Log in

View Full Version : DxO Optics Pro 6 Elite Reviewed


Matthew Shanks
02-12-2010, 03:00 PM
<p>&nbsp;</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1264387682.usr108523.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><em></em></p><p>&nbsp;</p><h6><strong>Product Category:</strong> Digital Photograph Enhancement Software</h6><h6><strong>Manufacturer:</strong> DxO Image Science</h6><h6><strong>Where to Buy:</strong> <a href="http://www.dxo.com/us/photo/dxo_optics_pro" target="_blank" title="DxO">www.dxo.com</a></h6><h6><strong>Price:</strong> $299 USD (Elite), $169 USD (Standard)</h6><h6><strong>System Requirements:</strong> 2 GB RAM minimum, 400MB space, Intel Pentium 4 or AMD equivalent processor, Windows XP, Vista 32 or 64 bit, Windows 7</h6><h6><strong>Specifications:</strong> Version 6.1.1</h6><p><strong>Pros:</strong></p><ul><li>Automatic or fully customizable processing of batches or individual digital photographs;</li><li>Excellent noise reduction, optical fault and geometry correction;</li><li>Powerful, customizable and user-friendly;</li><li>Integrates well with Adobe Lightroom;</li><li>Comprehensive and easy to understand manual.</li></ul><p><strong>Cons:</strong></p><ul><li>No searchable help functionality;</li><li>Manual only available through support website, rather than within software;</li><li>Large output file sizes in TIF and DNG formats;</li><li>Some corrections not visible at zoom levels below 75%;</li><li>Exposure compensation data not available in EXIF palette.</li></ul><p><strong>Summary:</strong> DxO Optics Pro 6 is a powerful software package for digital photographers looking to apply automatic and quick processing to batches or individual photographs. It excels in noise reduction of high ISO RAW images, optical fault and geometry correction, and integrates well with Adobe Lightroom. I was impressed with the software's performance and recommend it as a standalone program or integrated with Lightroom, especially for those photographers now using new high ISO digital cameras. <MORE /></p><h1></h1><h1>Introduction</h1><p>DxO recently released Optics Pro 6 (Elite and Standard editions), an updated version of their popular processing software for JPG and RAW images. The software offers excellent noise reduction for high ISO RAW images to complement the latest group of high ISO cameras, as well as the ability to effectively process images at higher ISO settings than are available in the camera. It offers over 1600 camera body and lens specific modules for automatic optical fault correction of distortion, vignetting, chromatic aberration and sharpness, or manual controls for those bodies or lenses not yet supported.</p><h1>Workflow</h1><p>After installing and running Optics Pro 6, the user is able to select and install the Optics Modules specific to their camera bodies and lenses. Depending on your camera body, the supporting optics module may be available in the Standard version of Optics Pro 6, or may require upgrading to the Elite version. Examples of bodies that require upgrading include the Canon 5D, Canon 1DS Mark III, Nikon D2X/D2Xs, Nikon D3/D3X and the Nikon D700.</p><p>With powerful software comes the requirement for a good user manual, and DxO provides a comprehensive and easy to understand manual through their support site. I found it odd that the manual was not readily available through the software, and no searchable help functionality is included in the help menu. The help menu does allow you to access DxO's online support page, but this unfortunately includes only links to the user manual, installation guides, and a forum that requires registration to access. I believe that DxO can definitely improve their support of the product by providing additional options and searchable help within the program.</p><h1>Selection</h1><p>Optics Pro 6 has a simple layout, with 4 specific tabs to guide the workflow: Select, Customize, Process and View. Users begin in the Select tab, where they can open previous projects or add photos to a new project by browsing through their folders directly, or through an Adobe Lightroom catalog, showing folders, collections and quick collections. The type of processing preset for Optics Pro 6 to apply to the project images can be selected in this tab. These types vary from the default preset to specific lighting or colour correction presets. No correction is also an option, and specific corrections can then be selected and applied in the Customize tab.</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1264385536.usr108523.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><em>Figure 1: Select Tab <PAGE /></em></p><h1>Lightroom Integration</h1><p>DxO recognizes and does not market Optics Pro 6 as a direct competitor to Lightroom or other programs that offer a more comprehensive workflow for photographers. They acknowledge that their product is intended to be used as a standalone batch image processor, or as a complement to Lightroom to provide better value for the photographer. As such, Optics Pro 6 can be integrated with Lightroom 2 or earlier versions, such as 1.4.1, which I am currently using. This review will be aimed at the photographer that already uses a program like Lightroom to import, catalog, and process their RAW or JPG images, and is looking for an additional processing option, rather than a beginner who will use only Optics Pro 6 for processing. Through their support site, DxO offers a very good guide to working with Lightroom in your processing workflow, depending on your needs.</p><p>As mentioned above, images can be viewed and added to a project through the Lightroom catalog. It may have been my earlier version of Lightroom, but I could not view my quick collection through Optics Pro 6. All other methods of viewing my Lightroom catalog worked fine.</p><p>Images can be processed initially by Optics Pro 6 and exported directly into Lightroom's import process, or the original Lightroom folder, to be synchronized with the database. Images can also be sent directly to Optics Pro 6 (by setting it as an external editor in Lightroom), and then exported back into Lightroom directly.</p><p>My workflow preference was to import all my RAW images into Lightroom as I normally do for viewing and tagging. I then selected those that would benefit most from processing in Optics Pro 6 (particularly higher ISO shots) and created a collection to edit with Optics Pro 6 as an external editor. After processing, the images are automatically saved in the original folders and in the Lightroom collection. I would then proceed in Lightroom to apply additional processing.</p><p>It must be noted that any corrections to an image in Lightroom will not transfer to Optics Pro 6 for processing, as only copies of the original RAW files are processed and outputted as JPG, DNG, or TIF. I found that pictures initially processed through Optics Pro 6 and outputted in DNG format quadrupled the file size of the original, while images outputted in TIF format resulted in an increase of over six times the original file size. This should vary depending on the processing applied. Depending on the resolution and number of images processed, this could become a storage issue for users. <PAGE /></p><h1>Customization</h1><p>Once users have added their photos to a project, they move on to the Customize tab. In this tab, users can choose to accept the previously chosen preset and move on to the Process tab, or start to utilize the impressive number of correction tools available. The tools within Optics Pro 6 are shown in the workspace as pre-defined groups (My First Steps, DxO Essentials, or Advanced User), which show only certain toolsets, or palettes, as DxO references them. Each group can be fully customized, allowing the user to choose what palettes they would like to see on screen, as well as docking the palettes to the left or right side of the screen, or allowing them to float.</p><p>The available palettes include Light, Colour, Geometry, Detail, Tools, Move/Zoom, Histogram, EXIF, and a Preset Editor. Each palette has numerous corrections within it, such as exposure compensation, vignetting, multi-point colour balance, distortion, keystoning/horizon, noise, dust, and chromatic aberration.</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1264385545.usr108523.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><em>Figure 2: Customize Tab</em></p><p>The workspace allows you to preview your images before and after correction. When comparing an original RAW image in Lightroom to the "Before Correction" image in DxO, I found that DxO often shows images as darker and grainer than the original, when using the DxO default processing preset. This is likely due to differences in the RAW convertors of each program, and will not be noticeable to anyone not doing a direct comparison with another image viewing program. The program cycles between the uncorrected and corrected images after the image is first selected from the project pane, and the user can manually adjust the zoom and select the arrow button to click and compare the two images. The hand button or the Move/Zoom palette can be used to move the zoomed area around within the image. I found that when I didn't have the Move/Zoom palette active and wanted to preview the effects of the processing in various areas of a photo, this clicking back and forth between the arrow and hand buttons was time consuming. Allowing the user to click to compare the corrections in either the hand or arrow mode would be an improvement. The workspace is very well laid out, and the customization options of the palettes are user-friendly. The option to use the pre-defined palette groups is a good one, as it allows users to jump in immediately to process images without being buried beneath advanced palettes. As users gain familiarity and confidence with the program, they can progress through the groups to the Advanced User group.</p><p>In the main correction preview window, the program displays a warning that zoom levels below 75% inhibit previewing of chromatic aberration, DxO lens softness, noise correction and dust removal corrections. This may be a limitation of its previewing ability, but it prevents the user from seeing the overall effects of all corrections with the image at lower zoom levels, until the image has been processed completely. Future versions of the software will hopefully allow for these corrections to be previewed at lower zoom levels.</p><p>Shooting with my Nikon D70s and Nikon 18-200mm (27-300mm equivalent) DX VR lens allowed me to fully test the distortion correction. This lens has distortion issues throughout its range, which are especially noticeable with lines in architecture. The automatic distortion correction worked very well on the many images of buildings I processed. Use of wider angle or fisheye lenses would really benefit from the distortion correction tool, as Optics Pro 6 can straighten out circular fisheye distortion images automatically. Using this lens also means that I am limited when shooting indoors, and I often have to resort to shooting at my highest ISO (1600) to produce usable images. The software's noise reduction tool worked extremely well to automatically improve these high ISO shots, removing unwanted luminance noise (graininess that blurs detail) and chrominance (colour noise). DxO also advertises that Optics Pro 6 can essentially boost a camera's ISO level by shooting at EV-1 and then processing the image with EV+1. While this trick works, the user must remember that they shot the image with EV-1, as oddly enough, the EXIF data does not show the exposure compensation from the camera. I was not able to confirm if this was related to my camera or if it is a feature missing from the software, as my exposure compensation information was fully accessible in Lightroom when viewing my EXIF data. Of all the tools within Optics Pro 6, the noise reduction tool was my favorite, and one that users of older cameras such as mine will be able to immediately benefit from. Users of new high ISO digital cameras will be able to shoot in even more challenging low light situations with the knowledge that Optics Pro 6 can automatically correct their images. <PAGE /></p><h2></h2><h1>Processing</h1><p>After selecting the specific corrections for the project images, the user moves on to the Process tab. The user can select the output image format from DNG, TIF or JPG, choose the destination folder and file name suffix, and choose to proceed with processing individual images or the entire batch. For those users processing JPGs rather than RAW images, the program cannot output these images as DNG or TIF files. I found that the processing was relatively quick on my minimum spec computer (Windows XP, 3GHz single core processor, 2GB of RAM), with each RAW image taking an average of 30 seconds to process. Newer computers with faster processors and additional RAM will obviously handle the processing even quicker.</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1264385552.usr108523.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><h2></h2><h2></h2><p><em>Figure 3: Process Tab</em></p><h1>Viewing</h1><p>Upon completion of image processing, users proceed to the View tab, where they can view the processed images as single images or in a side by side comparison. Full zoom capability is present as it was in the Customize tab, and users can choose to go back to the Customize tab to make changes to several or all of their images if they are not satisfied.</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1264385560.usr108523.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><em>Figure 4: View Tab</em></p><h1>Conclusions</h1><p>DxO's Optics Pro 6 does a terrific job of correcting the problems inherent in specific camera bodies and lenses, and in automatically applying corrections for noise reduction and geometry. Its ability to integrate with Lightroom is a welcome feature, and one that many photographers that have already invested in Adobe's workflow management software will appreciate. While the software does have some quirks that DxO will hopefully address in its next release, I found it to be quite powerful, very customizable, and user-friendly. I would recommend Optics Pro 6 to photographers that are looking for software that allows them the option to infinitely tweak their images or process them quickly and automatically, with excellent results.</p><p><em>Matthew Shanks is a Professional Engineer and Project Management Professional, based in Calgary, Alberta. His interests include <a href="http://www.shanksphotography.smugmug.com" target="_blank" title="Shanks Photography">photography</a>, home theater, and gaming. He is happily married and recently welcomed his baby daughter to the family.</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//ppct/auto/1240336793.usr1.gif" /></p><p><strong>Do you enjoy using new hardware, <a class="iAs" href="http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/news/show/93798/dell-s-inspiron-mini-10-reviewed.html" target="_blank">software</a> and accessories, then sharing your experience with others? Then join us on the <a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com/reviewteam.php" target="_blank">Thoughts Media Review Team</a>! We're looking for individuals who find it fun to test new gear and give their honest opinions about the experience. It's a volunteer role with some great perks. Interested? <a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com/reviewteam.php" target="_blank">Then click here for more information.</a></strong></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//ppct/auto/1240336793.usr1.gif" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p>

ptyork
02-12-2010, 04:27 PM
Wow. Great review. I've been wondering about DxO, especially if it made any sense at all in a Lightroom world. Thanks!

Jason Dunn
02-12-2010, 09:52 PM
Nice review Matthew! They've really cleaned up the UI in DXO - which is great, it needed some serious work. :)

Nereus
04-04-2010, 07:07 AM
I have owned/used DxO Optics Pro 6.x for around three months, and I rather like it! It is far superior to Silkypix in many respects.

The "Lens Softness" correction "deconvolution-deblurring" is extremely useful for maximizing image "acuity", and the various other optical corrections are very effective, indeed. The separate "Chrominance" and "Luminance" Noise Reduction controls are a welcome feature, and the NR (used sparingly) is very good at retaining (and not smearing or decimating) image-details.

One important functionality that it lacks (in the case of "raw"/TIF/JPG" processing) is an effective "highlight control" tool. The "Preserve Shadows/Highlights" control in the "Vignetting" palette has very minor effects upon the image. It is true that the "Tone Curve" tool can be used to modify the transfer function (affecting RGB, or any one of the color-channels separately). However, this can be rather tedious to implement. It would really be nice to have a specific, dedicated "highlight controller" tool available.

Additionally, the Histogram display should be adjustable in size (as it is quite small and rather hard to see the finer details), as well as being un-dockable, and independently movable as a separate, floating display window (a welcome feature of Silkypix).

Further, it would be helpful if a "color-wheel" type of display was available in order be able to easily see the actual state of the "H/S/L" tool adjustments (polar: magnitude=S+L; angle=H) as they have been set by the user (a welcome feature of Silkypix).

Version 6.12 (while adding support for the Panasonic DMC-LX3 and DMC-GH1) introduced a very irritating software bug that causes Version 6.12 to (erroneously) refuse to process TIF/JPG image-files that were recorded on other Panasonic camera models (i.e., the DMC-LZ5, DMC-FZ50, and DMC-TZ4). Even more irritating is the fact that this software bug renders the DxO DMC-FZ30 (JPG only) Optical Correction Module completely unusable in DxO Optics Pro 6.12 (which worked fine in Version 6.11). DxO has acknowledged the existence of this software bug, and has communicated that the bug would be remedied by the release of Version 6.13 shortly - but over two months have elapsed since the release of Version 6.12 (with no 6.13 in sight) ... :confused:

There exists a few other (minor) software bugs in Version 6.12 (when installed on WinXP Pro SP3). The Image-Preview (in the "Customize" user interface sometimes disappears at specific control settings, and will only re-appear if that control is adjusted to an adjacent setting, and then returned to back to the original setting. More commonly, the luminous intensity of the Image-Preview and/or the Histogram display will fail to update (despite changes being made to the settings that clearly should modify their appearances). This (usually) requires exiting the "Customize" user interface, and then returning to back to the "Customize" user interface in order to restore the Image-Preview and/or Histogram functionality. Hopefully, they are working to remedy this.

Thus, I am very much looking forward to the release of Version 6.13. Overall, however, I really like DxO Optics Pro 6.x, indeed!

Nereus
05-12-2010, 05:07 AM
DxO Optics Pro Version 6.2 Build 7822 appears to have adequately addressed the previously reported:

" ... software bug that causes Version 6.12 to (erroneously) refuse to process TIF/JPG image-files that were recorded on other Panasonic camera models ... ".

(Finally, after over three months of waiting for a update to Version 6.12 Build 7540) the DMC-FZ30 (JPG only) Optical Correction Module is (once again) operational, and I am also (now) able to process original JPG image-files recorded by the Panasonic DMC-FZ50, DMC-TZ4, and DMC-LZ5 camera models (without having to go through special machinations to strip-off the EXIF data of the image-files). This remedy is very much appreciated.

Jason Dunn
05-14-2010, 05:15 PM
DxO Optics Pro Version 6.2 Build 7822 appears to have adequately addressed the previously reported

Glad to hear they fixed it - too bad it took so long. :(