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Author Topic: Introduction and Tutorial to DXO Optics Pro V5  (Read 23555 times)

alainbriot

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Introduction and Tutorial to DXO Optics Pro V5
« Reply #20 on: April 02, 2008, 11:02:19 am »

Hello everyone,

I am pleased that my update is being helpful in answering the many questions that readers have about DxO 5.  Here are a few more solutions that were emailed to me following Michael posting the update:


A - Applying image corrections to several images at once.
Here are several solutions to apply image corrections to several images at once:

1 - Make all your corrections then create a preset for these corrections.  You can then apply this preset to any photo.  You can also use the command "load with preset" when selecting the images.

2 - Copy and paste the settings from one image to another or to a group of images.  When you are done with adjusting the settings for a specific image, go to the Prepare tab, right click on the image in the scrolling image well at the bottom of the screen, and select "copy setting" from the drop down menu that comes up after you right-click on the image.  Then, staying in the image well at the bottom of the screen, select all the images that you want to apply this setting to with Control-A, right click, and select "paste settings."

3 - Create a stack of images and apply the preset or copy the settings to the stack.


B - Batch Processing (from Jim Nash)
1 - Choose one photo to apply your corrections to
2 - After that photo is spotlighted on your screen select all of the other photos that you wish any changes to apply to (these will not appear on the main screen but any changes you apply to the first photo will also be applied to
the others selected).
3 - Select "process" and go get a cup of coffee.  My Mac Pro (quad processor) works on 4 images at a time and takes about 36 seconds to do the 4 images- a net of 9 images per transformation (running Windows).


C - Mac version
The day after I wrote my update I received an email from DxO saying that the Mac Beta Version won't be released until sometime this April.  As it stands we may not have a Mac version until this Summer... Realistically, the Mac and Windows versions should be made available at the same time, or within a reasonable time delay, not 6 months to a year apart.  Again, here too this is turning some loyal users away from DxO for no other reason than not having the software available for their platform.

Again, if you have any comments or questions simply email me at alain@beautiful-landscape.com
« Last Edit: April 02, 2008, 03:28:11 pm by alainbriot »
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Introduction and Tutorial to DXO Optics Pro V5
« Reply #21 on: April 02, 2008, 03:20:49 pm »

Alain,

Thanks for both the update and the update to the update. You have answered all my questions very clearly. I had wondered about the issue of "Applying image corrections to several images at once" because I have been using presets regularly in earlier versions. It's good to have that cleared up.

And I certainly hope they do get their revisions on a speedier schedule.
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Farkled

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Introduction and Tutorial to DXO Optics Pro V5
« Reply #22 on: April 02, 2008, 07:53:21 pm »

1) - Thank you for the updates and this thread.

2) - I agree with Stuarte when he said that he now has a decision to make about complexity and expense.

I'm still in the 2 week trial of V5 and have found:

* - that for "push the button" automated conversion of several hundred images to JPG for distribution to the family, DxO is demonstrably superior to DPP.

* - that for intense effort work (not being expert at either) I find that DxO and ACR are about equal, but different.  DPP loses.

* - after washing through PS, they seem mostly equal (ACR, DxO, DPP)

Perhaps, one of these days, you might wish to write an article about all of the tools that you are experimenting with and find to be of value; i.e., Photomatic, PhotoAcute, etc.  I check Outback Photo every couple days and find that the reviews are not as useful as the article just written - especially the paragraph about which converter you use when and why.
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NikosR

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Introduction and Tutorial to DXO Optics Pro V5
« Reply #23 on: April 03, 2008, 04:10:17 am »

Quote
ευχαριστώ Niko.  Good advice, although the version I'm trialing is the older 4.5 on the Mac.  Version 5.0 hasn't been released for Mac yet.  And from what I'm reading, it seems the developers are exactly speedy in ironing out bugs or enhancing usability.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=186399\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Stuarte you're welcome. Not often you meet non-Greeks in forums speaking a bit of the language. How come?
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« Reply #24 on: April 03, 2008, 04:15:27 am »

Regarding batch processing, be aware that quite a few users (including me) have discovered a memory leak problem in current DxO release (under XP) which will result to dxO crashing due to virtual storage limitations when trying to process many images. Your mileage may vary depending on image size and OS configuration  but most users get hit by this when trying to process more than 200-300 images in a batch.
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Stuarte

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« Reply #25 on: April 03, 2008, 04:49:18 am »

Quote
Stuarte you're welcome. Not often you meet non-Greeks in forums speaking a bit of the language. How come?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=186665\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I love learning languages and I have friends on Syros, so I took some Greek evening classes.  Great, great language, even Νεοελληνική Κοινή, let alone Καθαρεύουσα.  Also very photogenic place and people.
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sojournerphoto

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« Reply #26 on: April 03, 2008, 10:07:05 am »

Quote
1) - Thank you for the updates and this thread.

2) - I agree with Stuarte when he said that he now has a decision to make about complexity and expense.

I'm still in the 2 week trial of V5 and have found:

* - that for "push the button" automated conversion of several hundred images to JPG for distribution to the family, DxO is demonstrably superior to DPP.

* - that for intense effort work (not being expert at either) I find that DxO and ACR are about equal, but different.  DPP loses.

* - after washing through PS, they seem mostly equal (ACR, DxO, DPP)

Perhaps, one of these days, you might wish to write an article about all of the tools that you are experimenting with and find to be of value; i.e., Photomatic, PhotoAcute, etc.  I check Outback Photo every couple days and find that the reviews are not as useful as the article just written - especially the paragraph about which converter you use when and why.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=186565\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]



After my earlier comments I had another go at DX05 last night and succeeded in converting 5 images without any artefacts being left all over my screen. Comments in comparison to LR/ACR for the 5D are basically below:

* Colour rendering in DXo is much better than LR, even after LR calibration it is easier to get to my desired endpoint. However, LR has some really useful colour controls that DXo lacks. I still prefer the approach DXo takes to white balance to that of LR.

* Lighting engine in DXo seems improved over v4.x and offers a useful alternative to some of LRs functionality. Makes some images sing with much less effort than LR/CS3 approaches. Both have their place here I think, as the LR exposure, blacks, recovery and fill lsiders are very helpful.

* Lens softness in DXo is excellent, but there are some glaring omissions from the supported lens list, e.g. does nobody else use a 100m f2.8 macro on a 5D!. The usm in DXo is very good, but the LR capture sharpening is outstanding in its flexibility.

* LR/ACR has vastly improved demosaicing than the ealier versions (pre v4) that means that it is now very close (maybe even equal to) to DXo. I got some output from DXo that looked better than the bare output from LR, but there could be differences in capture sharpening that would deal with this.

* Obviously DXo does a good job at automated optical correction with supported lens body combinations, which LR doesn't. However, there are some galring omissions, including the 1Ds3!!!! and the Canon 100 2.8 macro on full frame. As an aside (Alan, you may be able to flag this to DXo??) Canon appear to be recording the focus distance in the exif data of the 1Ds3 and I think in the 5D for firmware 1.0.6 on - DXo should be able to read this and improve the automated function.

* The dust function works well on both, and on DXo can be used to remove hot pixels (night exposure - 2.5s at iso 1600)

* LR has an absolutely brilliant interface and workflow that DXO would do well to emulate or to improve integration with.

Overall as a converter I still prefer DXo to LR/ACR, but like the LR workflow and the stability. I am still not happy with the LR colour rendering and even notice this on my GX100, where reds in particular are rendered radically different from the camera jpeg - which is actually pretty good in this respect.

At least this thread has got me looking at DXo seriously again as one of my tools. I will be very pleased when they get v5 running better, introduce support for the 1Ds3 and tidy up the gaps in the supported body/lens lineup.

Mike
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Introduction and Tutorial to DXO Optics Pro V5
« Reply #27 on: April 03, 2008, 12:38:24 pm »

Mike,

Thanks for the excellent mini-review of DxO 5. I, too, have been waiting for a long time for the 100 macro on the 5D to be supported. Not exactly a new camera or a new lens, either.

Eric
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NikosR

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« Reply #28 on: April 04, 2008, 03:55:09 am »

I've never seen a macro lens supported for any camera, although I haven't checked lately.
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alainbriot

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Introduction and Tutorial to DXO Optics Pro V5
« Reply #29 on: April 04, 2008, 10:41:42 am »

A couple more things I wanted to mention about DxO 5.

First, there is now a book available on DxO 5.  Unfortunately it's only in French but the content is excellent.  It is written as a tutorial, very much like my essay, but it goes much further being 160 pages long.  Here is the link to the book, titled DXO pour les Photographes on Amazon.fr:

http://www.amazon.fr/DxO-pour-photographes...07319845&sr=8-1

If you can read French, like DxO and want a detailed tutorial this fits the bill.  I have a copy and I attest that it is written in a very clear and practical manner, has a detailed table of contents and covers DxO 5 in great detail.

Second, several readers pointed out that DxO 5 won't run on Vista either.  I think that's because 64 bit is not supported, be it Vista or Windows XP.  I asked DxO about that and they confirmed that DxO 5 is not supported and not designed to run under either platform.  They are working on an update but have no release date as of now.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2008, 10:49:08 am by alainbriot »
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Misirlou

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« Reply #30 on: April 04, 2008, 11:14:32 am »

Quote
Second, several readers pointed out that DxO 5 won't run on Vista either.  I think that's because 64 bit is not supported, be it Vista or Windows XP.  I asked DxO about that and they confirmed that DxO 5 is not supported and not designed to run under either platform.  They are working on an update but have no release date as of now.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=187008\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

DXO runs fine on 32 bit Vista.

I suspect the reason that DXO doesn't spend resources developing corrections for macro lenses is that they aren't generally needed. Even my cheap Sigma macro is extremely well controlled. No perceivable distortion, CA, fringing, etc. I don't really need any corrections for it.

On the other hand, the sophisticated DXO lens corrections for zooms allow me to get some really nice results from lenses that have awful CA and loads of distortion. (And I'd say PTlens gets you about 85% of that lens improvement for a lot less money, though obviously it can't do all of the other things DXO can.)

I've postulated before that we may reach a point where lens makers can simplify their optical formulas by allowing all kind of optical flaws that will be automatically corrected in post processing. That way, the lenses could be smaller, faster, lighter, and much cheaper to manufacture. If you think about it, Canon is almost there now. If you buy a Canon DSLR with one of the kit lenses, DPP can automatically correct many of the optical faults they have, and DXO can do even better.

I know I'm admitting heresy (and will draw fire from the matters/doesn't matter warriors), but I've actually taken some pretty decent pictures with an 18-55 before. DXO can fix the horrible distortion and CA pretty completely. I wouldn't rely on one for paid work, but it's pretty cool to get a great 8X10 from a cheap crop DSLR with an essentially disposable lens.
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sojournerphoto

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« Reply #31 on: April 05, 2008, 07:26:29 pm »

Quote
I've never seen a macro lens supported for any camera, although I haven't checked lately.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=186950\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

DXo actually supports the 100 macro for the 20D, so it's a mystery why the 5D isn't supported. I know the lens is already excellent, but even without the geometry corrections I think the lens blur function could add even more to what is already excellent.

Mike


Alain,

thanks for your comments and further notes.

Mike
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Stuarte

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« Reply #32 on: April 13, 2008, 10:07:02 am »

After a couple of weeks of checking out DxO Pro on my Macs, I'm impressed with some of the results but EXTREMELY frustrated with the interface and workflow.  

When they eventually get round to releasing V 5.0 for Mac, I'll check it out again.  Until then, I'm keeping my money.
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AJSJones

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Introduction and Tutorial to DXO Optics Pro V5
« Reply #33 on: April 15, 2008, 08:44:10 pm »

Quote
After a couple of weeks of checking out DxO Pro on my Macs, I'm impressed with some of the results but EXTREMELY frustrated with the interface and workflow. 
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=189196\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Reminds me of RealViz Stitcher's nonstandard(weird) interface, documentation and (lack of) manual (but it's capable of great results).  Do the French software producers in general approach that aspect of software similarly, and if so, why?  Or is it just coincidental?  Or does that approach work as "intuitive" for French users?  There has to be a reason they make them the way the do, doesn't there?
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NikoJorj

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« Reply #34 on: April 16, 2008, 06:15:16 am »

Quote
Do the French software producers in general approach that aspect of software similarly, and if so, why?  Or is it just coincidental?  Or does that approach work as "intuitive" for French users? 
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=189824\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
First : No, it's not easier for us Frenchies  .
We could dissert for hours about cultural differences between France and the barb... errr, sorry, outside world, but that would lead us very far away from photography...  

PS : you know, Qimage is being developped by a guy living in FL         .
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Stuarte

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« Reply #35 on: April 16, 2008, 06:35:15 am »

I couldn't give a rat's ass about the nationality of the developers.  Je m'en fous royalement.

DxO is an application that delivers impressive results but the interface of 4.5 has stumped me so far and, while I'm at it, the pricing policy sucks.  Ils pourraient faire mieux.
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alainbriot

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« Reply #36 on: April 20, 2008, 03:18:29 pm »

The public Mac Beta version of DxO 5 is now available:

http://dxo.com/intl/photo/dxo_optics_pro/beta_mac
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Alain Briot
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barryfitzgerald

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« Reply #37 on: April 21, 2008, 10:30:42 am »

I am still wondering, aside from the obvious distortion corrections, what exactly this software is offering, that is so compulsive. Maybe I missed something, sure its ok..but far from the best I have used overall.

Now I am not suggesting Alain is being easier on them, on the basis that I believe they are a french company or anything like that ;-) But..hmmm, I think they can do better, speed wise it not too amazing either, even on a decent pc.

Quick note to Alain, like you shots on your site, but I think you are undercharging for prints ;-) lol
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Stuarte

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« Reply #38 on: April 21, 2008, 10:49:18 am »

Quote
I am still wondering, aside from the obvious distortion corrections, what exactly this software is offering, that is so compulsive. Maybe I missed something, sure its ok..but far from the best I have used overall.

What other applications are out there offering comparable distortion correction?  I've found it most striking on the EOS 5D + 100-400 mm combination - less so with the 24-105 mm.
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NikoJorj

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« Reply #39 on: April 21, 2008, 03:43:02 pm »

Quote
What other applications are out there offering comparable distortion correction? 
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=190981\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
[stating the obvious]
Well, PTLens... Not exactly the same league in terms of use, but not the same price either.
[/stating the obvious]
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Nicolas from Grenoble
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