Coming soon! DxO PureRaw 5

27 Feb

DxO has launched the latest version of its RAW image solution, but it’s not available right now!

Hi, my name is Rich Dyson from Edinburgh Photography Workshop, and this is Coffee Break Photography.

One of the world's biggest photography shows is in Tokyo. CP+ is where many camera and imaging manufacturers launch their latest products. This week, we have already seen a new camera and lens from Sigma, and I am sure there will be many more. There are rumours of a new Lumix camera, Canon could be bringing out a new compact camera (which I will stay consistent with and tell you not to buy), and third-party lens maker Tamron is teasing visitors with a Godzilla set on their stand - could it be a new monster lens?

I can reveal that the French imaging software company DxO has just launched the latest version of its RAW processing solution, PureRAW. PureRAW 4 has become part of my photography workflow, especially when I use higher ISO values, such as when shooting events or theatres.

The new PureRAW 5, announced today, improves RAW processing even further. What does PureRAW do that other software doesn’t? Rather than asking that question, I think you should ask, "How does PureRAW do what it does?” To answer that question, I will show you a video DxO recently released to celebrate the 100,000th camera and lens module.

As you can see, DxO meticulously measures and understands nearly all lens and camera combinations affect the quality of the image you take. They then take this data and apply it to their software products. With the new DxO PureRAW 5 that means improvements in three aspects of your pictures.

Firstly, and the reason why most people will use it is denoising. I can’t believe how great images can look when taken at very high ISO values once the current version of PureRAW has processed them. Secondly, Demosaicing improves the colour reproduction of your photos by improving how the individual pixels translate the arrangements of the colour filters. And new in this version of PureRAW, we now have Chromatic aberration adjustments at a pixel level. What does that mean? No lens is perfect, and when the light passes through it onto the sensor, different speeds of light can be diffracted very slightly – we see this in pictures when we have a building a sky taken at smaller apertures. We’ll often see a blue or purple line around the edges of the buildings. PureRAW 5 will remove this diffraction (or chromatic aberration) for us.

All these benefits result from those 100,000 models recorded by DxO engineers, and if you have the time, you will definitely see the benefit of running every image you take through PureRAW 5. But that’s not the only change in the latest version.

The interface has been rebuilt, resulting in a smoother workflow. This should mean we spend less time editing and more time enjoying the results.

You can now create custom presets, so if you use PureRAW slightly differently for different types of shoots, you can decide which preset to apply to different photographs.

When PureRAW 5 is released, we’ll also be able to apply local adjustments to our images. This will be a real plus for wedding photographers who want to highlight additional details in dresses and suits while not over-processing the bride’s face and skin.

Finally, Fuji camera users will have access to an extra detail processing engine beta called Deep Prime XD3 X-Trans Beta. Fuji sensors work slightly differently than most other manufacturers, and we are told that this will produce incredible results for images captured at ISO levels previously considered unusable.

I would love to show you some real-world examples of me using this fantastic software, but unfortunately, while it is being launched in Tokyo today (27 February), it won’t be available to download until April 15. I will be getting a pre-launch version, so subscribe to the channel using this button down here, and you’ll see the improvements closer to April.

However, if you pre-order DxO PureRAW 5 between now and April 15, you will receive a complimentary copy of PureRAW 4 immediately. Version 4 is already impressive, so there’s no reason to hold off until April.

The upgrade from PureRAW 3 or 4 will cost £69.99 or 79.99 euros or US dollars, depending on where you live. If you are new to PureRAW, you can buy into the system for £109.99 or 119.99 euros or dollars.

If you’ve enjoyed this video, it would be great if you could like it and share it by clicking on the thumbs-up button below the video. That way, a few more people will get to see it. You can also subscribe to the channel by clicking on this button here. I send out a monthly newsletter to my subscribers with news about photography, as well as exclusive offers. Scan this QR code to sign up. My name is Rich Dyson, from Edinburgh Photography Workshop, and this has been Coffee Break Photography. See you next time.

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