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

I've had a lot more time and experience with PhotoLab 6 and Deep prime XD.

I tend to still use the original Deep Prime when the ISO doesn't go crazy high to 16,000 and beyond, because it still does a great job and is much faster than Deep Prime XD to process images.

However, for really high ISO images I am finding that the Deep Prime XD still gives you a 'photographic look' rather than washing out to a more water-color-like effect, so I tend to use it now for ISO 16,000 and higher images.

Last night I shot some locomotives in very difficult night lighting, by the light of a few streetlights, with the EF-M 32mm f1.4. Normally I downsample my images for viewing on 4k monitor and for posting - this also helps extreme ISO images. For Deep Prime XD images, the more aggressive de-noise can result in some artifacts that can be seen at the pixel-magnification level, and downsampling smooths those out, giving very clean images.

I'm quite happy with the results. I pushed the last image in this set to ISO 51,200. DxO handled the noise for it well, however there just isn't shadow detail to be found at that extreme an ISO, so predictably the shadow areas appear muddy and washed out.

All images shot with Canon M6ii & EF-M 32mm f1.4 at f1.4, with moderate cropping, then downsampled to 2160 pixels high. All shot at ISO 3200 in-camera to preserve the highlights, and exposure 'pushed' 1 or more EV to higher ISO in DxO PL6, processing using Deep Prime XD.

Sharpness, contrast, and color saturation was punched up quite a lot... You can really do a lot with high ISO images using DxO, just as you would with any software and normal images. My experience with other software at high ISO is that doing those things would just break the image quality down and increase the grain --- but Deep Prime can handle almost anything you throw at it.

In some images I masked darker areas and increased exposure up to another EV - so some of the images below have the shadows pushed to even higher ISO... you might notice this as muddiness.

Pushed to ISO 6400

Pushed to ISO 12,800

Pushed to ISO 32k

Pushed to ISO 20k

Pushed to ISO 20k

Pushed to ISO 20k

Pushed to ISO 20k

Pushed to ISO 51,200

After getting these results, I'm even more in awe of the Canon EF-M 32mm lens.... I 'get' why some in this forum from time to time post the mantra "32mm + DxO"!

I know from trying similar shots that the EF-M 22mm f2 lens can't produce images like this. It's not just that it's 1 stop slower at f2 -- it's mostly that it just doesn't have the 'extreme sharpness' of the 32mm lens wide open, plus it also has a lot more flare and produces a lower-contrast image. I've found that the Sigma 16mm & 56mm f1.4 can, however, give high ISO images almost this good.

Interestingly, the Venus Laowa 9mm f2.8 lens is also sharp enough for night photography using DxO Deep Prime.... here's an image with the Laowa pushed to ISO 51,200 (notice the muddiness on the street and shadow areas of the train):

Canon M6ii, Laowa 9mm f2.8 at f2.8, pushed to ISO 51,200