Adobe Camera Raw 5.2 versus DxO Optics Pro 5.3 - Part I - Chromatic Aberration
Introduction
My review of DxO Optics Pro back in 2004 at dpreview.com can be viewed here:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0409/04090801dxoopticsproreview.asp
Successive versions released since then continued to underwhelm me and unfortunately that is still the case with Version 5.3.
This is not a full review, but a review that tests two areas: Chromatic Aberration and Noise (see Part II).
Software and Platform
• Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III with EF 16-35mm 1:2.8 L II USM lens
• Adobe Camera Raw 5.2 in Photoshop CS4 (called
ACR in this review)
• DxO Optics Pro 5.3 (Build 7250) with Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III + EF 16-35mm 1:2.8 L II USM module (called
DxO in this review)
• Intel Core 2 Quad Processor @ 2.67GHz, 4GB DDR3 SDRAM running Windows Vista Ultimate
Test Objective
To verify if DxO Optics Pro 5.3 lives up to its claim that
"Aberrations are corrected by lens/camera specific modules, ensuring laboratory-grade precision without user intervention".
Test Image
The image below was shot with a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III with EF 16-35mm 1:2.8 L II USM lens. We will focus on crops A, C, D, and E which have chromatic aberration and crop B which has moiré. The images are processed with ACR and DxO in their default positions. The only exception is that we disabled the lens distortion correction in DxO because it is by default disabled in ACR as well. This makes the crops more comparable and does not affect the conclusion. Lens distortion correction is not the topic of this review. You can email me to request for the original RAW image.
Crop
A
B
C
D
E
JPEG image as it came out of the camera
Crops A, C, D, and E clearly show chromatic aberration (CA) while crop B shows moiré.
RAW image opened with ACR
Default settings

Opening the image with ACR with the default settings resulted in (chrominance and luminance) moiré being removed.
RAW image opened with ACR
CA removed

After sliding the Chromatic Aberration sliders in the Lens Corrections tab to the following positions:
Fix Red/Cyan Fringe -35
Fix Blue/Yellow Fringe -14
All CA is removed and no new artifacts are introduced.
RAW image opened with DxO
Default CA settings

Image processed with DxO in default CA settings (Intensity 100, Size 7, Lateral CA enabled) results in an undesirable partially desaturated halo in crop A, while the CA in crops C and D got worse, and the gold color in E becomes desaturated.
RAW image opened with DxO
Maximum CA settings

Sliding the Intensity and Size sliders to their maximum improves A and D but C is now worse than the JPEG image. Crop E is now a major problem area as it has become completely desaturated and there is a gray "halo".
More details in the crops on the next page.
Conclusion
DxO Optics Pro 5.3 claims that "Aberrations are corrected by lens/camera specific modules, ensuring laboratory-grade precision without user intervention". While this sounds great on paper, when testing this with an image shot with a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, DxO was unable to remove the CA, neither with the default settings (i.e. no user intervention), nor with the maximum settings, despite using the lens/camera-specific DxO module for Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III with EF 16-35mm 1:2.8 L II USM lens.

It is hard to improve on the ACR result. Only the moiré reduction was comparable to ACR (although on close inspection, a bit more chrominance moiré remains in the DxO result). The DxO CA results are vastly inferior to ACR and if you improve crops A and D, then crop E becomes totally unacceptable, while Crop C remains as bad as the original JPEG image. Click here for more crops or here for a Nikon D3 test.
Article written by Vincent Bockaert,
author of "The 123 of digital imaging Interactive Learning Suite"
http://www.123di.com