DxO Labs introduces Optics Pro 9 with ‘PRIME’ noise reduction

Posted by Chris Roubis on 24th, Oct, 2013

DxO Labs has released Optics Pro 9.0, a major update to its RAW conversion and image correction software. It offers improved highlight recovery, adds creative visual presets known as ‘Atmospheres’, and includes all-new ‘PRIME’ noise reduction technology that claims to offer significant image quality gains at high ISOs. The software is available to download now, with a special introductory price to November 20th. See below for full details.

Click here for free trial versions of DxO software

Press Release:

DxO Optics Pro 9 introduces revolutionary PRIME denoising technology and pushes the limits of high ISO photography even further

With its award-winning and unrivaled image processing quality, DxO Optics Pro definitively emerges as the software of reference for the most demanding photographers

Special introductory offer through November 20, 2013

October 23, 2013 – DxO Labs announces the immediate availability of DxO Optics Pro 9, the major new version of its image-processing software. DxO Optics Pro 9 introduces PRIME, a revolutionary noise reduction technology whose spectacular performance produces detailed and vividly-colored images even under the most extreme shooting conditions.

Based on DxO Labs’ exclusive approach of prior calibration of equipment in its laboratories, DxO Optics Pro integrates many powerful tools for automatically processing RAW and JPEG images: precise optical and geometric corrections, intelligent optimization of exposure and contrast, preservation of colors and details. Its numerous presets can be adapted to photographers’ personal tastes and will help them bring out the best in their photos in just a few clicks.

Breathtaking images, even at extremely high ISO

Thanks to PRIME (Probabilistic Raw IMage Enhancement) denoising technology, which analyzes the structure of RAW images in depth in order to differentiate between noise and fine details, DxO Optics Pro 9 offers a gain in image quality of up to one full stop over the best noise reduction algorithms currently on the market.

“In contrast to the usual approach of finding a better compromise between image quality and execution speed, we have created a tool whose sole purpose is to obtain the best image quality possible,” explained Frédéric Guichard, Chief Scientific Officer of DxO Labs. “For each pixel, more than a thousand neighboring pixels are analyzed. This vast exploration allows DxO Optics Pro to identify similar data that can serve to reconstruct image information. Several minutes may be required to do this, but this process takes place in the background, so users can work on other images and projects while they wait for the results.”

PRIME technology results in truly spectacular images: noise is suppressed, and textures, details, and color saturation are preserved, particularly in shadows, for a beautifully natural look.

For photographers who prefer to denoise their images immediately, DxO Optics Pro 9 still offers a newly-improved high-quality “classic” denoising tool that produces finely-detailed renderings quickly, even at the highest sensitivities.

Unrivaled highlight management and color rendering

The exclusive DxO Smart Lighting feature optimizes the overall contrast of an image by intelligently adapting to its contents. This tool has been further improved in DxO Optics Pro 9, which now offers even more powerful highlight management: details that once were thought lost are revealed, even when the information is missing in the original RAW data, and colorimetric errors are minimized.

DxO Labs’ highly precise knowledge of the way each camera reproduces color allows DxO Optics Pro to emulate the rendering of any camera on RAW images. DxO Optics Pro 9 goes even further by proposing a new color rendering called “DxO Portrait,” which preserves skin tones and naturally-saturated colors.

New visual presets

DxO Optics Pro 9’s library of presets has been completely redesigned. Portrait, Landscape, Black & White, Single-shot HDR: the new DxO presets respond to different use cases that photographers frequently encounter, and are supplemented by “Atmospheres,” a new set of creative renderings.

A new visual presets window makes it easier for users choose which preset to apply to their images by letting them preview thumbnails of the rendering effects prior to application.

New export tools

DxO Optics Pro 9 simplifies its workflow by allowing photographers to go directly from customizing their images to using and sharing them.

The “Export to Disk” feature lets users generate and save JPEG, TIFF, and DNG images in just a few clicks. The new “Export to Application” feature groups into a single transaction both processing and opening images in an external application, such as other DxO software products or other editors that specialize in photo retouching, panoramic shots, HDR, and cataloguing. Finally, the “Export to Flickr” feature adopts this same new approach, letting users process and publish their photos directly online in just one step.

Even more comfortable and productive

The DxO Optics Pro interface has undergone another evolution, with a new workspace that highlights essential correction tools, optimizes vertical space, and reorganizes toolbars and palettes in an even more logical fashion. Further, it is now possible to access context-sensitive help directly in the correction palettes.

Availability and special introductory offer

The Standard and Elite editions of DxO Optics Pro 9 for Mac and Windows are now available in the DxO Labs line store (shop.dxo.com) and at photo resellers at a special discount through November 20, 2013:

USD:

DxO Optics Pro 9 Standard Edition: $99 instead of $169
DxO Optics Pro 9 Elite Edition: $199 instead of $299

GBP (Suggested retail prices, including VAT):

DxO Optics Pro 9 Standard Edition: £79 instead of £119
DxO Optics Pro 9 Elite Edition: £159 instead of £239

EUR (Suggested retail prices, including VAT):

DxO Optics Pro 9 Standard Edition: 99€ instead of 149€
DxO Optics Pro 9 Elite Edition: 199€ instead of 299€

Photographers who acquired a DxO Optics Pro 8 license on or after September 1, 2013, are entitled to a free upgrade to version 9. Other customers can benefit from a special discount on their upgrade directly from their customer account through November 20, 2013.

A fully-functional trial version of DxO Optics Pro 8, good for one month, is available on the DxO Labs website (http://www.dxo.com/intl/photography/download).

Comments

Since the beginnings I used Photoshop and DxO in parallel, processing all in RAW. Up to now, Photoshop had the lead. The prior edition of DxO went on par with Adobe and had a lead in fine tuning the pictures. Some time I thought that DxO is a gimmick. Today, I believe in their future. Smart algorithms are more important than “glass” and physical sensor limitations. SW trumps HW.

I will support everything which is contrarian to the Adobe cloud rip off. The cloud is the biggest danger at present for mankind with the outlook of total communication control and exploitation. Therefore: thumbs up for DxO. You get my money.

Still no local adjustment features. So, no more DxO for me, thank you very much.

As a noise reduction software, it’s not price competitive.

Some thoughts after I used the trial:

(1) Prime Denoising is good but way too overrated.
(2) Still waiting for a better and improved workflow and UI.
(3) Still slow… One hint: GPU
(4) Better (slightly) than LR5 in the range of image detail tweakability, but for me, they should organize these controls a ‘lil better!

I tried Prime and I must say one can better buy Topaz Denoise instead of upgrade to the new version (as I did), it just doesn’t worth it. The luminance NR was already best built in NR on the market in v8, the new one advanced it even further, but it is too painfully slow. Topaz denoise is faster (and better in detail preservation). Just my $0.02.
BTW, it was my last purchase of DxO stuff. These improvements don’t worth new major version. +0.5 at best, definitely not +1.0

I have to agree DXo is watering down their brand by advancing their last two revisions a full “1.xx” number. They should have been more like .x advances.

I love Dxo for its great color but frankly, if they can’t support Pentax Q’s DNG or Fuji Xtrans, I have no use for it at the moment.

hi
why? do you think topaz denoise is better?

A quick PRIME vs ACR comparison

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/9091533250/albums/dxo9-prime-test

Original image: DPReview’s FZ200 ISO6400 studio shot

Very interesting comparison! The Dxo one becomes watercolor eek!

In terms of detail, the DxO one is way ahead of ACR. (Geometrical differences and toning are down to other differences in the conversion.)

Turn off all sharpness add ons and resolution and detail are the same in my experience between all RAW processing apps. Both DXO and C1 both add far too much default sharpening which all to easily creates nasty looking artefacts on fine detail. There are better ways of pulling out detail in photoshop actions than any of the RAW processing apps can do. YMMV

Here are two samples. One with LR is here:
http://masters.galleries.dpreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2731713.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=14Y3MT0G2J4Y72K3ZXR2&Expires=1382605416&Signature=0NzbKOq6J6Hl%2bWOZrg6B%2bMIfSyw%3d

Another one is DxO Pro 9 software

http://masters.galleries.dpreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2731712.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=14Y3MT0G2J4Y72K3ZXR2&Expires=1382605485&Signature=qgQt%2b%2ffDbolopjEv5VZHa3DXVMk%3d

All setting are 0 except raw noise reduction. Nothing else except DxO white balance is on. LR is all on 0 except noise reduction. Thats it.

I am quite horrified by shadow clips in DxO. Thats a negative part.

@naththo: You can’t post links like that to S3 – they expire too quickly.

Finally they have enabled switching between fit the screen and 1:1 with a double click – this is worth the upgrade price alone.

I take back what I said earlier, I’m not a fan. I’ve played with it quite a bit today. The new PRIME feature is utter nonsense, the noise reduction isn’t better than LR5, it’s kludgy, and I can get the same or better colors and shadow/highlighting functionality out of LR5.

No go for me DxO

Interesting. In v4-v5 NR engine change most users found the result worse.
Now they claim a big NR change again.

Anyway, I wonder if they’ve finally fixed the bugs from v6 that were ignored in v7 and v8? Their lead time on bug fixes seems to be a year, so the v6 bugs at least should be done.

I want to ask question to you anyone who had tried that software, has DxO improves the shadow detail by not clipping? Several previous version I tried out that all of it still clipping shadow, its not good. You need to have gentle approach to both highlight and shadow detail. ACR is still the winner for the shadow/highlight detail compare to DxO is not as DxO is still clipping some.

And is the 1 shot HDR feature promised in v6 available yet?

I should clarify it better probably no one understands what I mean.

When you first open raw file in photoshop it leaves very flat, so the shadow/highlight details are still intact without anything touch to it. So it give you lots of headspace in highlight and shadow gaps to allow you to edit it. If you open raw file that is already clipped you have no headspace to edit the lighting, that is not good thing to open with, for example in DxO 8 I tried before. It should never ever clip it when you first open it, it should stay flat until you edit it with your own taste to it. 1 shot HDR RAW feature still need room of improvement to stop clipping shadow when using that feature,, it still clipping some shadow as black (pure 0,0,0 in RGB). It would be nice to leave it room like say 2, 2, 2 or 5, 5, 5 so that the shadow detail is still intact. Same for highlight should stay at like 253, 253, 253 or 250, 250, 250. So it stays intact there. Next message still going.

Even when you take photos with your camera, you should take few photos with different setting each different photos. So you can review later and check histogram to look out for either both or just one of highlight or shadow clip. If one is no good, trash it, look for the best one to keep. So you don’t have to take one picture and check histogram in your camera at a time is a time consuming. But its up to everyone taste what to do with camera. For Sony Nex-7 I leave it as neutral, full 0 on all of contrast, sharpness, saturation with RAW on. And leave DRO, HDR all switch off. And turn off noise reduction if you have or set to low and turn off long exposure iso noise reduction. So that image is intact for raw to edit.

I discovered that if you adjust then extract then repeat about 5 or 6 times without waiting for the first few to finish, DXO 9 will freeze up and not process any more. Just stops, no error message. There was enough ram space as best I could tell. The raws were 27MB Samsung raws, all with Prime NR engaged, being exported to 8bit tiff. I didn’t try putting 5 or 6 into a queue and then extracting, that could work perhaps.

the slow snapshot previews of different presets aren’t an improvement at all. this is useful to a beginner. in my workflow I don’t go on a limb picking a setting, I know what preset I want as a starting point for my picture. this is just slowing me down big time.

we can change the base picture for the ctrl+d(or mouse3 on win) comparison so I’m not stuck with the original image. great I asked for this since… but we need to export the pic before using it. massive bummer, I’ll just create 10virtual copies at every important steps and view one then the other. and save time. how can a trick be faster than your own feature?

I still can’t A/B before and after last used setting flawlessly. need to go ctrl+Z and then ctrl+Y and wait for the rendering 🙁

we all whined for years about not being able to save a workspace with hidden left or right palettes. and you gave zero f**k, again…

when I get to wonder if version 8 wasn’t better, I guess it’s time to say thanks but no thanks.

Downloaded the trial but it doesn’t seem to support the Fujifilm X-E1, the main reason I wanted to check it out. If they don’t plan on supporting the X cameras, I have no interest in their product, it’s a simple as that.

If I want to just process Nikon NEF files, I’ll just use LR. And decent RAW converter can do NEF files.

But this likely does NR of NEF files a bit better than ACR 8. It sure does NR of other raw files better than ACR 8.

Right lack of Xtrans file extraction is a disappointment.

They said they will not support Fuji X-trans sensors and that’s a pity because I was using DxO for several versions (and Elite since version 7), alongside with Film Pack, and if they stick with their decision I can’t justify to buy version 9 just for Nikon DSLR and having use another program for the Fuji.
But it’s funny to read that their technology allows them to build modules for any camera.

The DXO 9 Prime high ISO noise extraction is really really impressive.

I tried raws extracted to 8bit tiffs from my Samsung NX100 and my Panasonic LX5, and now I can shoot at higher ISOs. It’s easy to shoot at ISO 3200 with the Samsung and LX5 can be used at ISO 2000. I shot these raws tonight outdoors on the street. Also extracted some old raws from the Samsung shot at ISO 1600-2000 with a Zeiss lens and the noise control results were better than the noise control with ACR 8. Though yes ACR still has some other colour control features that I like–perhaps they go by different names in DXO, I’m not sure about every feature of DX0.

However: DXO is a system resource hog, so is PhotoNinja: All 8 threads of my quadcore i7 CPU pin at 100% for several minutes while running prime extraction with DX0 9, and the videocard heats up as if it’s rendering video files.

continues in the reply

Then there are many file types that DX0 9 won’t extract, eg, Panasonic LF1, Pana GX7, Olympus XZ10, Fuji Xtrans files from the XE1, DNGs from the Leica X Vario. Obviously DXO will likely add the GX7, but it took years before DXO8 extracted Samsung NX raws.

I tried some extractions of very high ISO, say 25000, raws from a D4 with a Zeiss lens, those extractions didn’t seem a lot better than extraction with ACR 7, yes 7 is what I’d used for those files. May be worth a check. I’m not rushing out to buy DX0 9, I want to try PhotoNinja first, but this is a big step for DXO and seriously challenges Adobe.

No I didn’t download any of the lens or body modules.

Tested the software a bit. – PRIME works really good, and it is not that slow – about 1:15 on my machine, per 10MP image.

Compared to ACR denoising, PRIME works better. I would say that it does much more than just one stop. The images looks smoother, and the details remain.

For the software in general – it is simpler than before, and with less aggressive initial settings.

All in all, swell. – And the PRIME is fantastic.

Some intriguing bits.. but does DXO only work with Raw files? Ie.. could I process a TIFF using it’s PRIME capability that was exported from a different Raw converter?

Great for noise reduction but its very slow exporting with PRIME noise reduction active! Its the best at high iso in reconstructing detail in colors, supressing low noise frequency. Its like TOPAZ DENOISe.

Must say this news is rather disappointing. I’ve been using DxO 8 lately more and more and for many shots preferred the output from it than LR5. It can extract more detail and it’s lens modules can really help. But I do find it takes much longer than LR5 to work an image, and the lack of localised changes a huge omission. I had presumed they would have to add localised changes like LR and Capture One as well as tidy up the interface and speed the whole thing up. It’s good to see them offer much better NR, but it sounds like another very slow process.

Reading the other comments I think I’ll be using Capture One Pro more and more and maybe see what Photo Ninja is like. I tried the trial but it was much older than the release version and I didn’t like it and had issues processing files. For ease of use LR5 is hands down the best, but it can quite extract the best detail, but was better than the others for NR IMO.

try it again; DXO is a big deal for noise reduction in extraction of raws. It’s a new day and Adobe+C1 have a real threat on their hands now.

just to be clear you’re using LR5 to get yourself to ACR 8.2, right?

Edit: Ah I see below you apprehend that its better than ACR for noise. Not sure about your detail claims.

Downloaded. Tried. Uninstalled.
LR is still my choice. Its NR tool is unparalleled so far.

Same here! 😉

It’s clearly the best for NR and ease of use but not the best for extracting best detail. DxO could clearly deliver better detail for low ISO images. Not a huge difference, but certainly not insignificant.

I have to hope Capture One gets improved NR and highlight recovery as it’s capable of better results than LR5 especially colour wise.

rsf3127:

No this DX0 NR tool is a bigger deal than that in ACR 8.2. Not staggeringly, but at least one stop. And really more than one stop in my testing out on a dark street.

I have used DxO and loved its results since version 6 and updated without hesitation. Now I must consider saying goodbye to DxO just as I have already said goodbye to the world of Canon and Nikon DSLRs. The only camera I have now that DxO works with is my Fujifilm X100. That is simply not good enough.

If DxO publicly commits to pulling its finger out for X-Trans support then I will definitely upgrade to version 9. If not, then I can no longer justify the cost just for one camera.

You have a point, DXO neglects all sorts of raw types for years–Samsung NX for example, or new DNGs from the Leica X Vario.

If they did XTrans it would probably be pretty good, given how much an improvement DXO 9 is over DXO 8.

Notice that DxO suffers from the combinatorial explosion problem of cameras and lenses…

@_sem_: How so? There are corrections that are lens-specific and those that are camera-specific. I don’t see how there is a combinatorial problem…

$200 for D800 capability isn’t going to work for me, Olivier. If the click count hasn’t been substantially reduced under previous versions compared to LR5, that’s also a no go.

I am such as sucker to DXO “look”, I still cannot push myself to upgrade to X-trans and drop DXO. But I am processing may be 100 images a month, so speed and awfulness (it is not great) of the interface is not that important to me.
I almost upgraded to 8, but now definitely will upgrade to 9. I wish one day the whole thing will be a “plugin” for LR.

Still no X Trans support.

DxO Optics bring the best lens correction engine but Lightroom is still better in overall image quality. I made some studio test shots with my D800 and DxO gives me much warmer skin tones. Lightroom is more natural and also much better in small details rendering.
New version 9 don’t make any difference in that regard.

LR? ACR in LR.

These details look pretty darn good coming out of my ISO 5000 Samsung NX 100 raws. Getting good details too with a not sharp lens on a D4, and those raws were shot at some thing like ISO 25000. Just looked at the ACR extraction of that same 25000 ISO file, the details are tiny bit better with DXO9.

Don’t know for sure for high ISO values. I have compared ISO100 studio shots and LR have better color reproduction (especially skin tones) and better small details rendering.

I have spent the evening playing with the demo since it was released and i like it a lot! it’s faster than the previous version although still a bit laggy in the interface. The Prime thingy is great but the preview is so small i can barely see if and what effect it has. I would like to have the preview bigger or a option to apply it to the whole photo so i can actually see the effect it has before exporting.

One tiny little thing still bugs me and it’s the croptool, it should work as it does in Lightroom or ACDSee Pro 7 where you can adjust it along any point or corner along the edges and then rotate it by using the rotate gizmos when you move outside the crop area.

Besides that, it’s a real nice release!

The film strip is small, the preview is plenty big and there may be a way of making the film strip bigger. But no, not a great replacement for Adobe Bridge.

Prime is really impressive.

I always keep the filmstrip with previews in a separate window on a secondary monitor if possible, that way you can easily see which photos you want to process or not.

I am not interested in this software until DXO:

1. Do away with Standard and Elite versions
2. Have a LR or Aperture like interface (DXO is just too slow)
3. Option for full DNG support like LR

DXO does great lens corrections and bought Viewpoint 2 to fix complex distortions that LR cannot do. However, with LR I have to create a TIFF file and then in Viewpoint I have to direct it to the original RAW file for it to find the lens used. It is a hassle, that is why I want a fast superior GUI and I will dump LR. Still having to pay extra to get access to full frame cameras is low. Come on, a Canon 5D can be picked up for near $400 and the software without promo is $300!

One of the reasons that DXO 9 is “slow” to extract is it’s doing massive work with the CPU and GPU, that means it’s running big calculations which is why the NR results are better than ACR 8.2.

I can’t speak to the lens modules.

More bad news:

9 doesn’t import my custom process output settings from 8. OK, it’s not a lot of work for me, but tiresome.

Virtual copies appear to “move forward” from 8 to 9, but not “backward”. So if you create a virtual copy in 9, it doesn’t (I think) show up in 8. If you then create a virtual copy in 8, and swap back to 9, you now have a total of 4 (!).

Then back to 8, modify copy 2, it disappears from 9 and you’re left with 3.

Very confusing; leads me to suspect the underlying loose ends aren’t very well tied up.

Call me when you have support for Xtrans and Q.

Right royal screw-ups in the UI: no Process tab (replaced by obscure and miserable list); process now needs two clicks rather than one (process tab moved to silly dialogue); presets menu now full of slowly-forming thumbnails, when you finally find it hidden away on the right-hand end of the toolbar; stupid iPhone-like switches in place of tickboxes in the palettes, except they aren’t; and before/after preview with mouse click is gone – you have no idea how useful that was.

And it’s still slow.

So, DxO, your mark is “E” for Effort, only, I’m afraid.

I get a free upgrade (I only bought 8 ten days ago), fine, I’ll run the two versions in parallel; if not, I’ll stick with 8, thanlks.

“export” is not an obscure term, though “process” is, even it process relates to film and paper development.

agreed: the “to disk” after “export” is odd, had me half look for a floppy drive for like 5 seconds.

What’s missing in standard edition?

They say on their site the features are the same, but the Elite version supports higher end cameras.
Go here
http://www.dxo.com/intl/photography/dxo-optics-pro/supported-equipment
select the WHICH EDITION tab and find your camera.

Prime is excellent!
Try with high ISO images…

Still no X-Trans support! 🙁

Oh, they’re using Pentax firmware now?</deliberate>

Just tried this out on a D800E file shot at base iso in daylight,it produced a very nice jpeg,good highlight recovery and great colour and detail.. it’s a nice app,just like to see them keyboard shortcuts for toggling the palettes and profotoRGB,still doesn’t handle Leica S dng’s either.. overall I like it though..

Any real-world comparisons of the improved noise reduction against the previous DxO version and competing products?

I found one example at the end of this article,
http://www.dxo.com/intl/photography/tutorials/why-shoot-raw-format

I’m seeing a slight, but discernible, noise improvement in the shadow area of a (overcast) daylight shot at ISO 500 with my RX100. A daylight ISO 125 shot with the Sony shows both cleaner shadows and highlights.

In a twilight shot with my D800 at ISO 800 at -2 EV, smooth highlight noise is dramatically better with prime, with no loss of detail in adjacent subject (a great blue heron against a background of water). In the same shot, textured driftwood has less noise but with a barely perceptible softening of detail, and dark shadows are cleaner with a bit of detail loss.

Have not had time to really explore this, but it appears that any softened detail is recoverable.

I like what they’ve done with prime sharpening; I don’t think the lost shadow detail is useful anyway and the improvement in smooth highlight areas (with an already low-noise camera) is very promising.

Bought Dxo Optics Pro 6 at that time. Really like the lens distortion corrections. Seems to do a better job as other software. Also like the volume anamorphosis correction for extreme wide-angle lenses.

I’d tried this new demo, but don’t see much difference over Optics 6 and 8(tried demo as well). Maybe the noise reduction is a bit better. Didn’t do pixel peeping so far.

Since I discovered PhotoNinja last year, I did try other raw software. Also those I always used before, LR4&5, Aperture(still no newer update, despite Apple’s announcements last night). But I do prefer PhotoNinja. A bit of a learning curve to use, but best in high-light recovery. Although I can give some false colors at extreme settings. Exporting to 16bit tif and further on to LR5 for metadata and tweaks.

Optics isn’t bad at all, but the updates seems not big enough to be worth the investment.

DxO software is slooooowwwww.

and it´s has an cumbersome and arkward workflow.

i always try the new versions and i try to like it… but i always delete it after a few days.

Does anybody know if they still use some sort of copy protection? Because if so, I’m not gonna install even a trial version. I just hate to be treated as a potential thief.

So you only use software without any sort of copy-protection? Narrows down the list quite a bit.

Seriously? You take it personal that they do this to protect their investment? Do you not use a car alarm, home alarm, lock your doors or lock on anything you own?

I believe it uses the typical License Key type approach, which isn’t too bad. You download the entire thing during the trial, and the key just prevents it from partially-pooping out after 30 days. As far as I know, it doesn’t do anything loathsome like Phone In periodically to validate a license or demand always-online, or whatever.

Yep, a license key I wouldn’t mind. But I’ve tried some previous version of DxO in the past and it did put some unpleasant stuff on my system. Once was more than enough for me, sorry.

Hi Peter,

I think that you refer to an anti Piracy software that we were using until version 7. We don’t use it anymore since v7.5.

Best,
Olivier

Thank you, Olivier, then I might give it a chance after all.

It’s a license key that dials home to check how many installs you have.
It leaves some crap in your registry in terms of ‘fake’ keys but I’ve learned not to look at my registry anymore.

As others said, it’s just a license key with a check on the number of installations.
When I rebuilt my systems, I had to contact DxO support to allow the ‘new’ installations.
The answer time was just some hours.

@ Grumpyrocker: I think you missed a lot. I open a new thread here:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52386016

No I didn’t miss anything. Nearly everything on the press release is a feature in the software already. Things may have been tweaked but compared to V8 the only real difference is the removal of the Process Module and the new Prime noise reduction.

And the supposed great new “atmospheres” are just a handful of average DXO Filmpack presets. Hardly a selling point.

V9 may be the best version of DXO. But it’s not much of an upgrade over V8. Certainly I find it hard to believe many V8 users would want to pay for this. So V9 might appeal to users who have V7 or no DXO product at all. But for paying V8 customers it’s a pretty insulting update.

And a slight personal issue – since V5 (I’m now using V8) one could click on the image and it would compare to the original. This functionality has been removed in 9. One now has to click a small box at the top of the pack. DXO may be powerful, but its user experience has always been idiosyncratic to say the least.

Well, if I recall correctly, highlights recovery was introduced in v8 but was not as good as that in LR4 or RT4.
And the noise removal thing… I only checked v5 and found the “lens softness” module to be lens-profile-based selective sharpening which was pretty heavy-handed at 100% with my travel zoom, and was obviously trying to sharpen out-of-focus parts of images. I think there will probably be room for improvement of NR&sharpening beyond this update. And it is going to be increasingly more difficult to see improvements, in particular because there will only PR bull* from DxO. But of course they need to brag with something when they roll out the new version asking for your money.

True but there are plenty of things other RAW developers have that still aren’t part of DXO.

There’s no clone brush. No selective editing. No graduated filter.

There was a time when DXO’s automatic lens corrections meant it was pretty unique. But Lightroom has them now. DXO needs to up its game to compete, but V9 doesn’t do that.

Regarding “one click to compare”. I remember some users complaining that to scroll image in zoom mode they cannot just press mouse button and move (like LR does). Now you can do exactly this, so this is probably intentional.

Which goes for automatic lens correction, for some lenses DxO is infinitely better than LR5. For example, it makes wonders to D800 + Nikkor 24-120mm F4 lens, no CA in corners and much sharper than LR5

I’ve no doubt it was intentional. I just would have welcomed the choice.

Well Grumpyrocker, if for you the “Prime” mode is like nothing…
Btw, take a look to the price of the update comparing to the “Creative Clouds”, don’t make as much sense to this kind of arguments, imho.
Cheers,

I like it and plan on paying for it. It’s a little sluggish, but the results are amazing! Running on a brand new 27″ imac with i7 3.5ghz, 32gb ram, 780mx video card, 1tb ssd.

and it’s sluggish with your hardware?
wondering to know which hardware does it need to run faster

I’ve been forced back to using Nikon’s View software, because my version of Adobe Camera Raw doesn’t support the D7100 (I’m using Adobe CS5). I like the results, but dread using it because it’s so painfully slow. If this is sluggish on your machine, there’s no way I’m going to try it.

Umm the trial version of DXO Optics 8 or 9 is available for download?

Did you bother to actually go to DXO website or is that too much to ask of you?

I’ve just installed the trial and tried it out. For the first time since DXO 5 I won’t be paying DXO to upgrade. A slightly redefined interface (with some useful elements removed I might add) and a different noise algorithm should be an incremental upgrade – not a new version number and the hat proffered to users for some more cash.

I know one cannot expect something for nothing. But this is one of the poorest supposed paid upgrades I’ve seen in software for some time. Next time Lightroom is on sale I may jump ship. In the meantime I’ve found myself using Paintshop Pro X6 more than DXO recently.

So better NR that ACR 8 isn’t important to you? I guess there are people who only shoot in bright daylight below ISO 400.

Maybe DXO borrowed some pointers from Pentax 😉

Source Article from http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/10/23/dxo-labs-introduces-optics-pro-9