While Digital Cameras are good enough to replace film cameras in terms of their ability to print at large sizes, they are still lagging behind in the color department. Digital cameras produce pictures that appear somewhat flat and hazy straight out of the camera when compared to the punchy colors combined with high contrast, better color saturation and increased dynamic range that slide films like Fuji Provia and Fuji Velvia produces.

In my efforts to create punchier colors with better contrast, saturation and dynamic range I have started playing around in Photoshop by increasing vibrance, contrast and saturation. (you can also achieve the same effect by playing around with the Channel Mixer or Hue/Saturation settings). This does work to a certain extent, but the results are not satisfactory and each picture's settings are usually vastly different from the next, meaning you can spend hours tweaking your pictures and still not have satisfied results.

I have also tried one or two free Velvia actions that are available on the internet. These work ok for landscapes and blue skies but unfortunately they mess up skin tones.

More recently I decided to purchase Fred Miranda's Velvia Vision plug-in. Velvia Vision was developed, as the name suggests, to mimic the effects of Fuji Velvia film. I decided to test this action as there are very few examples of this plug-in available on the internet other than those provided on the fredmiranda.com website.

Using the plugin :
After installing the plugin you access it by going to File->Automate->Velvia Vision. You can save your own custom settings.

The various settings allow you to tweak the overall intensity, contrast, dynamic range, and warm color intensity level. You can save the results as a separate layer and you can see a preview.

Test criteria:
All pictures were taken straight out of a Canon EOS 20D without any adjustments other than resize to 400 pixels wide and a bit of sharpening.

Velvia Vision Example 1

In the first example I used a picture of a windsurfer that appeared quite flat. I was most pleased with the the Velvia Vision's results as it resulted in a punchy picture with a lot more contrast and tonal range - similar to what you would expect from a Fuji Velvia film.

Velvia Vision Example 2

Velvia Vision Example 3

Velvia Vision Example 4

Velvia Vision Example 5

Velvia Vision Example 6

Velvia Vision Example 7

Velvia Vision Example 8

Velvia Vision Example 9

Velvia Vision Example 10

Pros:
Produces natural looking colors if settings are used in moderation
Relatively Quick and easy to use
Gives professional results without having to be a Photoshop expert
Very little noise
Very little clipping
Relatively cheap at only $25

Cons:
Lack of presets for various scenarios
Slight glow effect visible around trees and people when higher settings are used

Conclusion:
I am very pleased with the Velvia Vision results. It is the closest I have come to the punchy colors of Fuji Velvia since I have converted to a digital SLR. Compared to playing around with various Photoshop settings and Velvia actions available on the internet, I find the Velvia Vision to be superior to anything else I have used. As stated earlier - the other techniques work to an extent but usually leave a yellow/orange skin tone on people with unnatural looking blue skies, whereas the Velvia Vision plug-in delivers very natural results.

I tend to either leave the color intensity settings or use a setting of 1 when using the Velvia Vision plug-in as higher settings to result in unnatural looking skin tones.

I was very pleased with the results obtained from the dynamic range setting - this really brings out a lot of shadow detail.

The plug-in doesn't produce results as good as that from the Velvia film itself, but it is light years ahead from the results obtained straight out of most digital SLRs. It gives your pictures that Velvia pop without having to spend hours in front of the computer. It comes highly recommended.