DxO vs ACR vs DPP

[Julie Brown]

Lately I have had to use high ISOs in various low-light situations and another photographer suggested I try DxO. I downloaded a trial copy to use with the images from an indoor event, but it did not seem intuitive or user-friendly. When I tried to do a batch noise reduction and export it took forever and basically the program froze. Since then I have upgraded my RAM from 4GB to 16GB. I know that Arash and Artie are promoting DPP as superior to ACR for RAW processing. My workflow is Lightroom 4 and NIK. I also have CS5 but my skill set is limited. How easy will it be for me to incorporate DPP into this workflow? I really like the easy batch upload and delete features of bringing RAW files into Lightroom.

All suggestions welcome and appreciated!

[David Stephens]

I've been using DxO for my Raw conversion since 2009. It does work best with at least 8GB of RAM and a good graphics card with OpenCL engaged.

Since your emphasis is NR, then you likely engaged PRIME NR on every image. When you do that, that moves the processing time from 5 to 10-seconds per 25MB image to 5 to 10-minutes per image. Most images to NOT benefit from PRIME. Also, be aware, at least IMO, the default PRIME leans too heavily toward NR and away from maintenance of detail, particularly when you're working with fur and feathers. Move the sliders to the left and look at the result in the little window. I also tend to add some Micro Contrast when trying to use a shot taken at ISO 6400 and run through PRIME. You can see in the little window the impact of all the adjustments that you make.

DO NOT process every image with PRIME engaged unless they're all noisy.

Of course, after years of using DxO, I find it very intuitive. I think you're experiencing negative reinforcement from having used some other program. I find that noob users (several of my friends now use DxO), with no prior experience with other programs, adjust quickly to the user interface.

[Julie Brown]

Hi Dave,

Every image I tried with the DxO software was high ISO, so that was why I tried to do a batch NR. The event was an indoor party in dim light. I also shoot sports in low light. Faces were my primary concern for these images (no feathers or fur in this case. ) Just got a new 5D MKIII, so I will be cranking those ISOs even further.

I now have 16GB RAM in my Mac Mini. Processor 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7; AMD Radeon HD 6630M 256 MB; Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 I did not know what OpenCL was so I had to look that up. There was a link to supported graphics cards in an article I found, but I did not see my card on the list.

Thanks for the reply and the info. Just exploring different options for high ISO RAW conversion. Lightroom is so user-friendly, but I will give DxO another try if it is not too time consuming. Since I already have DPP, I should probably try that too with Artie's guide.

[Roger Clark]

If you are on a mac or linux, try darktable (free, open source). I've been experimenting with it and am really impressed with how well it does converting high iso images at reducing noise and maintaining image detail. I find it much better than ACR in many situations (and maybe more as I'm still learning darktable). If your lens is not in the profiled lens list, consider taking a few images with their guidelines and submitting the results to lensfun to get profiled and added to the darktable profiled lenses. I have now delivered some images for printing for galleries that were converted with darktable.
http://www.darktable.org/
It does more than raw conversion too, but I have not used those parts.

Roger

[David Stephens]

You might want to take one of these images and compare results with DxO (both High and Prime), LR and DPP. Don't use the defaults of any, but try to optimize each.

[Dan Brown]

Hi Dave,

Every image I tried with the DxO software was high ISO, so that was why I tried to do a batch NR. The event was an indoor party in dim light. I also shoot sports in low light. Faces were my primary concern for these images (no feathers or fur in this case. ) Just got a new 5D MKIII, so I will be cranking those ISOs even further.

I now have 16GB RAM in my Mac Mini. Processor 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7; AMD Radeon HD 6630M 256 MB; Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 I did not know what OpenCL was so I had to look that up. There was a link to supported graphics cards in an article I found, but I did not see my card on the list.

Thanks for the reply and the info. Just exploring different options for high ISO RAW conversion. Lightroom is so user-friendly, but I will give DxO another try if it is not too time consuming. Since I already have DPP, I should probably try that too with Artie's guide.

When I have a situation like you describe, Julie, I throw everything I have at it, starting with proprietary conversion, which for you would be DPP. Shooting events like that really do require alot of post work!

[arash_hazeghi]

Lately I have had to use high ISOs in various low-light situations and another photographer suggested I try DxO. I downloaded a trial copy to use with the images from an indoor event, but it did not seem intuitive or user-friendly. When I tried to do a batch noise reduction and export it took forever and basically the program froze. Since then I have upgraded my RAM from 4GB to 16GB. I know that Arash and Artie are promoting DPP as superior to ACR for RAW processing. My workflow is Lightroom 4 and NIK. I also have CS5 but my skill set is limited. How easy will it be for me to incorporate DPP into this workflow? I really like the easy batch upload and delete features of bringing RAW files into Lightroom.

All suggestions welcome and appreciated!

I use DPP plus CS6 to produce the high ISO images you see posted on this site. I process thousands of RAW files after a day of shoot with no issues, it has all the features without the hassle and BS of cataloging etc. that eats your system resources. You do need to sit down for a few hours and learn how to setup your workflow but after that it will roll.

If you use DPP you will no longer need LR. The details of the procedure are explained in my NR guide and Artie's DPP guide.

BTW, I also use Capture One for my Fuji camera but I also find it painfully slow and full of bugs. output is great but it is not usable for large volume of images.

Good luck

[Julie Brown]

Roger, darktable looks very interesting and powerful.
I clicked on your link and browsed the features as well as the lens list. All of my L lenses are there except the 300 f2.8L IS and the 400 f5.6L. I bookmarked the site and will have to go back and study the user manual. Thanks so much.

David-good idea to do a test of the 3 programs. Thanks!

Dan, that is why I always shoot RAW. When I suggested to the event organizer that maybe they could turn the lights up a bit more, she looked at me and just said 'ambiance'.
Your suggestion makes sense. Thank you.

[Julie Brown]

I use DPP plus CS6 to produce the high ISO images you see posted on this site. I process thousands of RAW files after a day of shoot with no issues, it has all the features without the hassle and BS of cataloging etc. that eats your system resources. You do need to sit down for a few hours and learn how to setup your workflow but after that it will roll.

If you use DPP you will no longer need LR. The details of the procedure are explained in my NR guide and Artie's DPP guide.

BTW, I also use Capture One for my Fuji camera but I also find it painfully slow and full of bugs. output is great but it is not usable for large volume of images.

Good luck

Thanks for the reply, Arash. I will probably get Artie's DPP guide. Does your NR guide apply to images with ISOs greater than 3200? I have had to push my 5D MKII past this to get suitable shutter speeds for low light youth sports. I want to be able to maintain image quality for client prints. Now that I have the 5D MKIII…what are the possibilities?

[Dan Brown]

Thanks for the reply, Arash. I will probably get Artie's DPP guide. Does your NR guide apply to images with ISOs greater than 3200? I have had to push my 5D MKII past this to get suitable shutter speeds for low light youth sports. I want to be able to maintain image quality for client prints. Now that I have the 5D MKIII…what are the possibilities?

Are you referring to this - https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=360 Artie sells Arash's guide.

[Julie Brown]

Are you referring to this - https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=360 Artie sells Arash's guide.

Yes, thanks for the link, I just used it and ordered the NR guide and the DPP guide. Thanks, Dan!

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks for the reply, Arash. I will probably get Artie's DPP guide. Does your NR guide apply to images with ISOs greater than 3200? I have had to push my 5D MKII past this to get suitable shutter speeds for low light youth sports. I want to be able to maintain image quality for client prints. Now that I have the 5D MKIII…what are the possibilities?

yes with the 5D3 it is possible.