Fooling around with DXO 9

Jock Elliott

Hall of Famer
Location
Troy, NY
I shot this image in RAW at ISO3200 with the FZ200

Here's what DXO 9 does with noise reduction. I understand there is something called PRIME that is supposed to do even more, and the results from it are shown below.

DXO_noise_reduction.JPG


Here is the same image with DXO PRIME noise reduction technology:

DXO_prime.JPG


This was shot at 800 with standard noise reduction below:

DXO_noise_800.JPG


Both are 100% views.

Cheers, Jock
 
I think this is impressive

I noticed that it is possible to activate "extended ISO" on the FZ200.

Here's a shot taken at 6400 and what DXO 9 does with noise reduction. Note: PRIME doesn't seem to do anything additional.

DXO_6400.JPG


Cheers, Jock
 
I've been playing with it too and one thing I discovered is that what you see in the correction preview with Prime isn't what you get when you export. I tried with one image and it took a full 15 minutes to process and export it (though my laptop is 4 years old.) The end result certainly did a good job on the noise reduction but I ended up with a soft image. Though it wasn't razor sharp to start with it appears to be softer after processing than before, but not nearly as much as you would get with a typical heavy noise reduction. It's probably worth playing with a little more to see what it's capable of but I consider investing in it until I have a new computer.

This is a 100% crop from a RAW file from an LX3 shot taken at ISO800 at night with everything in LR zeroed.

Before:

10595511613_efb6182a47_o.jpg

before by ...olli..., on Flickr

After:

10595511403_dc8918ec65_o.jpg

after by ...olli..., on Flickr​

After playing with both the DXO version turned out a little better but not by that much. It seems to work fine, just not as spectacularly as the advertising claims (surprise, surprise!)
 
I can see them okay and they're still there when I'm logged out. I'm not sure what the problem is. They are on flickr.

I tried a different browser and can see them. I agree that it looks a touch soft but a major improvement in noise reduction. It doesn't appear to me that PRIME really does more than the regular DXO noise reduction.

Cheers, Jock
 
Jock, could you redo your test with things that have actual detail? You reduced noise in virtually featureless objects that don't have much detail to them. What's it look like with more detail?

Olli's photos tell a bit more. On the Zentrum sign look at the quadranted circle. The lines are almost gone and all the color has disappeared from the four quadrants.

I'm curious as to how DXO handles "real" detail and how it well it balances noise vs. detail.

Thanks!
 
Jock, could you redo your test with things that have actual detail? You reduced noise in virtually featureless objects that don't have much detail to them. What's it look like with more detail?

Olli's photos tell a bit more. On the Zentrum sign look at the quadranted circle. The lines are almost gone and all the color has disappeared from the four quadrants.

I'm curious as to how DXO handles "real" detail and how it well it balances noise vs. detail.

Thanks!

John,

I'll give it a grip tomorrow morning.

Cheers, Jock
 
John, here you go . . . with details even

Jock, could you redo your test with things that have actual detail? You reduced noise in virtually featureless objects that don't have much detail to them. What's it look like with more detail?

Olli's photos tell a bit more. On the Zentrum sign look at the quadranted circle. The lines are almost gone and all the color has disappeared from the four quadrants.

I'm curious as to how DXO handles "real" detail and how it well it balances noise vs. detail.

Thanks!

1600:

DXO_detail_1600.JPG


3200:

DXO_detail_3200.JPG


6400:

DXO_detail_6400.JPG


Cheers, Jock
 
Here is another example using the DXO Prime NR. This shot was taken with an RX100 at ISO3200 and 1/30th at night. The first image is the raw file opened in LR with everything zeroed.

Original:

10615830704_fe9b9edf18_o.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Original Crop by ...olli..., on Flickr​

This second image is a jpeg from DXO using the Prime NR setting. I used the DXO defaults for this and it has had no further processing.

Prime:

10615830064_e47acb6268_o.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Prime Crop by ...olli..., on Flickr​

This is the DXO jpeg with the Prime treatment with some sharpening applied in LR - (75,1,25,50)

Prime Sharpened:

10615826486_0a0953ee91_o.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Prime Sharpened Crop by ...olli..., on Flickr​

For comparison I also applied NR directly in LR and added the same sharpening. NR - (Luminance and Colour both 25, everything else at default; sharpening as above).

Original with LR NR and sharpening:

10615830324_9c22a0f36f_o.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Original LR NR Crop by ...olli..., on Flickr​

DXO claim that using Prime gives a one stop advantage over traditional NR methods. I'm not sure I see it myself - it's certainly better than the version done exclusively within LR but that's when viewed at 100%. I doubt I would notice any real difference at screen size or in any print I'm ever likely to make.

And just for reference here's the full image, with a bit more processing in LR only.

10616051376_639c404f1e_o.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Full processed by ...olli..., on Flickr​

Finally, just to point out, the preview in DXO is not representative of the effect of applying the Prime NR. To see what you are going to get you have to export the file. It's only then that DXO processes it.
 
That DXO software looks pretty amazing. I'm supposed to be getting a free copy from work but alas it has yet to appear!

There is an extensive video on the software taken from a seminar at B&H on You tube.
 
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