DxO PureRAW4

[AlanLichty]

DxO released PureRAW 4 today with some fairly major updates to the user interface and sharper levels of details on the processed files. My favorite feature is the ability to Preview the image before processing along with the ability to tweak the parameters of what the application will do for the file. If you do tweak the processing parameters those settings will be used for the Quick Process option where you can select a group of files and process them all at once. There are several ways to open your images files now directly now by right clicking on the RAW file and then jumping directly into your preferred processing option.

For the record I have been part of DxO's beta testing since the end of October and you actually have seen some of the results from my own tests with this new version but I wasn't allowed to mention the beta versions. I have actually processed a lot of images with PR4 but in most cases deleted the outputs and reprocessed the images using version 3.7.

A couple of examples I did go ahead and post:

A good description of the new version can be found here

 

[Jameel Hyder]

I saw the update announcement. So you think this is worth the upgrade from v3?

 

[AlanLichty]

Definitely.

 

[AlanLichty]

This is a 100% crop of the barge in the scene at the top using the 70mm lens (in 48MP mode) on a Mavic 3 Pro drone processed with PureRAW 4. Click through for full size version.

 

[JimFox]

Since I just bought PureRaw 3 like 2 weeks ago, I wonder if I have to pay for PureRaw 4 then as well? That would be a real rip off if I did.

 

[JimFox]

I just sent an email to their support, because on my Account page it is showing I would have to pay another $79 to now get PureRaw4.

 

[AlanLichty]

That was why I asked you about whether you had gone for the trial or if you bought it. The last version of the beta looked like a serious release candidate and it turned out it was.

 

[Kyle Jones]

I'm seeing a big difference between 3 and 4 in how the files look. 4 looks a lot brighter and more saturated straight out of the converter. I'm going to have to play for a bit to tweak my processing.

 

[AlanLichty]

I was having trouble jumping back and forth between the versions because of the differences.

There is data in the metafile of the finished jpg files showing that PureRAW4 was used if you go into Photoshop and brought up the raw metafile data under File>File Info so I couldn't post the images I was using for testing. Recreating the PR4 processed image for images I wanted to post with PR3 never really quite got the same results.

 

[JimFox]

That was why I asked you about whether you had gone for the trial or if you bought it. The last version of the beta looked like a serious release candidate and it turned out it was.

Yeah, problem was I didn't know you were a beta tester for PureRaw or I would have asked you before I bought it.

So I got a reply back, they told me how much greater PureRaw4 was over PureRaw3, but sorry we can't help that you just paid $79 a few weeks ago, you will have to pay $79 again if you want this great upgrade....

It's really leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

This is really souring me on DXO. I was about to pay for the PhotoLab7 upgrade, but after essentially getting screwed out of $79, the thought of spending even a penny more towards DXO makes me sick to my stomach.

So you are telling me that if someone bought the PureRaw3 upgrade the day before PureRaw4 was released they would be out of luck as well??? That's what they are saying. It really is some bad business on their part.

 

[AlanLichty]

Wow - that's pretty harsh on DxO's part. I was thinking they might give you a bit of a break on that.

I would definitely not purchase PhotoLab7 at this point anyway. There is a parallel copy of PureRAW in PhotoLab7 that just got an upgrade from 7.4 to 7.5 the day before yesterday and PureRAW 4 isn't part of it. That suggests that there will likely be a Photolab 8 coming soon that will require $$ for the upgrade.

 

[JimFox]

Wow - that's pretty harsh on DxO's part. I was thinking they might give you a bit of a break on that.

I would definitely not purchase PhotoLab7 at this point anyway. There is a parallel copy of PureRAW in PhotoLab7 that just got an upgrade from 7.4 to 7.5 the day before yesterday and PureRAW 4 isn't part of it. That suggests that there will likely be a Photolab 8 coming soon that will require $$ for the upgrade.

Good to know Alan.

I am not sure I would buy PhotoLab 8 at this point, but maybe in a few months I will feel less insulted by it all and pick it up.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

I downloaded the trial and run a couple of files through both v3 and v4 which needed a lot of shadow recovery. I used the same settings in ACR and opened in PS. Then I overlayed both of them as layers and used the blend mode as difference to see any differences. I saw a complete black screen implying both of them were identical. The files were from 5D Mark III.

Will play with it some more.

Alan, is it possible for you to post the v3 and v4 of the images from this thread?

 

[AlanLichty]

Those images were never processed using PR3 - I liked them as PR4 and finished the edits in Lightroom and Photoshop. I could easily replicate the settings in Lightroom but I would not be able to replicate the specific edits in Photoshop. I will see what I can do to replicate the 1:1 crop of the barge entirely in Lightroom since I can sync the edits.

 

[AlanLichty]

OK - two images - one in PureRAW3.7 and one in PureRAW 4. The PR3 version is synched to the edit settings of the PR4 image so they have identical preparation including the crop. The crop is for 100% at full resolution which is just below the 3000 pixel limit for gallery shots so blow it to 100% and you are looking at a 1:1 pixel level.

PureRAW v3.7

PureRAW v4

 

[Jameel Hyder]

OK - two images - one in PureRAW3.7 and one in PureRAW 4. The PR3 version is synched to the edit settings of the PR4 image so they have identical preparation including the crop. The crop is for 100% at full resolution which is just below the 3000 pixel limit for gallery shots so blow it to 100% and you are looking at a 1:1 pixel level.

PureRAW v3.7
View attachment 70450

PureRAW v4
View attachment 70451

thanks Alan. Appreciate the effort. I can see clear differences even at web resolutions.

I should try some of my drone images as well. I was comparing output from ACR with no PS edits with DSLR images.

 

[AlanLichty]

thanks Alan. Appreciate the effort. I can see clear differences even at web resolutions.

I should try some of my drone images as well. I was comparing output from ACR with no PS edits with DSLR images.

Both of these are Lightroom/ACR edits. The edits were done when I was working on the PR4 version I posted a few weeks back. I made a new version of the image using PR3 and once it was back in Lightroom I selected the original PR4 image and the PR3 image and sync'ed them. If I were doing this from scratch my edits for the PR3 version would likely be different. I don't use presets all that much and like to edit each image to meet the need. I did bring both images into Photoshop to convert the color space to sRGB and output as a jpegs.

Viewing at 100% the images are not reduced - I cropped the barge out of a full 48MP image to get down to just under 3000 pixels wide so I could upload them to the gallery. One of the spots that shows the differences well is to compare the area where the Glacier sign is on the barge.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

I tried a half a dozen images with both v3 and v4 in the way I described above (bringing both in PS as layers and setting the blend mode of the top one as difference)

With some images I don't see any difference. With some I do and here is what I am seeing.

- Detail is better
- Luminosity is a bit darker
- Contrast is better

I am seeing better results with v4 esp. with higher ISO images. Small sample size caveat

 

[JimFox]

Hey Alan,

This is in regards to PhotoLab 7 not PureRaw, but the answer might pertain to both.

I am using PhotoLabs with the NR on some of my wedding photos I recently captured. It got a bit dark in the reception and I want a cleaner image. PhotoLab on the highest NR is doing great.

But when I go to save them as a DNG, it only will let me save them as 72 PPI. Not 300 PPI. If I save them as Tiff's, I can choose 300 PPI. So why can't I do it with DNG? Any idea? I set up a completely new Export Profile as DNG to double check, and it defaults to 72 PPI and won't let me change it.

Thanks!

@AlanLichty

 

[AlanLichty]

I am a little confused as to where you are getting the dialogue for PPI with a DNG output. If I directly open a DNG file from my drone (not via Lightroom as I usually do) and specify Export as a DNG file to disk there is no PPI adjustment on my screen:

I get a different dialogue box if I specify Export to Photoshop as a DNG but still no PPI options:

The results were the same whether I used a Canon RAW file (CR2 file) or a DNG from my drone.

What are the presets you have created? Do they have any resizing enabled within the settings?

What version of Photolab are you running? The current version is 7.7.1.