Hands-On With The Latest Optics Pro Upgrade From DxO

DxO has always taken a unique approach to image processing with its Optics Pro software. By taking into account the camera model and lens you used to create the image, Optics Pro automatically corrects the RAW image when you open it. The result is far better than automatic corrections found in any other image-processing program. While Optics Pro is designed for processing RAW files, including Adobe DNG, it works with TIFFs and JPEGs, albeit with fewer features. Previous versions of Optics Pro have provided the best RAW file noise reduction with its PRIME noise technology—but at the expense of long processing times.

Optics Pro 11 is available in two editions, Essential and Elite, for both Mac and Windows computers. Serious photographers will want the Elite edition, whose price has been reduced to $149, as it includes features such as PRIME denoising not found in the Essential edition. The Elite version allows installation on three computers versus the two installations available with the $99 Essential version. I reviewed version 11.1 on both Mac and Windows and found them identical in all respects. Both platforms also included the Lightroom plug-in for Optics Pro first introduced in version 10. 
  
What’s New
Optics Pro 10 introduced a number of new features and seemed worthy of a version number increase. The new features in version 11.1, while welcome, seem more worthy of a 10.1 or 10.2 designation rather than upgrade pricing. I found the processing speed of PRIME denoising increased by half or slightly more (not the 4x claimed by DxO), while it provided somewhat better image quality by smoothing the transition from in-focus to out-of-focus areas. DxO has added additional cameras and lens combinations to its database as well. A pop-up window opens to inform you that a DxO Optics Module is available for download if the program can’t match the image metadata with a module already installed on your computer. DxO provides Optics Modules ranging from smartphones to the Nikon D5.

The full screen preview has a number of enhancements. You can split the screen horizontally or vertically to display the uncorrected versus corrected views, and you can now use the full screen mode to view, grade and sort images without distractions. Version 11 also introduces a Spot Weighted mode for the Smart Lighting tool that automatically detects faces and balances the image between the face and the rest of the image. This mode is particularly valuable with underexposed backlit faces, allowing you to adjust the facial exposure without blowing out the background, which often happens if you try to use the Shadows slider in other programs. Other new features for faces include an automatic Microcontrast mode that detects faces and applies the enhancement to the image without applying microcontrast to the face, and an automatic red eye correction, which works provided the eye is large enough in the image and the red area is clearly visible.

A split-screen view of “before and after” corrections help you fine-tune your work. Photo © Stan Sholik

User Friendliness
Optics Pro users upgrading from version 10 will be right at home as the interface has not changed in the slightest, other than in a couple of panels where new features appear. New users should be quickly up to speed with the clean, straightforward interface. There are only two operating modes: Organize and Customize. Organize functions as a basic file browser with a file tree to the left of the interface, thumbnails along the bottom, and a large preview image area occupying the bulk of the screen. The Customize mode is where you do your image editing and enhancements, although the Optics Pro automatic adjustment preset is so good that you may never need to leave the Organize mode. 

What We Liked
While not new in Optics Pro 11.1, the automatic adjustment preset does an outstanding job of autocorrecting RAW images, the best of any software that I have tested. If for some reason you decide not to make use of the autocorrect, you can easily turn it off, and can just as easily apply any of the other 77 presets to your images.

As for the new features, increasing the speed of PRIME denoising is always welcome, especially as higher ISO speeds on the newest cameras increase the temptation to make use of the upper sensitivity limits. The new Spot Weighted mode for the Smart Lighting tool is very helpful in difficult lighting situations if reflector or flash fill isn’t available (or your flash didn’t fire for the money shot). And the new auto mode for the Microcontrast tool not only saves faces when it is used, it delivers an impressive but subtle overall sharpening.

What We Didn’t Like
For me there is only one major fault in the Customize mode, and that is the inability to make local corrections. Optics Pro offers no retouching or spot removal tools other than dust removal, and no brush tool for local dodge, burn, exposure or other local adjustments. 

The Organize mode doesn’t quite work for me, either. There is no way to import images into your computer. And when you click on a folder in Organize, the images only open in a filmstrip along the bottom of the workspace where I would also want them to open in a grid in the main preview window, à la Bridge and Lightroom. You can’t append IPTC data, add keywords, geotag or utilize face recognition. If these are important features for you, then you are forced to use Optics Pro as a Lightroom plug-in, which slows and complicates the workflow, as well as takes up additional storage space on your hard drive.
   
How it Compares
There is serious competition in RAW image processing programs for both Mac and Windows platforms, but high-level, cross-platform programs are pretty much limited to Phase One’s Capture One and those from Adobe. I still find that Capture One is the best option if you want to extract the maximum amount of information from a RAW file. Capture One also provides best-in-class tethered capture and the ability to easily make local changes to targeted areas of an image without complex masking. I wish all image-processing software developers, including DxO, would adopt the Adobe keyboard shortcuts to make working in various programs more efficient. That aside, DxO Optics Pro 11.1 should find a place on every serious photographer’s hard drive for its ability to autocorrect and especially for its PRIME noise reduction capability.

Stan Sholik is a commercial/advertising photographer in Santa Ana, CA, specializing in still life and macro photography. His latest book, Shoot Macro, for Amherst Media is now available.

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