[madison_wi_gal]

As an IT person I routinely download/install/buy multiple apps to do a thing. For post processing I have:

DCU
LRC/Photoshop
Affinity
DxO PL6

How I have organized the pix:

All my SD cards, saved jpg/dng/pef files and various odds and ends consolidated onto external drive. Separated RAW vs not-RAW. No other file management since I can do all that in LRC collections.

Anyway, I'm finally taking some time to get my CO and CA vacay pix uploaded and I have ~ 160 that I feel are good enough to show off.

I do like how LRC can correct most things (WB, lens, auto exposure) but what it can't do is denoise like DxO Deep Prime can.

So today's workflow is this:

Select PEF pix in LRC, no corrections, export the DNGs to files in temp folder (leaving master untouched).
Have DxO make the denoising and optical corrections, but no other corrections, put in new subfolder.
Make new LRC catalog, grab those denoised images, do the LRC developing, then export as JPG for Flickr and the Pentax forum.

Lots of work and time.

So:

If I want to use DxO to denoise but want to use [not DxO] for the rest of the PP, does this order sound OK or should I try denoising AFTER LRC develops?

Or something else entirely?

FYI, DCU can't open anything exported by LRC (or the DxO files) - only the original PEF.

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Last edited by madison_wi_gal; 04-16-2023 at 05:51 PM.

[UncleVanya]

I haven’t used Lightroom in a while but I thought you could link DXO via Lightroom. Also you can get DNG natively from your Pentax cameras (at least any that are modern). You can also look into DXO pure raw…

You Tube

You Tube

[madison_wi_gal]

I haven’t used Lightroom in a while but I thought you could link DXO via Lightroom. Also you can get DNG natively from your Pentax cameras (at least any that are modern). You can also look into DXO pure raw…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tFgc7EYRVRw

I'll try again but I'm finding that I have to denoise FIRST, once LRC edits it, DxO sees no noise difference.

Deep Prime (pure raw) is included in DxO PL.

[UncleVanya]

I'll try again but I'm finding that I have to denoise FIRST, once LRC edits it, DxO sees no noise difference.

Deep Prime is included in DxO PL.

Agreed. I think there’s a way to tie them together and launch DXO from light room.

[ramseybuckeye]

I don't have DXO, but as Brad says I'm guessing you can access that right in LRC (as a plugin under the File tab in Develop module).

I'm not sure but it sounds like your camera is producing PEF and you are converting to DNG, an extra and unnecessary step. DCU and LRC can both use camera produced DNG, Don't worry about keeping originals untouched, no permanent changes are done to the originals in LRC.

My workflow is done with a folder hierarchy that goes by year, then date of photos. I have set LRC to create a new folder on import, it names the folder (today's folder is 20230416) and names each file by date, camera, and sequential number as it imports them into the folder (one from today: 20230416-Pentax K-3 Mark III-017.DNG). Most exports go to the same folder, although I have a few special folders I can select if they are to be uploaded to Adobe, ebird, etc. One flaw with the naming of folders is that if you have two of the same camera LRC does not differentiate them, unless they have added a SN field since I last set naming up. I had two KPs and would have to manually set the sequential start number if downloading from the second on the same day, or let them add a -001, -002 etc on the end of each possible duplicated numbers. It was pretty easy to do the manual switch, but sometimes I would forget to set it back to one and the next day numbering would start where it started the last download. Getting into the weeds here, but the workflow works well for me. I only keep the last two years on my working hard drive, all of the years are backed up onto two external drives. I don't consider my 10,000+ photos on Flickr a backup.

I spend more time posting photos on Flickr, uploading to Adobe, and using Pentax Forums than I do in Lightroom, which I'm happy about that, Adobe has streamlined their upload and is much easier, I know it might even be easier if I did it from LRC, but I don't see the need.

I don't do much with DCU, mostly use it to read all of the extra metadata that doesn't show up in LR, like the time of the photo (so I can tell to keyword it for nautical twilight or civil twilight or neither), GPS coordinates, and all of the camera settings.

[madison_wi_gal]

One issue I see DxO doing is making bad lens corrections (I did not ask it to), I had to redo my 10-17s and leave DxO out of it, but my 18-135s and 55-300s look very weird on Flickr.

---------- Post added 04-16-23 at 19:34 ----------

I'm not sure but it sounds like your camera is producing PEF and you are converting to DNG, an extra and unnecessary step.

This came up in a very early thread of mine. I decided that I'd shoot in PEF since if I *wanted* to use DCU (to get satobi, for example) there would be no question of compatibility. Do I use DCU? Not much. Can DCU deal with DNG? Yes, so far.

Mostly habit.

[rpjallan]

I don’t use Lightroom. I use Bridge, Camera Raw, Photoshop & DxO Photolab. I sort all images off the cards into folders in my own unique system. I look at everything in Bridge. You can open RAW files from Bridge into DxO but I tend to just open files I want straight into DxO. I pretty much just do lens corrections (which I find DxO way better than anything else) & noise reduction but I am finding myself using their masking tools more & more. I then export the files as DNGs back into the original folders. I then use Camera Raw & Photoshop. I have got this workflow pretty streamlined now & it works well for me.

[UncleVanya]

One issue I see DxO doing is making bad lens corrections (I did not ask it to), I had to redo my 10-17s and leave DxO out of it, but my 18-135s and 55-300s look very weird on Flickr.

I’d love to see examples. I’ve never had issues with DXO lens profiles and I b own both of those lenses. I don’t use a k-3iii - is the issue only with that camera and those lenses on DXO?

IMGP9309_DxO by -vanya_42nd-

IMGP9308_DxO by -vanya_42nd-

IMGP0444_DxO by -vanya_42nd-

These are a few I can quickly access.

[madison_wi_gal]

I’d love to see examples. I’ve never had issues with DXO lens profiles and I b own both of those lenses. I don’t use a k-3iii - is the issue only with that camera and those lenses on DXO?

IMGP9309_DxO by -vanya_42nd-

IMGP9308_DxO by -vanya_42nd-

IMGP0444_DxO by -vanya_42nd-

These are a few I can quickly access.

OK, I grabbed 2 from the saved images I uploaded to Flickr. The edges are curved in. Originals not like that.

[rpjallan]

You need to look at your settings. I think by default DxO will try to de-fisheye the 10-17 but you can turn that off. The other images you obviously have it set to not crop the image to remove the blank corners after the lens correction has been applied

[madison_wi_gal]

You need to look at your settings. I think by default DxO will try to de-fisheye the 10-17 but you can turn that off. The other images you obviously have it set to not crop the image to remove the blank corners after the lens correction has been applied

Well, bingo!

https://support.dxo.com/hc/en-us/articles/9854718744605-After-processing-my-...ow-distortion-

I stupidly selected "2 -Denoise and Optical Only" vs "1 - DxO Standard (all corrections)"

I was used to v5

OK, wil scrub these next time I have a chance and reupload.

THANKS!!

[rpjallan]

I'm still on version 5. I might upgrade at the next revision.

I make my own presets. That simplifies things. I also find setting the Colour Rendering to your camera body works really well too.

[Sandy Hancock]

I'm a simple soul, and definitely *not* an IT guy.

For the last many years, I have only ever used LightRoom Classic, from DNG RAW files. No presets - all manual editing. I have PhotoShop, but rarely use it.

I export most of the decent results to Flickr, either at full res or 2048 long side JPEGs, in case my computer *and* local backup die.

I haven't found noise to be a big enough issue to want extra complexity in my life

[UncleVanya]

Well, bingo!

https://support.dxo.com/hc/en-us/articles/9854718744605-After-processing-my-...ow-distortion-

I stupidly selected "2 -Denoise and Optical Only" vs "1 - DxO Standard (all corrections)"

I was used to v5

OK, wil scrub these next time I have a chance and reupload.

THANKS!!

Even with all corrections the extra bits in the corners should be trimmed off automatically I can’t understand why they changed the default. How odd. Glad you found a solution.

[madison_wi_gal]

I'm a simple soul, and definitely *not* an IT guy.

For the last many years, I have only ever used LightRoom Classic, from DNG RAW files. No presets - all manual editing. I have PhotoShop, but rarely use it.

I export most of the decent results to Flickr, either at full res or 2048 long side JPEGs, in case my computer *and* local backup die.

I haven't found noise to be a big enough issue to want extra complexity in my life

Agreed, I suspect LRC is fine for what I need (e.g. exporting a few nice pix to show to friends, developing IR pix and general organization). I think part of it is sunk cost fallacy - I paid for DxO so I want to use it. I've also seen some dramatic improvements when using DxO Deep Prime on some telephoto shots. But I know I am a casual photographer, I've got a few pretty good lenses and the current APC flagship, but overall most of this PP is overkill.

---------- Post added 04-17-23 at 08:04 ----------

Even with all corrections the extra bits in the corners should be trimmed off automatically I can’t understand why they changed the default. How odd. Glad you found a solution.

Agreed, the fact that it came up in several help desk cases tells me I'm not the only one. Not happy when apps change for no reason.