Depth Map ML, DeNoise ML and UpRes ML, automatically generate depth maps from photos, remove visual noise, and upscale the image.
New effects from Sapphire, and new presets for Particle Illusion
Optics also gets new effects from Sapphire, Boris FX’s plugins for compositing and video editing software, particularly the VHSDamage effect and updated PixelSort effect from Sapphire 2025.
Particle Illusion, the integrated particle generator, gets over 50 new presets.
New Optics Essentials panel in the Photoshop workspace
Optics’ UI has also been revamped, with the Photoshop integration getting a new dockable Optics Essentials panel for browsing and applying filters directly in the Photoshop workspace.
The Collections and Filters window has been redesigned to make it quicker to find key filters.
Updated 26 June 2026: Boris FX has released Optics 2026.5.
The update makes the software available for a range of new, non-Adobe host applications: Affinity Photo, Apple Photos and Capture One.
(We assume it also works with Affinity by Canva, the new unified edition of the Affinity tools, not just the legacy standalone edition of Affinity Photo, but we’ve contacted Boris FX to check.)
All of the new integrations are included when buying Optics, alongside the standalone edition and Photoshop and Lightroom plugins: the price of the software hasn’t changed.
New Film Burn filter and Color Mixer, and updates to existing tools
New features include S_FilmBurn, a new filter for mimicking the look of overexposed analog footage, and Color Mixer, a simple slider-based color correction and looks creation tool.
The existing S_Grunge filter gets new stamp presets, intended for adding hand-painted detail to traditional portrait photography backgrounds.
In addition, Face ML now generates masks for noses and necks, and Particle Illusion gets new particle sprites and the option to export cinemagraphs at variable frame rates.
Price and system requirements
Optics 2026.5 is available as a standalone application for Windows 10+ and macOS 12.0+, and as a plugin for the host applications listed in the story above.
A new perpetual licence costs $149; rental costs $9/month or $99/year. A single licence provides access to both the plugins and the standalone editions.
Read an overview of the new features in Optics 2026 on Boris FX’s blog
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