To use the application, you drop some raw files on it, give it a destination, and pick a few options, then hit process. There are very little controls over the processing, and there isn’t even a plug-in integration with Lightroom in the same way that there is with Iridient’s applications. Unfortunately, I think that they have made it too simple. The tool itself is designed to be as simple as possible. By creating this pre-processor, they feel that they are giving photographers the best of both worlds. The reasoning for creating this is that they felt that they have superior raw decoding technology, but they also accept that the majority of users are using Lightroom and/or Photoshop, and probably can’t be convinced to switch to DXO Photo Lab. An interesting way a company rep used to describe it is to think of it like a pre-amp for your RAW files. If this sounds familiar, its because it is similar to the way Irident’s Transformer applications work. This results in a file that can still be edited much like a RAW file, keeping the ability to change white balance, recover highlights and so on, while taking advantage of DXOs imaging technology. So what is “Pure Raw”? It is a RAW pre-processing application that uses the DXO engine to convert your raw files into DNGs using DXO’s demosiacing and lens correction technology, and more importantly their highly regarded Deep Prime AI based noise reduction. DXO labs today announced the release of a brand new Application called “ Pure Raw”.

Review dxo photolab 4