By Carl Berger
Do you have a high-end digital camera similar to a Canon Powershot Pro, Kodak P850, Minolta A2, Nikon Coolpix 8800, or Sony F828 and are trying new features as you use it? Have you been experimenting with pictures that have a lot of highlights and shadow? Changing the ISO to get sharper shots in low light? And how about taking pictures of tall buildings in a single shot? If any of that sounds familiar, then DxO Optics Pro Starter Edition can make all the difference in a so-so shot, resulting in one worthy of framing that gets grudging praise from colleagues still using film!
I have a Konica-Minolta A2 and have been impressed with its many features, so when I saw the DxO home page it looked as though Optics Pro might have some solutions I've spent hours trying to achieve with Photoshop. The clickable "FREE Demo" button didn't hurt either. So I downloaded and took it for a test run.
First a bit about demos; I hate the ones that cripple features, or put watermarks on results. I don't mind time limits, or even use limits, as long as they aren't too short. I do still have work to get done. So I was pleased to find that DxO's demo was full-featured, and gave results I could use and print.
There are restrictions of course. A 21-day limit and 30 uses. It is also limited to five pictures in a single batch operation. But within a few hours I had adjusted over 60 pictures. I did about six trying all the features, and the rest in batch mode (more about that later). The unrestricted licensed version has none of those restrictions, which I'll be using on a Mac PowerBook G4 using the Tiger OS.
Overview
Installation is straightforward, and the activation code is a set of hyphenated words rather than the impossibly long sequence of numbers and letters some companies use, some of which include the letter O and the number 0 in a font making it impossible to tell the difference.
The first thing you'll notice is a quick loading of modules and the sound of a shutter clicking in burst mode (cool touch). On the first use of the program a dialog box opens with a screen offering you three options and a brief explanation of the operation modes: Fully Automatic, Key Controls, and Expert Controls. I selected Automatic.
The opening screen looks like a typical photo program, with menus, icon buttons, and an image workspace. The workspace displays "No image" until one is loaded. Sliding the cursor along the top of the menus reveals the usual options, with the exception of two, Workflow and Workspace.
Workflow provides the first clue that you'll be able to batch pictures needing similar processing. But Workspace is really interesting, as it has a "mode" selection for Wizard, Fully Automatic, Key Controls, and Expert Controls. As I'm a reviewer that plunges into software before reading any manual, I noticed that Fully Automatic is checked by default. So I moved back to the File menu and opened one of my pics.
A thumbnail of the image appeared in the upper left. It's not resizable, so I moved the cursor over the icons along the top of the screen. A pause at each pops up a title, and I tried clicking on a couple that looked familiar; Rotate and Mark image as Don't Process. A checkmark in the upper left corner of the thumbnail changed to what looked like two meshed gears and a box with an X to indicate the image won't be included in a batch process.
To the right is an icon with meshed gears titled "Start batch." It looked promising, so I clicked it. Suddenly the window disappeared and a new progress window appeared. Progress is shown by two bars, the top shows progress of the batch, while the bottom details the progress of each picture. When finished, a window appears giving the option to view the processed image, or to be done. I selected view.
A new window opened with thumbnails of the images to the side, and an enlarged image in the main area. This window is resizable, so I stretched it open, creating a large image of my original picture, shown in Figure A.
FIGURE A
Here's the workspace, thumbnails, and my original image. (click for larger image)
A dialog box appeared telling me the processed picture is loading. It takes only a few seconds, during which you'll notice a couple of new icons on the screen. One is titled "Display corrected image." Clicking on that icon I'm startled.
The corrected image appeared immediately, and at first I thought... it's just brighter. Then I clicked on the "Display original image" icon, displaying the old picture.
Aha... I see what's happened. The shadow areas have been opened up without the highlights getting blown out! A few moments of clicking back and forth corroborated that belief, and my first test was a success.
I tried another image, one with more hidden shadow. And the result was even more apparent. Figure B shows the before.
FIGURE B
Before processing with DxO Optics Pro Starter Edition. (click for larger image)
The after image, with DxO's corrections, is shown in Figure C.
FIGURE C
The after image. (click for larger image)
Note how you can now see not only the raised panelling in the background, but the grain of the wood as well.
Emboldened, I tried a holiday lighting photo taken with a high ISO setting and wide angle. In this series, the results show DxO's other two features: noise reduction and wide angle distortion correction. The first image, Figure D, is the original.
FIGURE D
The original of a holiday lighting scene. (click for larger image)
Below, in Figure E, is the same image with DxO's automatic corrections.
FIGURE E
Optics Pro's corrections for this lighting scene. (click for larger image)
These before and after images are also impressive, but perhaps a little exaggerated. So it's time to move on to the Key Control mode. At this point the help menu brings up the manual, where Key Control is explained.
Enlarging the images clearly shows how well the noise correction feature functions. The original image is shown in Figure F, note the darks spots of noise.
FIGURE F
An enlarged section of the original image. (click for larger image)
Below, in Figure G, you can see how DxO removed a great deal of the noise spots.
FIGURE G
This enlarged section of the corrected image shows less noise than the original. (click for larger image)
Using the Key Controls, quite a few of the features are adjustable. I'll be using them for some very special pictures, but I'm quite pleased with the Automatic mode for most of my work.
Most of the key features work as you'd expect them to in Photoshop, and you have the option of saving sets of corrections for future use. You can even give your custom feature sets custom names. I guess I'll have a set for lighted pictures taken at night, similar to the holiday lights. Using the batch feature, I can select all the night pics and apply all the special effects. Very cool.
Pros
Optics Pro Starter Edition has a wide range of features; highlight/shadow, noise correction, barrel distortion, and much more. Ease of use in automatic mode, and two levels of advanced mode for user fine-tuning. Automatic mode is very powerful and hard to beat versus fine-tuning. An excellent manual, with explanations that a novice can understand.
The ability to start in Automatic mode and move to Key Controls and/or Expert Controls not only allows for user modification on a vast variety of variables, but also encourages learning more about the particular photographic process. Almost a graduate class in itself with out realizing it!
Batch mode allows multiple pictures to be corrected in a single setting. And the Starter Edition comes ready to customize for specific high-end SLR-like cameras. In the Pro version, it also contains customized settings for specific lenses with full SLR cameras.
Cons
Moving from one mode to another causes previous windows to disappear, and there's a short delay before the new window appears. This is disconcerting, as you think the program may have crashed.
The view of original and corrected images is a replacement function rather than side by side. While this has the benefit of increased size, you have to keep flipping back and forth to carefully note the differences of all the program's corrections. Nevertheless, the replacement feature may be worth the "Wow factor" when seeing a corrected image the first time.
Some lens settings are not recognized on all picture files. This may be related to the date or my previous file modification prior using DxO. I'm tempted to just run the automatic setting on all pictures of a particular camera, thus doubling the file size. This isn't so much a con of the program as it is of a successful new user.
Conclusion
This is a very complete software set, with multiple options for camera distortion, lens distortion, fringing, noise, sharpening, and many other features. While you might be able to do all the same work with a program like Photoshop, this program benefits from designers who have tailored the program for a particular camera.
This alone makes the Starter Edition well worth the $79. Even more is the time you save with multiple features. And the results produced are a workflow benefit far exceeding the time and effort involved with other top-of-the-line photo-editing programs. Plus, the bottom line is that it is a fun program to use! I give DxO Optics Pro Starter Edition 4 out of 5.
Cheers!
RATING: 4 STARSCarl Berger is Professor and Dean Emeritus from the University of Michigan where he taught and researched how we learn using computers for 33 years. He lives in St. George Utah (Near Zion National Park) with his wife of 48 years. Returning to photography with time in retirement, he has discovered that all the old darkroom techniques and more can now be accomplished at a desk. As you might imagine he is most interested in broad panoramas of desert and mountain scenes but is also starting an enjoyment of photography of still life and buildings using infrared both with filters and post production. Look for him at http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/cberger.