DxO Optics Pro – cRAW, high ISO both fixed?

DxO Labs today has announced the availability of DxO Optics Pro v5.3, a new release which includes support for the Sony cRAW format missing from previous versions. They also say that new RAW conversion technology “turns the promises of very high ISO (up to 25,600) into reality”.

“Most of the recent DSLRs feature impressive high ISO settings, sometimes as high as 25 600 ISO. But until now, these high sensitivities were of little practical use to photographers due to the very poor resulting image quality” – their words, but we have had excellent results from Nikon’s 25,600 both from in-camera JPEGs and Adobe Camera Raw conversions.

“The noise removal technology for RAW images featured in DxO Optics Pro 5.3 opens up exciting options to photographers providing them with up to a 2-stop gain at photo capture, as if digital grain never really existed,” says Cyrille de La Chesnais, director of the photography business at DxO Labs. “This translates into a dramatic increase in capture flexibility.”

At photo capture? – that happens inside the camera. DxO can’t manage to reach there, so they must mean something else, such as “at raw file conversion stage”.

“Using DxO Optics Pro v5.3, photographers may choose to take advantage of this gain to freeze movement, increase depth-of-field or capture images in even lower lighting conditions than are possible today – or even get rid of their flash gun altogether! Alternatively they may choose to invest money in less expensive lenses with smaller apertures, relying on DxO Optics Pro 5.3 to compensate for the lower exposure. DxO Optics Pro 5.3 extends the range of usable sensitivity while maintaining color consistency and saturation, and bringing out the finest image details.”

Support for 3 new cameras and for 59 new DxO Optics Correction Modules

DxO Optics Pro v5.3 adds RAW support for the recently released Nikon D700 and Canon Digital Rebel XS/1000D DSLRs, and noticeably for the high-end compact Canon PowerShot G9. Other recently announced DSLRs, including Canon EOS 50D and Nikon D90, will be supported by the end of the year.

DxO Optics Pro v5.3 features 59 new DxO Optics Correction Modules for a variety of cameras including the Canon 1D Mark III, Canon 20D, Canon 40D, Canon Digital Rebel/300D, Canon Digital Rebel XT/350D, XTi/400D and XSi/450D, Fujifilm S5 Pro, Nikon D300, Nikon D40, Nikon D40x, Nikon D50, Nikon D60, Nikon D70, Nikon D70s, Nikon D80 and Samsung GX20.

DxO Optics Pro v5.3 also supports cRaw format for Sony users.

Compatibility with Microsoft Windows 64-bit configuration

DxO Optics Pro v5.3 is now compatible with Microsoft Windows 64-bit platform, the configuration often preferred by photographers for its responsiveness when running multiple applications simultaneously and switching between them frequently.

Support for Adobe Lightroom 2

DxO Optics Pro v5.3 supports Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 further smoothing the workflow and increasing productivity for the growing number of serious and professional photographers.

Stability and user experience improvements

DxO Optics Pro v5.3 improves stability and numerous aspects of the user experience, including automatic download of available DxO Optics Correction Modules, automatic focusing distance recognition for Canon 40D, 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III, backup and restore of project database, more predefined presets, and better color rendering options including a new “neutral” color rendering.

See: http://www.dxo.com