Anyone use DXO Optics Pro much?

Just thought I'd ask as a search yielded precious few threads.

I've been trying out the demo of version 5 for the Mac for the last few days and overall I've been pretty impressed. Version 6 is due out in early 2010, already available for Windows users.

The interface and controls take some getting used to, but to my mind it incorporates some of the best bits of both DPP and ACR. This means great lens distortion correction for supported lenses and highlight recovery with a useful automated localised lighting function that seems a bit more sophisticated than the fill light slider.

Downsides are that colour rendition isn't quite there [It looks great for landscapes but I'm not convinced yet re skin tones, maybe some more tweaking is required] and it's pretty unstable, having crashed several times.

However, the output for some landscape shots has been pretty favourable, and you can even save your edits [Including lens distortion corrections] as a DNG file that can be subsequently worked on in ACR/LR, which is nice.

I'm probably going to pull the trigger on it [especially as DXO have an offer on now] but wondered if any others here had much experience?

I guess not then!

DxO is what I use for 99% of my RAW conversions and I have been quite happy with it ever since version 4. If I need to do a quick convert and save I use DPP, but the automated nature of DxO is what appeals to me the most. If you register on the DxO forums, you can find some other sets of settings that do a better job with portraits. I am not on my home PC now or I would shoot you a direct link.

Thanks for the input Dave, I'll see about registering and see what people suggest.

Having a quick play, and I think the default vibrancy is too high IMHO. I could get a similar image to DPP or ACR if I dropped it to -45.

Here's a quick comparison showing how DXO deals with things left on mostly auto [except vibrancy] compared to ACR [DXO first then ACR]:

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Personally, I prefer the DxO conversion between those two images, but that is obviously a matter of opinion.

I am up to version 6 now so I can;'t quite remember all of the options in version 5, but have you tried playing with the available presets? The default DxO preset really goes for a punchy image with maximum detail enhancement. There are some other presets (which you can make the new default) if you prefer to tone the images down a little.

The new features in 6.0 looked interesting so I downloaded the 5.0 demo(only thing currently supported on macs). It wouldn't install, so I wrote DxO. Got this reply:

"DxO Optics Pro 5 is not yet officially supported on Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard. DxO Optics Pro 5 is not fully functional on Mac OS 10.6 and DxO Labs does not recommend upgrading your Operating System to Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard if DxO Optics Pro is an integral part of your workflow"

So, to me, their Mac support totally sucks. No 6.0 version, and they can't be bothered to update their 5.0 to the latest OS. They did provide some hand install directions with the note, but..... No point in continuing. Even if they produce a 6.0 for Mac in Jan as they say, I wouldn't trust their support in the future.

JC4 wrote in post #9244235
So, to me, their Mac support totally sucks. No 6.0 version, and they can't be bothered to update their 5.0 to the latest OS. They did provide some hand install directions with the note, but..... No point in continuing. Even if they produce a 6.0 for Mac in Jan as they say, I wouldn't trust their support in the future.

Yeah, from what I can tell it does appear that DxO is much better supported on Windows platform which I assume is where the development takes place. That is a fair warning.

I am a Mac user and have been revisiting DXO for a year or two now and then, as demos. I really like the DXO conversion and the set of tools offered, as well as the camera-lens specific correction modules. I also find that there are situations where DXO conversions are superior to LR or DPP. I use LR/ACR, DPP for most conversions, but also reach into the dcraw bag and experiment with CaptureOne and DXO. Like EliectricShepard, I have been considering purchasing v5 in anticipation of v6 for Mac, with the hopes that the, shall we say, "clunky" interface and speed will be addressed in the latest offering. I also recently purchased a S90 and note that DXO just released S90 support, which is really important when you see the "uncorrected" RAW images that this little mighty-might puts out. Accurate distortion correction is important for the S90 - I know that LR 2.6 supports the S90 as well, but I have not had the chance to compare the output form DPP, LR2.6 and DXO6 (I am running the PC demo on XP under VMWare Fusion on my Mac Book Pro).

As far as Mac support goes, it is not uncommon to have an app released for one platform before the other, so that is not such a big deal - but running DXO for the PC under VMWare Fusion is even slower than the already slow native DXO performance. I run Snow Leopard on my Mac Book Pro, but have yet to move from 10.5 to 10.6 on my Mac Pro, because there is no point to jumping onto the moving train until all of the kinks are worked out and developers have had time to make their apps fully functional under 10.6. So my MBP is the experimental test bed, but my critical stuff is still done in 10.5. There is no problem with app developers taking their time and making sure their apps work under a vastly changed OS (64 bit, gamma 2.2, new video and color issues, etc.). If you want to stay on the leading edge of OS development then you have to be willing to accept some bumps along the transition. I have run v5 on both macs with no problem.

Kirk

JC4 wrote in post #9244235
The new features in 6.0 looked interesting so I downloaded the 5.0 demo(only thing currently supported on macs). It wouldn't install, so I wrote DxO. Got this reply:

"DxO Optics Pro 5 is not yet officially supported on Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard. DxO Optics Pro 5 is not fully functional on Mac OS 10.6 and DxO Labs does not recommend upgrading your Operating System to Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard if DxO Optics Pro is an integral part of your workflow"

So, to me, their Mac support totally sucks. No 6.0 version, and they can't be bothered to update their 5.0 to the latest OS. They did provide some hand install directions with the note, but..... No point in continuing. Even if they produce a 6.0 for Mac in Jan as they say, I wouldn't trust their support in the future.

Curious, I'm using Snow Leopard and it installed with no problems.

As stated, it crashed a few times but apparantly only with the one particular image, which was a bit odd.

I think I might wait for the official 6.0 Mac release and see how that fares, although version 5 is going cheap currently with a free upgrade to 6 when it arrives.

Electric Shepherd wrote in post #9244312
Curious, I'm using Snow Leopard and it installed with no problems.

Don't know. I tried a few times, fresh downloads, reboots, even waited a week and tried again, then I wrote them. Got the reply that SL wasn't supported, and a PDF on how to get it running, if I "must" use DxO on SL.

Sometime last year, I ran the 5.0 demo, and I remember getting crashes, and VERY slow performance. But, I didn't remember it as a tool all that well, so I was having another look before making a purchase. Mostly I was looking because 6.0 sounds very interesting, especially the new features with improved performance, and the current deal makes it compelling. However, the fact you've had crashes confirms what I'm seeing by not being able to install. DxO doesn't write stable software. If they did, the crashes I saw last year would be fixed by now, and the install wouldn't fail on SL. SL wasn't that big an upgrade, DxO isn't doing device level stuff, so it should run without repair on new OS versions. Nope, I'll stay away. JMHO though.


Edit: Just checked the DxO site. v5.3.6 was release on 02/12/09, and claims Snow Leopard support. If the date is dd/mm/yy, then it explains why you installed and I didn't. I tried in November. edit2: states 7d support, so yea, a december release. They fixed the install for SL

Another nail in the DxO coffin. I downloaded DxO 5.0 trial again. It installed this time, as I figured since they've done an update. First file I tried to open, from my 5d2, it failed. No reason, just "Error loading image". Same with the next several images. sRAW1. LOL I guess they only support full size RAW?!?!? Didn't see mention of that on their site, but I've yet to find an sRAW file it could open. No problem with full size RAWs from my 5d2 or 1d3.

JC4 wrote in post #9245006
Another nail in the DxO coffin. I downloaded DxO 5.0 trial again. It installed this time, as I figured since they've done an update. First file I tried to open, from my 5d2, it failed. No reason, just "Error loading image". Same with the next several images. sRAW1. LOL I guess they only support full size RAW?!?!? Didn't see mention of that on their site, but I've yet to find an sRAW file it could open. No problem with full size RAWs from my 5d2 or 1d3.

Actually, if you look at the features / requirements page for DxO and the 5d2 at the dxo labs web site , it clearly states that sRAW format is not supported.

My fault then. I looked before I posted so I wouldn't look too stupid. Fail.

Still makes it unusable for me. I often use sRAW1.

JC4 wrote in post #9245259
My fault then. I looked before I posted so I wouldn't look too stupid. Fail.

Still makes it unusable for me. I often use sRAW1.

lol. The only reason I remember seeing that is because there were a few users on the DxO forums asking for sRAW support in the past. That was honestly the first time I had heard of the format.

That does sort of illustrate one of my main problems with DxO however, and that is having to wait for bodies and lenses to be supported. If you have a supported lens/body module available, the results from DxO are pretty good and very little input is required. But, if you have a newer lens (such as my Canon 15-85), there is no module yet available and it could be some time until it comes out.

I keep thinking I need to actually learn how to do all of this stuff myself with a different RAW processor but I keep coming back to DxO for some reason.