DXO Optics Pro and Lightroom

[Richard Marcellus]

Do you think that it is very likely that DXO will create a Lightroom plug-in version of Optics Pro? I appreciate the DXO optical corrections, but I would really prefer to access them within Lightroom (or a future Camera Raw) instead of using DXO's own raw converter (which I find a bit lacking).

I currently batch process images through DXO OP, output as .dng, then continue in CameraRaw, but this more labour intensive, and it means that I forego use of any of DXO's image specific touch-ups such as their lighting controls.

Do you have any contacts over there that you could nudge in the right direction?

Richard

[David White]

I'd like to second this.  I use DxO Optics but really don't like the extra steps required doing the corrections out of Camera RAW.  The only feature I use in DxO is the lens correction since I prefer to do other corrections in Camera RAW.    A plug-in would be a welcome feature.

[Graham Welland]

I'd like to second this.  I use DxO Optics but really don't like the extra steps required doing the corrections out of Camera RAW.  The only feature I use in DxO is the lens correction since I prefer to do other corrections in Camera RAW.    A plug-in would be a welcome feature.
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I found that a workflow of loading raw images into DxO for lens correction and writing .DNG files works well. I then import the DNG files as my raw files for processing by camera raw. It's not ideal but workable.

[thomas_moran]

A bit off topic but... I really like what DXO does in terms of lens correction but it drives me nuts that for every shot I have to manually put in focus distance. I was under the impression that the focus distance info is imbedded in the RAW file so I don't understand why DXO needs me to put in the info myself)... Anyways if DXO made it so I could batch process all my shots before I work on them I wouldn't care how long it took to process, I can leave the computer for a couple of hours and go do something else... If they could fix that one issue I would be all over it like white on rice.

Thomas

[Graham Welland]

A bit off topic but... I really like what DXO does in terms of lens correction but it drives me nuts that for every shot I have to manually put in focus distance. I was under the impression that the focus distance info is imbedded in the RAW file so I don't understand why DXO needs me to put in the info myself)... Anyways if DXO made it so I could batch process all my shots before I work on them I wouldn't care how long it took to process, I can leave the computer for a couple of hours and go do something else... If they could fix that one issue I would be all over it like white on rice.

Thomas
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It's camera system dependent. With Nikon images using AFS/AFD lenses the distance information is automatically present in the NEF file and hence you don't need to enter the distance info. That's true for both my D2X and D70s.

With my Sony R1 I have to enter the zoom range for each jpg shot. Unfortunately, if I recall correctly, I had to do the same with my Canon 20D with raw too.

I think in this case the ommission lies with the camera manufacturer rather than DxO. Regardless, it's a pain to do if you have a lot of images, plus you often have to guess the approximate distance too.

[thomas_moran]

It's camera system dependent. With Nikon images using AFS/AFD lenses the distance information is automatically present in the NEF file and hence you don't need to enter the distance info. That's true for both my D2X and D70s.

With my Sony R1 I have to enter the zoom range for each jpg shot. Unfortunately, if I recall correctly, I had to do the same with my Canon 20D with raw too.

I think in this case the ommission lies with the camera manufacturer rather than DxO. Regardless, it's a pain to do if you have a lot of images, plus you often have to guess the approximate distance too.
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If anyone can correct me on this please do but I recall using one of the first versions of DXO (where you had to download each lens correction) and I didn't have to put in the focus distance (that was with my 10D). Have canon made it so that on the 20D and 5D you can't read the focus info?? Can anyone set the record straight for us? The reason this gets me wound up is that I love everything about the software but this one issue is a deal breaker for my workflow.

Thomas

[Graham Welland]

If anyone can correct me on this please do but I recall using one of the first versions of DXO (where you had to download each lens correction) and I didn't have to put in the focus distance (that was with my 10D). Have canon made it so that on the 20D and 5D you can't read the focus info?? Can anyone set the record straight for us? The reason this gets me wound up is that I love everything about the software but this one issue is a deal breaker for my workflow.

Thomas
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I can tell you for a fact that 20D images shot using the 10-22 lens need to have the focus distance entered manually for accurate lens correction on DxO Optics 3 & 3.5. You need to select either a close up range 0-.3m, .4 - 1m or over 1m, alternatively you can enter a more exact distance if you know it. I don't have any of my 17-40L raw files on this computer to check but I'm sure that I had to select the focus distance for those too.

[blowery]

I can tell you for a fact that 20D images shot using the 10-22 lens need to have the focus distance entered manually for accurate lens correction on DxO Optics 3 & 3.5. You need to select either a close up range 0-.3m, .4 - 1m or over 1m, alternatively you can enter a more exact distance if you know it. I don't have any of my 17-40L raw files on this computer to check but I'm sure that I had to select the focus distance for those too.
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Huh, that's crazy!  I've never had to enter focus distances with my 10D (17-40, 70-200 f4L, 100mm macro).  Odd that it would be lacking in later camera models..

[David White]

Huh, that's crazy!  I've never had to enter focus distances with my 10D (17-40, 70-200 f4L, 100mm macro).  Odd that it would be lacking in later camera models..
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I just checked a RAW file from my 20D with a 17-40L and there is no information in the Subject Distance or Subject Distance Range fields.

For about 99% of my shots I can set the DxO distance to more than 1.3m and apply the setting to all the images before starting the batch process.

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David White

[blowery]

I just checked a RAW file from my 20D with a 17-40L and there is no information in the Subject Distance or Subject Distance Range fields.

For about 99% of my shots I can set the DxO distance to more than 1.3m and apply the setting to all the images before starting the batch process.

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David White
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I just checked for the same info in my raw files from my 10D with that lens, and I too do not have any distance info.  I'm set up to use the Expert Controls and I'm not seeing any warnings about setting focus distance.  How odd.  I'm using the latest update of 3.5.

[budjames]

I'm considering buying DXO Optics Pro5 to correct distortion with my various Canon L lenses so I installed the demo and set it up as an 2nd external editor in LR 2.1. I also recently upgraded Photoshop to CS4.

What I noticed is that although DXO does a great job of correction vertical perspectives, the Lens Correction filter in CS4 does a great job too. So far I've found with a number of architectural images shot with my 1DsMkIII and Canon 24-105 IS L lens, that if I correct chromatic aberations in LR2, export to PS CS4 to correct perspective distortion with the Lens Correction filter, and then finish all other adjustments in LR, that the result is as good as using DXO.

The good news is that I don't have to purchase and learn yet another expensive and complex piece of software.

I was curious if anyone else has had a chance to explore the LR/PS CS4 combination results and compare to the latest version of DXO Optics Pro?

Cheers.

Bud James

[NikosR]

CS lens geometric distortion correction is manual. I have not tried CS4 but I think that the same applies here? Also, can you correct complex geometric distortions in CS4?  DxO correction is automatic for the lenses where modules are available. Same applies to chromatic aberrations correction.

Which version of DxO have you tried? The latest version had a problem exporting raws from LR external editor function so you might have very well ended up exporting TIFFs where DxO could not find the respective lens module. Download and try the latest build which was made available just yesterday to fix that or, alternatively open the file first in DxO, convert with that with just the lens corrections applied, output DNG and import the DNG into LR.

[budjames]

CS lens geometric distortion correction is manual. I have not tried CS4 but I think that the same applies here? Also, can you correct complex geometric distortions in CS4?  DxO correction is automatic for the lenses where modules are available. Same applies to chromatic aberrations correction.

Which version of DxO have you tried? The latest version had a problem exporting raws from LR external editor function so you might have very well ended up exporting TIFFs where DxO could not find the respective lens module. Download and try the latest build which was made available just yesterday to fix that or, alternatively open the file first in DxO, convert with that with just the lens corrections applied, output DNG and import the DNG into LR.

I am using the latest version, but I downloaded it 4 days ago. I'll see if there is a more current version on the DXO web site.

Bud

[NikosR]

I am using the latest version, but I downloaded it 4 days ago. I'll see if there is a more current version on the DXO web site.

Bud

You need build 7247 (not 7246) (that's for Win. For Mac it's different build numbers).  Version number is the same (5.3.0).

Just use the download manager and download again the short download (about 80MB...). Don't worry if the DM shows build 7246, you should get 7247. You can check that on the startup splash screen or in 'about Dxo..'

[budjames]

I've downloaded the latest version of DXO for Mac to demo. I love LR 2.1 and I have been converting my various Canon RAW files to DNG for archive purposes and to avoid misplacing XMP files. For 95%+ of my images, LR does everything I need, including printing. I find myself using PS CS3 (now CS4) less these days except for images with serious problems or for when I want to do creative pixel mashing.

Now that I'm playing with DXO, I really like the lens distortion and perspective correction capabilities. Aside from that, I think that the RAW conversions are on par with LR. Unfortunately, these features only work automatically with RAW files as DXO does not read DNG files and the auto features do not work on TIF files.

The DXO LR Plugin seems to work, but I have to keep original RAW files in order for DXO to do its thing. I'm looking for suggestions on how to incorporate DXO for Mac and LR into my workflow and, hopefully, be able to use DNG as my normal file format.

Cheers.
Bud James

[NikosR]

Decide which files will need lens corrections early on. For these, convert with DxO applying lens corrections and output linear DNGs to import in LR. For the rest use your standard workflow with mosaiced DNG's. You end up with both linear and mosaiced DNG's in LR but this is the best you can do if you want to work with both DxO and LR and only see DNGs in the LR database. Or, of course, you can always convert everything by DxO to linear DNG's, import to LR and hope that LR corrections on these linear DNG's are not significantly inferior than on raw or mosaiced DNGs.

EDIT:

BTW Using the DxO export plugin from LR (DxO as external editor) as a standard workflow is a high risk option IMO. Both from the point of view of future support and compatibility and from the point of view of the health of the LR catalog.

The reason for my view is the fact that DxO implements a non-standard (I understand it as not Adobe supported) way of interacting with LR. Normally LR passes a TIFF to an external editor when the original file is raw. DxO has a way of getting to and retrieving the original raw and pass back a converted TIFF. That's non standard as I understand it, hence there are questions if this method will work with future versions of LR. Additionaly, it would make me doubly careful when using this method, making sure I have a very recent backup of the LR catalog before using the DxO export plugin.

I think the two other alternative methods of integrating DxO and LR workflows (1. raw from file system -> DxO -> DNG / TIFF -> LR and 2. raw from LR catalog -> DxO -> DNG / TIFF -> LR) are much safer.

[Tklimek]

I would not be at all surprised if LR had both lens distortion correction capabilities and soft proofing within 6 months.  :-)

These seem to be the two biggest features that folks use other programs to "shell out to".

Cheers....

Todd in Chicago

[areohbee]

Y'all may be interested in the new DxOh Lightroom plugin:

DxOh

[Ligament]

Just a warning; DXO optics Pro edits in Adobe RGB color space internally, not Prophoto. It will output files with prophoto colorspace labels, but since all internal manipulations are in aRGB, I think such a label is misleading.