DxO Announces OpticsPro 10

From DxO:

DxO OpticsPro 10 adds DxO ClearView, a spectacular new feature that eliminates haze, and improves its revolutionary PRIME denoising technology

October 29, 2014 – DxO Labs announces the immediate availability of DxO OpticsPro 10, the new version of its flagship software that has been acclaimed numerous times for the unrivaled quality of its image processing. DxO OpticsPro 10 adds DxO ClearView, a new feature that eliminates atmospheric haze in a spectacular fashion. This new version also enhances the revolutionary PRIME denoising technology, DxO’s breakthrough noise reduction approach that can improve image quality of up to one full stop over the best noise reduction algorithms currently on the market.

DxO OpticsPro leverages DxO Lab’s rigorous scientific calibration of camera equipment, now including over 20,000 camera and lens combinations. Based on this proprietary data, DxO OpticsPro is able to offer the most powerful tools for processing RAW and JPEG images: unequaled optical corrections, intelligent optimization of exposure and contrast, and preservation of colors and details. Its many presets allow photographers to adapt the processing to suit their tastes, and to bring out the best in their photos in just a few clicks.

More accessible than ever, DxO OpticsPro 10 is available in two new editions – ESSENTIAL and ELITE – for both Mac and PC, starting from $129/£99/129€.

New DxO ClearView feature
The new exclusive DxO ClearView feature automatically eliminates the phenomenon of atmospheric haze visible in many landscape photos, as well as the smog often present in urban images. Based on a powerful algorithm, DxO ClearView analyzes the color components of each pixel and locally improves the image contrast.

“Due to its physical nature, the phenomenon of haze increases with the distance between the camera and the subject. That’s why DxO OpticsPro establishes a kind of depth map of the image scene and removes the impression of grey veil only when necessary” explains Frédéric Guichard, Chief Scientist Officer of DxO Labs. He adds: “The correction is local and completely automatic, making it unnecessary to draw areas by hand or to create a graduated filter.”

The results are spectacular: in just one click, the contrast in the image is instantly improved and faded colors are revived. For expert photographers, the intensity of the effect can be modified, so as to tailor the correction to the individual taste of each photographer.

Revolutionary PRIME technology optimized
Designed to achieve optimal image quality, DxO OpticsPro 10’s revolutionary PRIME (Probabilistic Raw IMage Enhancement) denoising technology has been improved to reveal more details and further optimized to increase speed, with processing time up to 4 times faster! In addition, the interface of the Noise reduction palette has been improved and provides a larger area for previewing denoising.

A DxO exclusive, PRIME denoising technology is based on a thorough analysis of the structure of an image in order to differentiate between noise and fine details. For each pixel, nearly a thousand neighboring pixels are studied to identify the similarities and recombine information. This ultra-high-quality denoising brings spectacular results: textures, details, and color saturation are preserved, particularly in shadows, even in images shot at very high sensitivities.

DxO Smart Lighting and DxO Lens Softness optimization
The exclusive DxO Smart Lighting feature optimizes the contrast over the entire image by intelligently adapting to its contents. Improved in DxO OpticsPro 10, it now offers a better rendering in automatic mode, thanks to a more detailed analysis of the scene content. In manual mode, the Selective tone sliders act even more precisely: information that one thought was lost in the dark or burnt zones are better restored, even in cases of strong backlighting.

With its precise knowledge of lens performance, DxO OpticsPro’s exclusive DxO Lens Softness tool harmonizes the sharpness of photos from the center to the edges, giving images exceptional crispness, regardless of shooting conditions. It performs with fewer artifacts than the previous version, as well as preserves colors better, to provide even stronger visual accents. Default color accentuation has also been increased to obtain even sharper images.

The power of DxO ViewPoint’s geometrical corrections applied to RAW files
DxO OpticsPro 10 can now integrate DxO ViewPoint’s powerful geometrical corrections. After the DxO ViewPoint plugin is activated, a dedicated palette lets photographers directly correct perspective problems and volume deformation in RAW and JPEG images. The dedicated DxO ViewPoint palette includes all the same visual tools as the standalone application version.

Even more comfort and productivity
The DxO OpticsPro interface has evolved once again. The White Balance and Dust Correction tools can now be used in full-screen mode for greater comfort and precision. The image browser has been simplified and the overall design of the interface has been revised.

More powerful than ever before, DxO Optics Pro has sped up its boot speed (x1.5), paired with a much faster file loading sped (x10) on both Mac and Windows for immediate access to images.

Finally, DxO OpticsPro 10 now supports DNG files converted using Lightroom or Adobe DNG Converter (so long as the original RAW file is also supported), for an easier workflow with Adobe products

New editions and new prices
DxO OpticsPro 10 is now accessible via two new editions, ESSENTIAL and ELITE, both of which support all of the equipment calibrated by DxO. The two editions differ in terms of the number of features available. Check out the feature comparison list for complete details.

The two editions of DxO OpticsPro 10 are available at even more attractive prices:
DxO OpticsPro 10 ESSENTIAL Edition - $129.00 (versus $169.00 for the previous version)
DxO OpticsPro 10 ELITE Edition - $199.00 (versus $299.00 for the previous version)

Availability and special introductory offer
The ESSENTIAL and ELITE editions of DxO OpticsPro 10 for Mac and PC are immediately available at photo resellers.

Photographers who purchased DxO OpticsPro 9 on or after September 1, 2014, are entitled to a free upgrade to version 10. All users who upgrade to DxO OpticsPro 10 ELITE Edition are entitled to a free copy of DxO ViewPoint 1.0.

B&H carries DXO OpticsPro 10.