Any users of DXO OpticsPro about?

UKmitch86

UKmitch86

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350
Name
Mitch
Edit My Images
Yes
I use DPP exclusively at the moment. It does what I need it to, and nothing more.

Having joined a camera club recently, I watched a member demonstrate editing an image on Lightroom and felt I was possibly missing out on the palette of tools in the more advanced converters.

My trouble is, having had two stints of trying to use LR, I cannot get on with the Catalog function, and whilst I'm sure others love it, I don't want a piece of software messing with my images that are stored meticulously in a Windows folder structure.

I am therefore, looking for an alternative - my attention is drawn to DXO by another forum thread I stumbled across offering the v9 software for free via a magazine.

I'll give it a whirl at home, but until then, does anyone use/have-used DXO? What are your feelings toward it?

I remember seeing a demo of version 10 at the photography show in Brum a year or two ago and was using Fuji at the time which it doesn't support. The atmosphere "clean-up" tool (or whatever it was called) looked amazing.
 
I like DXO as a supplement to LR, but not as my main tool. It's too limited: no gradients, brushes and the spot removal tool is no substitute for Adobe's conent-aware cloning tool.

LR will happily work with any file structure you present it with. Save your files as normal, then import from where you placed them and they'll appear in the library window - no reason to move them from the camera with LR. When you save them then export to whatever folder you wish. Want to find a photo in the catalogue - add keywords to the image & search using text.

This is how I work. I hate the computer deciding where stuff should go, so I always save my files in dated folders and then import from the folders.
 
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I'm not sure why you think LR would mess with your file locations. If imported correctly the LR catalog will mimic your folder structure.

I gave DXO a try many years ago and tried v9 when it was released. It's certainly not something I would use as my main editor. You are limited to global adjustments, no brushing etc as stated above.

My advise would be to spend some time watching LR tutorials on youtube and learning how to make the most of it.
 
When you import photos into Lightroom, you can leave them where they are, so there is no change to the structure.

If they are on an SD card then you could copy them from the card to your computer using your usual method, and then import them into your Lightroom Catalog leaving them where they are with the structure you choose.

Just realised I'm repeating what everyone else has said ha ha! Sorry!
 
I really like the lens optimisation the DXO has and it is possible to get great results with very little 'technical knowledge'. However, you need to be careful with the DXO Smart Lighting and Clearview settings. With gentle use you can get some excellent results but it is very easy to get an unnatural HDR look to the images. I also find that the colour rendition is good but doesn't get close to matching Capture One for example. The lack of local adjustments / layers is not ideal.

Also - don't think about using it if you have a Fuji as they're not supported :(
 
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I have used DXO optics pro since version 8, though actually only ever use it on high ISO images. While LR and Nik Dfine are getting closer in noise reduction, imo DXO is still the best RAW converter for images that are pushing the camera's limits.
 
If its just a problem with the Cataloguing of your Photos then try Daminion (stand-alone Version) its Free:- http://daminion.net/

Remember with this type of programme you only get out what you put in, so the more keywords you use the easier to find the photo you want.
 
vintageman said:
I found the biggest disadvantage of DXO was that its very resource hungry and processing is always much slower than LR or PS
Click to expand...

That was certainly true of 8 (terribly slow) but 9 is probably not far off Lightroom.
 
I have been using the 30 day free trial of Optics Pro v11.3 for high iso noise reduction
For me the results are better than I can achieve in lightroom and I will probably buy it at the end of the trial period.
 
I used to use it but then I switched to fuji x mount which Dxo does not support.

I do use it in the business though as one of my clients I process for likes the files. But I only get about 3 jobs a year from him.
 
UKmitch86 said:
I use DPP exclusively at the moment. It does what I need it to, and nothing more.

Having joined a camera club recently, I watched a member demonstrate editing an image on Lightroom and felt I was possibly missing out on the palette of tools in the more advanced converters.

My trouble is, having had two stints of trying to use LR, I cannot get on with the Catalog function, and whilst I'm sure others love it, I don't want a piece of software messing with my images that are stored meticulously in a Windows folder structure.

I am therefore, looking for an alternative - my attention is drawn to DXO by another forum thread I stumbled across offering the v9 software for free via a magazine.

I'll give it a whirl at home, but until then, does anyone use/have-used DXO? What are your feelings toward it?

I remember seeing a demo of version 10 at the photography show in Brum a year or two ago and was using Fuji at the time which it doesn't support. The atmosphere "clean-up" tool (or whatever it was called) looked amazing.
Click to expand...
If you like the files, try capture one, best output for me.
You can get close with lightroom but takes more work.
 
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