Industry acclaim for DxO PureRAW is a sign of the app’s success. “The results are pretty spectacular” says Amateur Photographer, while DP Review notes it’s “A massive must-have for photographers.” On Forbes we read “Highly Recommended” and FStoppers states “After using DxO PureRAW, I’m sold.” There is also an EISA 2021-2022 Award, given with the note “DxO PureRAW is truly unique software”, but knowing how those awards work, I rather not go that way. Still, the consensus seems to be one: this is a piece of software that you need if you use RAW.
In fact, I am eager to try and see if I can use this app in my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra workflow. I’ve some of the same technology in DxO PhotoLabs 5, but I’ve not yet tried it on the 16bit RAW (DNG files in fact) captured by Samsung’s smartphone. I guess I will have to try it there but also try to get the DxO PureRAW 2 software to evaluate. Just asked DxO…
So, what does the new DxO PureRAW 2 bring to the table? Well, if you’re a Fujifilm X-Trans photographer, it brings a lot, as DxO has also added support for the sensor, something that the company has done for its other software, following requests from photographers who felt they were forgotten. Apparently, it just took some extra time to get the apps to work with the specificity of Fujifilm’s X-Trans sensor and technology. DxO says that Fujifilm photographers can “expect clean images, free of noise and artifacts, with deep, vibrant colors even at high ISO levels.”
The recent version is not just good news for Fujifilm photographers, as it also brings a revolution for RAW files, according to DxO. By this the company means that “DxO PureRAW 2 now allows users to pre-process images without leaving Lightroom and offers significant speed improvements. In Lightroom Classic, users can right-click on a number of RAW files and have DxO PureRAW 2 process the images, creating newly enhanced Linear DNG files back into the same folder, without having to step outside of the application.
It does not stop there, though, as similar functionality is now integrated into Windows File Explorer and macOS Finder: simply right-click files and choose from the context menu to start the process. What this means is that DxO PureRAW 2 has two new integrations to make the workflow even smoother. DxO DeepPRIME receives a significant upgrade in speed. Not only more responsive, processing and export times have been improved — up to four times faster on Apple Silicon machines and up to 1.5 times faster on the latest Windows computers.
HiDPI displays are now supported, offering greater comfort to photographers on Windows machines. The new version also includes updates to DxO’s Optics Modules, which brings a host of new camera/lens combinations totaling more than 70,000. DxO PureRAW 2 supports 40 new cameras, an extensive list including models from Canon, Fujifilm, Leica, Ricoh, Sigma and Sony.
Released in 2021, DxO PureRAW set a new standard in RAW conversion through its pioneering use of artificial intelligence, establishing superior image quality at the beginning of the editing process — all without disrupting photographers’ existing workflows. DxO PureRAW 2 builds on this success, offering new features and greater efficiency.
DxO PureRAW uses convolutional neural networks to perform the demosaicing and denoising processes of RAW image conversion simultaneously. Having been trained using millions of example images, the network is able to produce results that far exceed those made by human-designed algorithms, giving users Linear DNG files that have all of the flexibility of the original RAW file but with the best possible image quality in terms of color, noise, and fine detail.
When DxO PureRAW is paired with DxO’s highly regarded Optics Modules, a database of more than 70,000 lens and camera body combinations, that provide the highest levels of lens sharpness, corrections to geometric distortions, vignetting, and aberrations, users are able to start their workflow with greatly enhanced RAW files that allow for better results.
DxO PureRAW 2 (Windows and macOS) is now available for download on the DxO website (https://shop.dxo.com/) at the following price: DxO PureRAW 2 $129 or $79 for an upgrade.