Lightroom vs DXO

I want to start learning seriously how to work with one of these programms, but don't know much about DXO as everyone everywhere knows only Lightroom, and any website or review talks only about Lightroom.

So... what are the differences between these programms? I mainly need them for post-processing and adjustments. Don't think I'll use them for Cataloging, it's only a bonus.

TIA

I know nothing about DXO I'm afraid as I have not used it. When it comes to LR, if you do not want to use the catalogue database system for image management, along with the integrated interface there are better options. If you are not doing the management stuff with LR then actually the Bridge/ACR/Photoshop option would be much easier to use than trying to make LR work in this way. Which ever RAW converter you use you will also need a full raster (pixel) editor at some point as even the latest RAW converters still have limits. So something like PS is still needed even with LR for some jobs.

Unfortunatly full PSCS is not the cheapest option, but the photographers option on PSCC is not OTT price wise. Although PS Elements is cheaper the version of ACR has most of the more advanced tools removed, although you do still get the full basic pannel in ACR. PSE is also somewhat limited with it's capablities in the pixel editor too.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Alan

I myself haven't used or looked into DXO. I've seen some good things about it but can't give any specifics. However, if you do a forum search for DXO, it is mentioned in a number of threads here. Do a "Search this Forum" at the top of the page for this sub-forum and you will see a number of posts listed, maybe check them out while you are waiting for folks who know the app to respond here!

I've used DXO since v6. It has come a long way, in terms of usability, since then. It was awfully slow back in the v6 and 7 days, but now takes advantage of GPUs as well as processing algorithm speed ups to make editing a lot less sucky. It does not force the user to keep databases or engage in asset management like LR does. You can simply navigate to a folder of images a start doing your thing. You can also use "projects" which permit you to pull in images from several different folders, essentially creating a virtual folder of all of these images.

DXO has always been known for high quality raw conversions with excellent tools for optical correction. If you have a camera body with supported lenses, then you will get, should you choose, automatic optical distortion correction and sharpness falloff correction. DXO correction also includes anamorphic volumetric distortion correction for wide angle lenses, as well as a powerful perspective distortion correction tool for keystoning, etc.

New for v9 is DXOs PRIME noise reduction for very noisy images - this NR takes a long time to apply itself, so you will probably use it sparingly. Test it on some noisy images that you thought were unsalvageable and see if it makes a difference for you. The "regular" NR is terrific.

Tonal tools in DXO v9 have also been expanded to include highlight recovery, shadow boost, etc in addition to the Smart Lighting tool present for many iterations of DXO.

If you chose to purchase it, you can also incorporate (unlock) DXOs film emulation tool, Film Pack, which offers many positive, negative and black and white film and film grain emulations. One nice thing about DXO is the ability to apply other camera profiles to your images - you can shoot with a Canon 5DII and apply a Nikon D800 profile if you choose.

Etc. Etc.

DXO is not for everyone, but give it a chance and see if it fits into your workflow. It applies a base, automatic per-image correction to your images as a starting point - many people who use it like this look straight out of the gate and tweak the result very little. Others go much further with their images.

DXO does not support local adjustments - as far as I'm concerned, that is what Photoshop is for. But people who like the self-contained, one-stop-shop editing environment of LR will probably not like the absence of pixel editing in DXO. DXO tightly integrates with external applications, and, because it is not a DAM-type raw converter, the application is not tied to round-tripping.

People sometimes gripe about DXO's working space - it is, as far as I have read, AdobeRGB, versus LR's MelissaRGB (pro photo-like). You should decide if this is a problem for your images.

kirk

I forgot to add that DXO also has optical correction modules for many iPhone, samsung, nokia and GoPro cameras if that is important to you. See their list of modules and roadmap for planned modules here:

http://www.dxo.com …s-pro/supported-equipment

kirk

DXO gives you great quality, but a poor workflow and it's really slow.

Unless you've already purchased DxO, try giving CaptureOne Pro 7 a spin: its RAW engine is superior to Lightroom's.

tim wrote in post #16916556
DXO gives you great quality, but a poor workflow and it's really slow.

That is what I have read more than once a about it.

There is a free trial. Try it for yourself. My guess is that many people who complain about the speed have abandoned DXO several iterations ago, or do not understand that you can turn off comp intensive operations, like noise reduction, until you are ready to apply those operations (there is a preference setting that permits you to disable the NR preview at zoom levels below 75%, again speeding up the rendering). If your system is not up to the task, then that is an issue that may steer you well away from DXO as well.

You will obviously want to assess if your system can utilize DXOs GPU accel. As far as poor workflow goes, compared to what? There are customizable palettes that permit you to make a workspace that displays only the tools that you want to use for a given task, etc.to unclutter your workspace. It is not a DAM. On output, you can output however many forms, file types, sizes, etc. of each processed image that you would like in one processing job - so you can output your full-res TIFF at 16bit with AdobeRGB, your 1200px sRGB JPEG and your DNG in one batch - LR does not permit this as far as I know (Capture1 does have this processing option as well).

Anyway, try it - if it does not work for you, there you go.

Kirk

kirkt wrote in post #16916932
There is a free trial. Try it for yourself. My guess is that many people who complain about the speed have abandoned DXO several iterations ago

Yup, that's me. I only persisted up to v7 for the lens correction abilities. Now I use ViewPoint from within LightRoom.

DxO had the gall to keep taking money from me to 'upgrade' from versions that were horribly slow to versions that were even slower. After a while I decided to stop being stupid and stopped giving them money.

I tried view point trial. I have a Mac and got rid of it from the applications and it is still there in the Plug in manager. I just disabled it. I don't know where else it snuck in and is operating from.

digital paradise wrote in post #16917071
I tried view point trial. I have a Mac and got rid of it from the applications and it is still there in the Plug in manager. I just disabled it. I don't know where else it snuck in and is operating from.

Try:

Library>Application Support>DxO Labs

This is where the plug-ins are installed so that multiple applications can access them. Note, this is in the system-wide Library, not your User level Library.

Viewpoint 2 has been out for some time and supports correction modules like DXO Optics.

kirk

hollis_f wrote in post #16917054
Yup, that's me. I only persisted up to v7 for the lens correction abilities. Now I use ViewPoint from within LightRoom.

DxO had the gall to keep taking money from me to 'upgrade' from versions that were horribly slow to versions that were even slower. After a while I decided to stop being stupid and stopped giving them money.

Yep - v7 and still into the earlier stages of v8 were painful sometimes - I agree. Much of this was the result of trying to implement GPU, as I recall. Earlier version were just slow.

kirk

kirkt wrote in post #16917137
Try:

Library>Application Support>DxO Labs

This is where the plug-ins are installed so that multiple applications can access them. Note, this is in the system-wide Library, not your User level Library.

Viewpoint 2 has been out for some time and supports correction modules like DXO Optics.

kirk

Thanks. I'll have a look.

digital paradise wrote in post #16917146
Thanks. I'll have a look.

Not there either. I has been about 6 months and I now recall that I went in there and either removed it or it was not there. No sure if there is a playlist or something. I tried looking g in preferences as well. That is why I gave up trying to find where it was running from.

I clicked show in finder and dragged the plugins into the trash and deleted them. It is still there in lR and I can enable/disable, just the path is lost now that I deleted them. I think it is locked. Remove is greyed out for all plugins. I'll try to work with that for a while.