Camera
DxO’s new PhotoLab 5 and FilmPack 6 get Fujifilm X-Trans support, performance boosts and more
DxO has announced the latest versions of DxO PhotoLab and DxO FilmPack. DxO PhotoLab 5 features improved Control Point functionality and new ways to adjust images, more efficient DeepPRIME implementation, improved asset management tools, and for the first time, Fujifilm X-Trans support. DxO FilmPack 6 includes X-Trans support, plus a new ‘Time Machine’ feature, new film stocks, and improved handling of H/S/L adjustments.
DxO PhotoLab 5
DxO’s U Point technology underwent significant improvement in this year’s release of the Nik Collection by DxO. These same improvements, and more, are now coming to PhotoLab in today’s release. In PhotoLab 5, the Control Point now includes sensitivity settings, allowing users to more easily adjust areas of their photos based on the luminance and chrominance of selected areas.
Another new tool, brand-new to DxO software, is a new type of pointer: Control Lines. The new tool complements Control Points by allowing photographers to perform extensive adjustments to large areas of their photos. Control Lines are like a graduated filter, but thanks to the inclusion of sensitivity settings, users retain precise control over how adjustments are applied to their photos.
DxO DeepPRIME technology uses artificial intelligence to develop RAW image files. Unlike traditional RAW processing tools, which perform noise reduction and demosaicing at two separate steps, DeepPRIME uses a holistic approach to perform the tasks simultaneously, resulting in images that promise more detail and lower noise. DxO PhotoLab 5’s implementation of DeepPRIME has undergone significant optimization. On Apple Silicon-equipped Macs, it is up to 4x faster than the previous iteration. On Windows, the performance gains are still impressive, with PhotoLab 5’s DeepPRIME operating about 1.5x faster.
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| DxO PhotoLab 5 includes improved metadata viewing on the right side of the workspace. It can also sync metadata changes via third-party applications. |
DxO PhotoLab is more than a photo editor. It also includes asset management tools. PhotoLab 5 processes IPTC and EXIF data and syncs with third-party applications. For example, if you adjust metadata in Lightroom, it updates nearly instantly in PhotoLab 5. Library management is also improved thanks to advanced keyword prioritization and an interactive keyword tree structure.
For the first time, DxO PhotoLab now supports Fujifilm X-Trans sensors. At launch, 18 Fujifilm X-Trans cameras are supported, including recent cameras like the X-E4, X-S10, X-T4 and X100V, plus many older models.
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There are 605 new DxO modules in PhotoLab 5, plus support for eight additional new non-Fujifilm cameras, like the Canon EOS Ra, Nikon Z fc, Olympus PEN E-P7, Panasonic GH5 II, Pentax K-3 III and Sony ZV-E10. DxO modules are lab-derived and promise to automatically remove optical defects such as distortion, chromatic aberrations, vignetting and softness for specific camera and lens combinations.
Of the new Fujifilm X-Trans support, Jean-Marc Alexia, VP Product Strategy at DxO, said, ‘We are very happy to finally open our doors to the community of Fujifilm photographers. Our goal is to offer them the best solution available in terms of image quality. To this end, we have created a website specifically dedicated to collecting their feedback. We can’t wait to hear what they think.’ If you use PhotoLab 5 with Fujifilm X-Trans RAW files, DxO wants your feedback.
DxO PhotoLab 5 is available now in Essential and Elite editions. Until November 14, the software is available at a special discounted introductory price. The Essential Edition is $109.99 instead of $139. The Elite Edition is $164.99 instead of $219. For PhotoLab 3 and PhotoLab 4 owners, upgrade pricing is available. A free 30-day trial is available from DxO.
DxO FilmPack 6
DxO FilmPack 6 includes 15 new film renderings. Among these is Kodak Ektachrome Professional Infrared EIR Color Slide Film and Impossible PX 600 Silver Shade instant film for the Polaroid 600 camera. DxO has also added seven Film Simulations from Fujifilm X Series cameras and six cinematic renderings based on current trends in cinematography.
FilmPack 6 also adds 20 new creative effects, including drops and crumpled paper, to give your photos a vintage look. The application includes 15 new light leak effects, like light spots, haze and zoom. It also includes 15 new frames, such as matte, black frame and film border.
When editing your color images, a new color rendering engine offers users access to eight color channels for hue, saturation and luminance adjustments, up from six in the previous version. Users can also now select a hue for highlight and shadow regions, allowing for split toning.
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While new film renderings and editing tools are excellent additions, the new Time Machine feature is perhaps even more interesting. DxO writes, ‘DxO FilmPack 6 provides users with a true journey through time, offering an introduction to the history of analog photography from its creation to the present day. The software introduces a new way of displaying creative and analog renderings separated into 14 periods illustrated by legendary, iconic images, and famous figures in photography. Each photograph is documented from a technical and historical perspective, and users are provided with the closest rendering so they can apply it to their images and recreate a similar style and finish.’ With Time Machine, users can learn about historic photos and the processes used to create them. Users can then apply a similar film rendering to their images.
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‘We wanted to give DxO FilmPack even greater depth,’ said Jean-Marc Alexia, VP Marketing & Product Strategy. ‘To document our Time Machine, we collaborated with the Friends of the French Museum of Photography in Bièvres, an association chaired by the photographer Didier Pilon, who produced fantastic research.’
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DxO FilmPack 6 is available now with special introductory pricing. Until November 14, FilmPack 6 Essential Edition is $54.99 instead of $85. The Elite Edition is $109.99 instead of $139. Special upgrade pricing is available for owners of DxO FilmPack 5. A free trial can be downloaded here.
Camera
Pentax K-1 and K-1 II firmware updates include astrophotography features (depending on where you live)
Yesterday, Ricoh quietly released firmware 2.50 for its Pentax K-1 and K-1 II DSLRs. However, the features you can expect to gain from this update may depend on your geography.
Ricoh’s English-language firmware pages for the K-1 and K-1 II state that firmware 2.50 delivers “Improved stability for general performance.”
However, astute Pentax users noted that Ricoh’s Japanese-language firmware pages (translation) indicate that the update also includes a limited feature called “Astronomical Photo Assist,” a collection of three new features designed for astrophotography: Star AF, remote control focus fine adjustment, and astronomical image processing.
Star AF is intended to automate focusing on stars when using autofocus lenses. Rather than manually focusing on a bright star and changing your composition, it promises to let you compose your shot and let the camera focus.
Remote control fine adjustment allows users to adjust focus without touching the lens and requires Pentax’s optional O-RC1 remote. Astronomical image processing will enable users to make in-camera adjustments to astrophotography images, including shading correction, fogging correction, background darkness, star brightness, celestial clarity, and fringe correction.
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| Astronomical image processing on the K-1 and K-1 II will enable users to make in-camera adjustments to astrophotography images, including shading correction, fogging correction, background darkness, star brightness, celestial clarity, and fringe correction. |
According to Ricoh, Astronomical Photo Assist is a premium feature that must be purchased and costs ￥11,000 for an activation key (about $70 at current exchange rates).
Although these astrophotography features appear to be Japan-only for now, a Ricoh representative tells us, “Ricoh Imaging Americas confirmed that the premium firmware features for the PENTAX K-1 and PENTAX K-1 Mark II will eventually be available to US customers.”
Firmware update 2.50 for both the K-1 and K-1 II is available for download from Ricoh’s website.
As part of our twenty fifth anniversary, we’re looking back at some of the most significant cameras launched and reviewed during that period. Today’s pick was launched seven years ago today* and yet we’re only quite recently stepping out of its shadow.
The Nikon D850 is likely to be remembered as the high watermark of DSLR technology. We may yet still see impressive developments from Ricoh in the future (we’d love to see a significantly upgraded Pentax K-1 III), but the D850 was perhaps the green flash as the sun set on the DSLR as the dominant technology in the market.
Click here to read our Nikon D850 review
Why do we think it was such a big deal? Because it got just about everything right. Its 45MP sensor brought dual conversion gain to high pixel count sensors, meaning excellent dynamic range at base ISO and lower noise at high ISOs. Its autofocus system was one of the best we’ve ever seen on a DSLR: easy to use and highly dependable, with a good level of coverage. And then there was a body and user interface honed by years of iterative refinement, that made it easy to get the most out of the camera.
None of this is meant as a slight towards the other late-period DSLRs but the likes of Canon’s EOS 5DS and 5DSR didn’t present quite such a complete package of AF tracking, daylight DR and low-light quality as the Nikon did. With its ability to shoot at up to 9fps (if you used the optional battery grip), the D850 started to chip away at the idea that high megapixel cameras were specialized landscape and studio tools that would struggle with movement or less-than-perfect lighting. And that’s without even considering its 4K video capabilities.
In the seven years since the D850 was launched, mirrorless cameras have eclipsed most areas in which DSLRs once held the advantage. For example, the Z8 can shoot faster, autofocus more with more accuracy and precision, across a wider area of the frame and do so while shooting at much faster rates.
But, even though it outshines the D850 in most regards, the Z8 is still based around what we believe is a (significant) evolution of the same sensor, and its reputation still looms large enough for Nikon to explicitly market the Z8 as its “true successor.”
Nikon D850 sample gallery
*Actually seven years ago yesterday: we had to delay this article for a day to focus on the publishing the Z6III studio scene: the latest cameras taking precedence over our anniversary content.
| Photo: Richard Butler |
We’ve just received a production Nikon Z6III and took it into our studio immediately to get a sense for how the sensor really performs.
Dynamic range tests have already been conducted, but these only give a limited insight into the image quality as a whole. As expected, our Exposure Latitude test – which mimics the effect of reducing exposure to capture a bright sunrise or sunset, then making use of the deep shadows – shows a difference if you use the very deepest shadows, just as the numerical DR tests imply.
Likewise, our ISO Invariance test shows there’s more of a benefit to be had from applying more amplification by raising the ISO setting to overcome the read noise, than there was in the Z6 II. This means there’s a bigger improvement when you move up to the higher gain step of the dual conversion gain sensor but, as with the Z6 II, little more to be gained beyond that.
These are pushing at the extreme of the sensor’s performance though. For most everyday photography, you don’t use the deepest shadows of the Raw files, so differences in read noise between sensors don’t play much of a role. In most of the tones of an image, sensor size plays a huge role, along with any (pretty rare) differences in light capturing efficiency.
As expected, the standard exposures look identical to those of the Z6 II. There are similar (or better) levels of detail at low ISO, in both JPEG and Raw. At higher ISO, the Z6III still looks essentially the same as the Z6II. Its fractionally higher level of read noise finally comes back to have an impact at very, very high ISO settings.
Overall, then, there is a read noise price to be paid for the camera’s faster sensor, in a way that slightly blunts the ultimate flexibility of the Raw files at low ISO and that results in fractionally more noise at ultra-high ISOs. But we suspect most people will more than happily pay this small price in return for a big boost in performance.
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