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DxO OpticsPro for Photos for OS X
DxO has just released a new app, “DxO Optics Pro for Photos”, a highly simplified version of DxO Optics Pro that runs exclusively as an extension in Photos for OS X. It does four things to RAW photos from nearly any camera and lens combination.
- Optical Corrections
- Smart Lighting
- Noise Removal
- ClearView
Check out the video below that I produced for them!
Want a free download?
I have THREE (yes, just three) review copy download codes to give away. I might get more later, but for now it's only three. If you'd like one, here's the deal:
- Once you've used it, you have to leave a review on the App Store. Leave an honest review — love it or hate it, DxO wants to hear it. But you need to leave a review.
- Mention in the review that you received a free review copy. That keeps everyone honest.
- To get one, follow and tweet me @PhotoAppsExpert that you'd like a review copy of @DxOLabs #DxOOpticsProforPhotos — that's it, no special phrasing, just tweet me that you want it. (Make sure you're following me so I can DM you back — if I try to DM you and can't, the code will go to someone else).
- I will send out the three codes to probably the first three requests I get, but I reserve the right to be selective.
Thanks everyone! And if I get more codes, I'll let you know. Plus I'll do a proper write-up myself of the app later on.
There's a free version for DxO ONE owners, too
By the way if you own a DxO ONE, there's a free version of this app that works just with the DxO ONE camera, called “DxO Optics Pro for Photos — DxO ONE Only”. And I made a video on that one, too :-)
Comments
on December 24, 2015 - 3:38am
Would love a review copy! Use DXO Optics Pro 8 right now but Photos extension sounds great.
edit: just saw on Twitter that all copies are given away… I will purchase the app from the Mac App Store as it is 50% off for launch…
I hope that in the future, DXO adds some granular editing options instead of only 1 click options but it still looks like a great tool to have with Photos app and it allows me to get some new DXO features not available in Optics Pro 8 (Haze removal for one)..
If version 1.0 has great features, I’m hopeful that future versions will provide more options for us Aperture lovers clinging to the Photos app.
SKR Imaging
https://skrimaging.wordpress.com
on December 24, 2015 - 10:53am
Nice app and for 9,99 Euro it’s really cheap compared to over extensions which have only one or two functions. This extension only accepts the original photo. If you already optimize the photo, the App doesn’t recognize camera and lens and only offers less features.
on December 24, 2015 - 4:52pm
You definitely want to send the original, unedited RAW file as that's the only way to send the RAW at all. As soon as you edit the image in Photos (or anything else), it becomes a JPEG and there's less that DxO OP can do to it. If the camera and lens info is no longer showing up in OP once Photos has touched it, that means metadata is being stripped by Photos. Shame if that's the case.
DxO OpticsPro for Photos needs to be your first stop in the edit. The idea is you'll get a cleaner, superior starting point for other edits (if you even need them) than you would if you started just in Photos alone.
@PhotoJoseph
— Have you signed up for the mailing list?
on December 24, 2015 - 9:09pm
My problem was that I didn’t understood that immediately and the extension doesn’t explain why camera and lens are not displayed.
on December 24, 2015 - 9:15pm
Another problem of this extension: Then pressing the m key some times to switch between original image and optimized image I get an error message and then the extension is closed.
on December 30, 2015 - 3:07am
I experienced some issues with this extension.. first, it is extremely slow to generate previews (mostly noise reduction)… the standalone DXO Optics Pro 8 I have is way faster.. also, the lens profiles sometimes show a blank silhouette and other times will show the correct image of Body and lens.. seems like it is fetching for the lens + body info for each image but struggles to look at the exif data.
I know it’s version 1 and really hope DXO will give this app the love it deserves and not abandon it like it seems they have for the other apps on the Mac app store… only tim will tell.
SKR Imaging
https://skrimaging.wordpress.com
on January 1, 2016 - 5:20pm
Same problem here. First, it’s important to always use the original image file (RAW or JPEG) and make no chances inside the Photos App or with another extension. But, yes, I also see some times that I use original files and it doesn’t work. You should contact the support. The german one is fast and friendly.
on January 1, 2016 - 6:14pm
If the camera / lens name appears but there's only a silhouette of the camera / lens and not an image of it, all that means is that the image isn't in their database yet. I ran into this doing the videos; if you watch closely, one of the sample files shows a generic icon there, too.
@PhotoJoseph
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on January 1, 2016 - 8:18pm
all my pictures are from the same body and lens combo.. some shots, it will show the name and image.. other shots (from same camera and lens) will show silhouette..
SKR Imaging
https://skrimaging.wordpress.com
on December 31, 2015 - 8:45pm
sometimes, the camera correction profile applies no correction in the Photos extension… in DXO optics Pro 8, the same RAW file, I can see the lens distortion has been corrected.
SKR Imaging
https://skrimaging.wordpress.com
on December 31, 2015 - 8:48pm
No comments have been deleted… it seems like you may be editing your comment but nothing has been deleted here. I will only ever delete patently offensive comments, and of course spam.
@PhotoJoseph
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on December 31, 2015 - 8:54pm
I have a feeling it was my Safari playing tricks.. quit Safari and comments were visible..
sorry about that.. I immediatly changed my comment when I realised the issue.
SKR Imaging
https://skrimaging.wordpress.com
on January 1, 2016 - 5:21pm
Same problem here: I didn’t saw a comment yesterday. Now it works.
on January 1, 2016 - 6:15pm
That's odd. I'll pass this thread along to DxO.
@PhotoJoseph
— Have you signed up for the mailing list?
on January 5, 2016 - 11:06pm
I was fortunate enough to respond to the offer for a free copy of the Photo App extension from DxO to use and write a review. While the review was to be made on the Apple App Store, I was unable for some reason to post my summary review there. I have made a link to the longer version of my review with some screen shots to show the extension options and some of the comparisons of photos I used for the review. I hope you will find this review useful … https://www.dropbox.com/s/ipwxkshqfnd4o8z/DxO%20review.pdf?dl=0
Cheers… Bob
on January 6, 2016 - 3:27am
Great review Bob.. DXO have a great app on their hands if they play their cards right! I purchased to support the effort and hope they improve on it.
The only thing I feel disappointing is the fact that they called it Pro and did not allow for Pro users to tweak the presets (I say presets because that’s what they are… set by DXO devs and made to look like button (slight, medium and strong)… future version should add a little arrow under the buttons to expand the settings and reveal sliders.. Then all will be happy.. people looking for 1 click solutions and Pro users wanting more flexibility.
I wish I could send feedback to DXO and let them know but don’t know how to reach the right team working on this extension. There is no section on their products page for the Photos app extension so hard to know how to give feedback… maybe someone can point me to the right channel to leave a feedback.
SKR Imaging
https://skrimaging.wordpress.com
on January 9, 2016 - 10:04am
You can send Feedback to DXO. Just go to https://support.dxo.com/hc/de and write them an email. I already did, because some times the extension crashed.
on January 10, 2016 - 12:18am
Thanks for the link man.. I just created a support ticket to give my views on the app’s future and let them know of the correction modules issue.
SKR Imaging
https://skrimaging.wordpress.com
on January 8, 2016 - 6:30pm
At this price point fair value for money with useful features for occasional raw edits, but leaves me wanting more…
Optical corrections worked as expected with my testing camera and lenses, Olympus OM-D E-M5ii with m.zuiko 12-40mm F2.8 Pro and 17mm F1.8.
Custom white balance adjustments are offered as seven presets with the option to further refine colour temperature and tint by slider or by use of a colour dropper tool.
DxO Smart Lighting offers three presets - Soft (Keep the mood), Medium (Balanced light) and Strong (Emphasise details) but with no option for fine tuning. I found the effect of these presets to vary dependent on the image used. Sometimes I was able to find a preset that worked for the image but was often left wanting to make further adjustments.
Noise removal worked well for my images although the rendering process is slow. On my Late 2013 Retina Macbook Pro 2.6 GHz i5 with 8 GB ram and Intel Iris 1536 MB graphics images with HQ (Faster) noise removal took a reasonable 12 seconds to save. However, switching to the Prime (Better) setting looks 75 seconds to render the image with even the loupe preview which is used in this mode taking 5-6 seconds to render.
The last feature offered is DxO Clearview, an effective haze removal tool which provides three presets - Soft (Mostly Cloudy), Medium (Haze, dust…) and Strong (Smog, fog, smoke…). The effect of the presets varied according to image chosen and there is no fine tuning available.
A downside to using the software as a Photos app extension is that when you save your changes the image is rendered to a jpg back in Photos. To make any further changes using the raw image you have to revert to the original, thereby losing all your work to date. This is not unique to DxO OpticsPro for Photos and is a limitation of the Photos app extensions system. You can of course make further adjustments after saving from within Photos but you will be working on the jpg saved from DxO OpticsPro. By contrast if you edit the raw image using the Photos app tools not only are those adjustments saved for later editing but you also have fine control over more elements such as black point, contrast, sharpen, levels, definition and saturation.
I was able to write this by way of a review copy of the software courtesy of http://PhotoApps.Expert
on January 10, 2016 - 12:25am
Agreed, the app extension really needs sliders for fine tuning strength of the corrections applied.. just big, small, medium will never cut it for obtaining the desired result.. feels constrained and forceful.
To bypass the bad decision from Apple to roundtrip images from extensions to lossy JPG, DXO devs could add an advanced tab to allow users to adjust settings like exposure, clarity, black-point, contrast, etc.. Just look at MAcphun Snapheal.. they have a complete tab for editing in the extension.. allows user to adjust the RAW image while in the extension.. essentially bypassing the Apple Photos edit altogether.. that would make DXO optics PRO for Photos truly PRO..
P.S: I have sent these exact requests directly to dXO as a asupport ticket.. hope to hear back from them.
SKR Imaging
https://skrimaging.wordpress.com
on April 2, 2016 - 2:44am
Just to let you all know that DxO Optics Pro for Photos extension has recently been updated to version 1.1!
The folks at DxO have listened to user outcries and have added granular editing functions (sliders) to all of the editing options in the extension.
see screenshot:
This is great to see DxO adding this to the extension… All we need now is for Apple to allow 16 bit TIFF round tripping of edits done in Photos for Mac to allow us to stack edits from different plugins together with no loss of quality.
Thanks DxO team!
SKR Imaging
https://skrimaging.wordpress.com