Processing RAW using DxO - post your samples and tips - Part II

I've been working with PhotoLab 6's new DeepPRIME XD and expanded 'wide gamut' color space for about a month in my normal processing, to get a feeling for how they work vs. the original DeepPrime and Classic color space that PhotoLab 5 used.

Both seem to improve the image. I've found when using DeepPRIME XD when outputting results at 'full resolution' I set its 'Luminance' about 5 points lower than I used to set the Luminance for the original Deep Prime to get a result that looks comparable. For example, If I used Deep Prime Luminance of 70 for a very high ISO image, for Deep prime XD I'd use 65. If I'm downsizing the images to about 4k resolution as I often do for posting images or entering camera club competitions, the difference is about 10 points on the Luminance scale.

Today I decided to put the old vs new head-to-head with some of my most challenging high ISO shots... these are images of trains I shot in March of 2022 on a very dark night, well after dark, with the Canon M6ii and Sigma 16mm f1.4.

The technique I used was to intentionally shoot the images at ISO 3200, then push them to higher ISOs. I've described this in several previous posts, and the reason is that doing this maintains the higher dynamic range of ISO 3200, giving you potentially more useable image information to use in your processing without blowing out highlights, as often happens if you shoot in-camera at higher ISOs. The M6ii is very close to ISO-invariant in this range, and my own testing has shown that you get better images using this technique. Shooting in-camera at ISOs higher than 3200 gives you no more usable shadow detail than shooting at ISO 3200, it just gives you a whole lot more chroma noise and less dynamic range.

For both of the following images, I posted 4 jpg files. Each of them is at full M6ii pixel resolution, RAW format exported in DxO PL6 to JPG format at 85% quality setting. For both image, I posted:

1. The original ISO 3200 image with no exposure and minimal other processing, classic color space used

2. The image almost fully processed: exposure 'pushing' to higher ISO, tonal and contrast adjustments, color adjustments, masking, sharpening, chromatic aberration - but NO lens corrections, cropping, or perspective correction - NO DENOISE - classic color space used

3. Nearly identical to image 2 but the original Deep Prime enabled at the luminance setting indicated

4. Nearly identical to image 3 but Deep Prime XD used instead of original Deep Prime, Deep prime Luminance turned down by 5 points, and Wide Gamut Color space used instead of Classic Color space

My personal feeling is that the Deep Prime XD, Wide Gamut Color version of the images are improved, especially when viewed 100% at the pixel level.

When pushing to this high an ISO in the older PL5, I never felt like I could use the full-resolution image --- it had an appearance that looked 'artificial' with watercolor-painting-like appearance. Downsizing extremely high ISO PL5 images to about 4k resolution made them 'usable' and photographic-looking, in my opinion.

To me, the PL6 Deep Prime XD, Wide Gamut Color, full-resolution images don't have that water-color-like appearance almost at all, they look photographic -- in fact amazingly they look like they were shot at much lower than the ridiculously high ISOs they are pushed to! The XD images seem to have a touch more sharpness and more detail than the non-XD images. Impressively, you can see more, and sharper, 'real' stars in the sky in the DeepPRIME XD images than the original DeepPrime images.

I've always been extremely impressed with Deep Prime... and Deep Prime XD is even better! To me, it's nothing short of extraordinary what this software was able to pull out of these images.

Game-changing for APS-C users.

1. ISO 3200 image with minimal processing, classic color space

2. Pushed to ISO 32,000, 'normal' workflow processing, classic color space, no denoise

3. Pushed to ISO 32,000, 'normal' workflow processing, classic color space, original Deep Prime denoise with DP luminance 73

4. Pushed to ISO 32,000, 'normal' workflow processing, wide gamut color space, Deep Prime XD denoise with DP XD Luminance 68

1. ISO 3200 image with minimal processing, classic color space

2. Pushed to ISO 40,000, 'normal' workflow processing, classic color space, no denoise

3. Pushed to ISO 40,000, 'normal' workflow processing, classic color space, original Deep Prime denoise with DP luminance 76

4. Pushed to ISO 32,000, 'normal' workflow processing, wide gamut color space, Deep Prime XD denoise with DP XD Luminance 71