DxO trial period almost up
With only 7 days left of my trial version of DxO Optics Pro 4.2 and DxO FilmPack I have to decide what I really think about these products. In my limited time, I have come to love DxO FilmPack and will definately want to purchase that program, I am not as sure of DxO Optics Pro. While I do like the batch edit option, sometimes it's the individual attention to a picture that makes it spectacular. It didn't seem to adjust any differently than I was able to adjust the same pictures in Photoshop CS2 with the very big exception to the contrast and saturation settings with DxO - they really can make a picture pop. Although I don't doubt CS2's ability to do this very same thing, the simplicity of DxO is it's ultimate appeal, and also what makes me somewhat reserved about it as well. I think DxO may be a bit limited in what it can do, but I can always use CS2 for those special situations. I like how DxO FilmPack loads into CS2 for easy accessing. That is awesome, and I love some of the B&W settings - they remind me a lot of how my photos looked when I was processing my own B&W negs and pics in photography 1 and 2 in high school.
I'll probably have to do a bit more research into Optics Pro to determine if I can live without it. At the very least, it may be a ways down the road before it's purchased. Although the new camera may make the need for that program more intense. We shall have to see.
So, talk to me about RAW images. How does this work? How huge are the files? Is there even much of a need to accurately compose the shot if it can all be redone in post production?
Help me Obi Wan Kenobi...you're my only hope...
posted by Naamah @ 6:32 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
For me DxO isn't really about results I can't get anywhere else, it's the time I save getting there. My DxO workflow is about four times faster than my Photoshop workflow, and that's really nice when I'm going through 130 pictures from a band show. And you can still pay individual attention to each photo even in a large batch, it's really no different than doing an individual picture, just load them all into DxO, correct them individually in the Enhance tab and process them.
The deal with RAW is that it gives you more room to do extreme color correction than JPG. If you're not really doing all that much with your colors, or even using pictures with no correction at all, save yourself the processing time and space on your memory card and shoot JPG. On the other hand, if you're like me and like going for crazy looks, RAW might just be for you.
The biggest advantage of RAW, I think, is the shadow detail. At low ISOs you can bring up incredible amounts of detail out of the shadows with very little noise. Like you can shoot an indoor scene with a window in it, expose for the light outside the window, and boost the interior in post and it'll look great. On the other hand, though, there's not much you can do about clipped highlights. Even in RAW you still have to expose for the highlights, but the range you get in the shadows makes up for it.
Ah. I get it. Thanks.
Ok. So after spending easily 3 hours adjusting only about 50 of the 122 pictures I took yesterday I decided to put the remaining images through the batch edit in DxO. I have to say that it did it quickly, I didn't have to do it individually like in Photoshop and now I have decided I can't live without this program. Crap.
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