DXO 50% Off

[Don Baldwinson]

DXO don't often have a sale, but this is a good one for a program which does do a nice job on Olympus files.
https://shop.dxo.com/login.php?Country=International
Cheers,
Don

[Gunn]

DXO don't often have a sale, but this is a good one for a program which does do a nice job on Olympus files.
https://shop.dxo.com/login.php?Country=International
Cheers,
Don

I have never used that product. Does it do a better job than LR or PS ?

[Don Baldwinson]

I have never used that product. Does it do a better job than LR or PS ?

A hard question to answer because the programs are so different in their approach. I have LR and DXO. I tend to use DXO more often for editing, then sometimes LR for local adjustment. I much prefer the workflow of DXO, because I don't have a large and complicated database which is a strong point of LR, but which gets in the way for my simpler needs.
There is only one answer, test it for free. You need the Elite version for the E-M1 at least. It is well worth the reduced price.
Cheers,
Don

[Gunn]

I just found that B&H has DxO OpticsPro 10 Elite Edition for the same price with free shipping. They take PayPal which is important to me.

[Guy Roberts]

Am I right in thinking that this is a raw processing software like Olympus viewer, and not a replacement to Photoshop?
I used to use Adobe for raw processing but now use Oly, and without prompting a photographer friend commented that my images were much smoother and less harsh. There is certainly less noise, so much so I don't use Topaz denoise anymore. Is DxO better?

[Don Baldwinson]

Am I right in thinking that this is a raw processing software like Olympus viewer, and not a replacement to Photoshop?
I used to use Adobe for raw processing but now use Oly, and without prompting a photographer friend commented that my images were much smoother and less harsh. There is certainly less noise, so much so I don't use Topaz denoise anymore. Is DxO better?

Yes, except there are more, and more flexible controls than Oly Viewer which is a bit clunky compared with DXO, LR etc. Photoshop is wider ranging and more than most users ever need for their processing.
Harshness is more often caused by over-processing, pushing the sliders too far rather than the programs in themselves. You can achieve the smooth results you are getting now with any of them with practice and restraint, as I found myself.
But if you are happy and achieving nice results with Viewer, no need to change. If you wish to explore further try them all, they are free to test. Most people I know use more than 1 editing program because they all have their strengths.
Here is one mans comparisons, but bear in mind quite a lot of it is subjective opinion.
http://www.nomadlens.com/raw-converters-comparison
Cheers,
Don

[Guy Roberts]

Thanks for that Don, it is a very interesting read.

[RAH]

I recently bought Aftershot Pro 2 (Corel) after having used Rawtherapee for a while. One thing I like about Aftershot is that it does not require that you use its catalog, and doesn't even attempt to catalog anything (unless you ask it, I guess). Perhaps for professionals who deal with a lot of images (like a wedding photographer), this cataloging is a good thing, but I just want a raw converter that does the images I want it to and leave me the hell alone otherwise. There is an interesting comparison of LR vs Aftershot Pro 2 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX7ek7xJYJ0

I don't know who those guys are, but they seem fairly knowledgeable and seem to know both products pretty well.

[Don Baldwinson]

I recently bought Aftershot Pro 2 (Corel) after having used Rawtherapee for a while. One thing I like about Aftershot is that it does not require that you use its catalog, and doesn't even attempt to catalog anything (unless you ask it, I guess). Perhaps for professionals who deal with a lot of images (like a wedding photographer), this cataloging is a good thing, but I just want a raw converter that does the images I want it to and leave me the hell alone otherwise. There is an interesting comparison of LR vs Aftershot Pro 2 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX7ek7xJYJ0

I don't know who those guys are, but they seem fairly knowledgeable and seem to know both products pretty well.

Quite a few years ago now, there was a program called Bibble owned by an enthusiastic team with a thriving forum and lots of very good plugins. I used it because it was the best at the time. Corel bought the company, employed them to update Bibble, renamed it Aftershot Pro, then sacked the lot of them. Seemed to many that Corel were again sidelining the opposition, and Aftershot Pro languished with virtually no development right up to recently.
I had a look at the latest version and did not particularly like the default output in comparison. Possibly they have not got around to working on E-M1 settings, or probably I needed to spend more time with it. Neither do I trust them long term.
DXO does not force you to use its catalog.
Cheers,
Don

[dh202]

Corel bought PSP from Jasc Software after I purchased it, when I went digital, and turned into a sluggish PITA program that led me to buy Photoshop because it was so bad. I never looked back.
As Rich said, I also have no need for the LR catalog base and use Bridge and ACR with PS CS6 instead. I have not felt the need to go to the PS CC yet. I also use the On1 Photo Suite (now 10),as a PS plug in, which has some good features along with a large amount of presets for special effects and quick editing . DXO sounds interesting for other reasons. I may download a trial a see. The 50 % savings offer is good till December 25th BTW.I may

As you said earlier,you have to be careful not to overcook files with any of the programs.