SOFTWARE TEST
Andy Westlake tries out the latest, most sophisticated version of DxO’s raw pre-treatment software
Two years after its original launch, DxO’s PureRAW software is still unlike anything else on the market. Like its predecessors, the latest iteration, DxO PureRAW 3, takes camera raw files and converts them to DNG raw files for use in your favourite imaging software. Crucially, it does so while applying the firm’s impressive lenscorrection and noise-reduction algorithms, which can give dramatically better final output compared to developing your files using Adobe Lightroom or Camera Raw. The resultant 16-bit linear DNG files can still be adjusted in exactly the same way as the original camera raw files, in terms of white balance, colour and tonality. This allows you to get the benefit of DxO’s imageprocessing expertise without changing your existing workflow.
New features
Compared to last year’s version, DxO PureRAW 3 comes with some significant updates. Firstly, it gains DxO’s latest DeepPRIME XD processing algorithm. The XD label indicates that this is designed deliver extra detail compared to the existing DeepPRIME, at the expense of longer processing times.
The second major update concerns how lens-aberration corrections are applied. Previously, you didn’t get a whole lot of control over this. But now, lens softness can be corrected across a choice of four levels; vignetting and chromaticaberration corrections can each be toggled on or off; and distortion correction can be applied with a choice of three cropping modes.
Thirdly, there’s a new queueing system, which allows you to set up batches of raw files to be processed, with the option to re-prioritise them as you go along. So if you come across a file that you’d like to process immediately, it can be pushed up the order. This can be a handy option to have available, given that the penalty for PureRAW’s increased image quality lies in the sheer length of time it takes to process the camera raw files.
It’s also now possible to export your images as TIFF files, in a choice of 8-bit or 16-bit colour depths. This makes PureRAW 3 compatible with a wider range of image-processing programs that don’t support DNG files. The interface has been cosmetically redesigned, too, with a cleaner look.
At £155 for a one-off licence (a hike of £40 compared to version 2), or £69 for users of previous versions to upgrade,
DxO PureRAW 3 may look expensive for a program that turns your raw files into better raw files, but doesn’t produce finished output. However, with previous versions I concluded that it could easily represent money well spent. Let’s see if version 3 is a worthy update.
Using DxO Pure
