There’s a new way to get the most out of your raw files, and it’s called DxO Pure Raw. It uses “AI”, aka machine learning, to give you a cleaner and more detailed interpretation of your raw files. There’s a free 30-day trial, so I’m not going to do a huge comparison here; just go and test it out yourself.
But in short, these are my conclusions from playing around with it:
- It will improve all raw files, but mostly files that suffer from high ISO noise or lack of detail.
- A lot of people say it’s very good for Fujifilm X raw files, and that’s true, but I found it even better for lower-end cameras, e.g. the older Canon and Nikon crop sensor cameras I have used.
- This was a bit surprising to me, but it also sharpens the image, and the lower the quality of the lens you used, the bigger the improvement. Some photos I shot with old, cheap telezoom lenses that almost looked out of focus before are now tack sharp.
- DxO Pure Raw can’t save images shot at too high an ISO (it makes them look fake), but it can save photos where the noise was just a bit too much. On my Fujifilm, ISO 800 is very nice and I normally don’t go above that, but with DxO Pure Raw now I can. That’s 1–2 extra stops just from using this.
- Another thing: often you shoot a photo at a higher ISO, but deliberately keep the image dark when editing because you know raising the shadows too much will give too much noise. With DxO Pure Raw you can now brighten up those photos in the edit.
- Remember, none of this is magic. Before, in e.g. Lightroom, there was already interpretation going on when reading the red, green and blue sensor sites and turning them into color pixels, and that interpretation wasn’t very smart. Adobe Lightroom has gotten a bit better over the years, and Capture One is even better in my opinion, but this is a huge step up and a great use of machine learning.
So should you use DxO Pure Raw in every scenario? No. On Fujifilm X, for example, the ISO noise can actually look good if the ISO isn’t too high, and it can add a bit of atmosphere. But it depends. I really like the colors from the Canon EOS M6 (the greens in spring photos are nice), but the images were always a bit soft; now with DxO Pure Raw they get the pop they were missing. And I can now shoot my Fujifilm X cameras at 2 stops higher ISO and get away with it. I’d say try it. You’ll probably end up buying it.