DxO Optics Pro 4.1

Over the years, one software truism has repeatedly demonstrated itself to be fairly immutable: the more powerful a program, the more it can do, the harder it is to conquer.

Without question, DxO Optics is worth serious consideration. It’s a powerful package that allows those who master it to do wonderful things. But, I also place great weight on a program’s ease of use. In my book, DxO Optics falls short on that score.

When you open the program, you’ll see a set of folder tabs at the upper right. Each takes you to a different screen. Start by choosing the leftmost tab titled SELECT where you import images as new “projects,” reopen ongoing projects or revisit “finished” ones.

The ENHANCE tab offers three options: AUTO, GUIDED SETTINGS and EXPERT SETTINGS. Choosing one exposes controls that alter image variables. GUIDED SETTINGS offers some flexibility to do this. EXPERT SETTINGS offers much more.

Click on any of the control headers that appear in the right column to open groups of specific control sliders in the same way that palette windows open in Photoshop. Each control header exposes a wide variety of individual sliders for variables from lighting and color to “denoising,” EXIF data and, of course, lens optical correction and image geometry. There are lots of controls. Yet, in my book, all share a frustrating weakness for advanced users. In Expert Settings mode, I was unable to type in a precise setting number on any of these sliders in the appropriate window, instead having to repeatedly click on the plus and minus signs at the side of each slider to change the variable. To fine tune the setting, I could only move up or down one progressive number at a time. Changes are, for the most part, reflected in real time in the image window.

In the fourth tab, the time has come to PROCESS your image and apply the changes you’ve made. Choose a destination folder for your now-altered picture and click to begin image processing. Processing doesn’t seem to be fully nondestructive, so protect the original image with which you started by saving your now-processed image under a different file name.

Once processing has completed, it’s time view the results. Click on the VIEW tab to reveal the changed image and that also presents “before” and “after” thumbnails in the upper left column.

DxO Optics Pro offers you the opportunity to change your image’s “look” to that of your favorite film emulsion with its DxO FilmPack add-on which attempts to simulate the colors and grain of twenty different films. For a limited time, DxO is offering the FilmPack add-on for free to users who purchase and register by Dec 31, 2006.

DxO Optics Pro (http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/dxo_optics_pro) is available in three versions: Starter (US$79 + tax), Standard (US$149 + tax) and Elite (US$299 + tax).

Visit http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/dxo_optics_pro/product_comparison for a complete list of cameras and/or lenses supported by each version. All versions are available for both Windows and Macintosh platforms. A free, full-featured trial version can be downloaded at http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/free_demo. The demo allows you to work with the fully functional program for twenty one days before you must decide to buy it.

DxO Optics Pro 4.1 system requirements

Minimum disk space: 110 MB. Additional space varies with DxO Modules needed.

Minimum RAM memory requirement:

DxO Pro Starter: 512MB (1GB recommended)

DxO Optics Pro Standard: 1GB RAM

DxO Optics Pro Elite: 2GB RAM

For Microsoft Windows:

· Pentium® 4 or Pentium® Dual-Core or Pentium® M or Pentium® 64bits or AMD® or AMD® Dual-Core processor or AMD® 64 bits

· Microsoft® Windows XP Home, XP Professional, Windows 2000 or XP 64 in 32-bit emulation mode

For Apple Macintosh:

· PowerPC® G4 or G5, or Intel Mac processor (will not run on G3)

· Mac OS X.3.9 or X.4