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

I've been spending a lot of time with DxO PhotoLab 6 re-processing some of my RAW single-shot astro images of the Moon and Milky Way, to see how much of an improvement there might be with the newer version: using DeepPRIME XD over the original DeepPRIME, and Wide Gamut Color over 'Classic' color.

Here are some samples, an ISO 100 Moon image through a 5" Meade ETX-125 telescope, and a Milky Way shot - an ISO 800 deep space 'stars' photo with a lot of noise.

Both images were shot RAW and were cropped somewhat, but exported to 100% quality JPEG file at pixel resolution (no downsizing).

Moon image: Canon M6ii, Meade ETX-125 telescope (127mm aperture, f15, 1900mm focal length), Viltrox 0.71x EF-EOS M2 speed booster resulting in f11 and 1350mm; 1/60s, ISO 100

1. DxO PL6, minimal processing: Classic color, no tone or color adjustments, no sharpening, no denoise

2. DxO PL6: Exposure +0.31, shadows +15, contrast +60, microcontrast +50, color vibrancy & saturaion +30, unsharp mask Intensity +500, radius 0.6, Threshold 1, Edge offset +300, Classic color space, no denoise

3. DxO PL6: Same processing as image #2 but with original Deep Prime de-noise Luminance 80, Noise Model +20, classic color space

4. DxO PL6: Same processing as image #2 but with Deep Prime XD Luminance 50, Noise Model +20, wide gamut color space

Comments: I spent a lot of time optimizing Deep Prime settings for images #3 and #4, to try to balance the grain and detail. My impression is that Deep Prime XD , for the first time in my telescope lunar images, appears to give pixel-level sharpness - which is impressive as at f11, it's more than 1 EV beyond the diffraction limit. I compared my image with high-res lunar images of the Lunar Appenine region (center top) and the detail in my image lines up with 'real' lunar detail, not detail manufactured by DxO processing, as in this high-res image taken at a similar Moon phase:

https://s1-www.astronomycameras.com/data/blog/20101126/assets/apennines_ina_zoom.jpg

Milky Way star image: Canon M6ii, Rokinon 12mm f2 lens, f2, 13s, ISO 800, cropped off some of the light pollution (taken in Tarpon Springs, Florida)

1. DxO PL6, minimal processing: Classic color, no tone or color adjustments, no sharpening, no denoise

2. DxO PL6: Very steep S-shaped tone curve to bring out Milky Way Detail, shadows +16, Vignetting +45, 6 separate control point masks used to balance out the background sky intensity and diminish the border light pollution, contrast +88, microcontrast +24, color vibrancy & saturaion +20, unsharp mask Intensity +100, radius 0.89, Threshold 1, Edge offset 0, NO DENOISE

3. DxO PL6: Same processing as image #2 but original DeepPrime used, Lumimance 70, noise model 0, classic color space

4. DxO PL6: Same processing as image #2 but DeepPRIME XD used, Luminance 70, noise model 0, Wide Gamut Color space

Comments: I spent a lot of time tweaking the Deep Prime settings for images #3 and #4 for optimal results to balance detail and grain. My feeling is that the DeepPRIME XD of PL6 is SIGNIFICANTLY better for images containing stars.... it did a great job identifying and 'keeping' a lot more stars and even background. I've always felt that the original DeepPRIME 'ate' a lot of faint stars and washed out the image --- and was very happy to see DeepPRIME XD handle it much better, keeping the faint stars. I also think the Wide Gamut color space of PL6 gives better colors than the older classic color space.

All in all --- very happy with DxO PhotoLab 6 and its improvements, it appears to be a significant step up for astrophotography RAW image processing!