NX-D vs. DxO 11 vs. FastStone Image Viewer

[Satyaa]

Due to needs for cropping and other adjustments, editing the photos on PC has become part of my workflow in the past several years.

I recently bought DxO 11 (as the older version did not support my D7200 and FZ2500). I also use Nikon's NX-D and the free FastStone Viewer (it's an editor as well). Today I compared results between the three and wanted to share the results for anyone looking for such comparisons.

This first photo was shot at 200mm in 1.3x crop mode, giving FOV similar to 390mm at 15 mp resolution. 'Neutral' picture style. Vignette and distortion corrections turned on.

FastStone Image Viewer 6:
* Highlights -50
* Shadows 25
* Contrast 25
* Saturation 25
* Cropped to 2400 x 1600
Cropping in FS is the easiest. In addition to zoom, it also allows me to key in a window size.

Highlight, shadow, contrast and saturation settings are in one control window and it can remember the settings from last session.


FastStone Image Viewer 6

DxO 11:
Automatically applies DxO lens softness, Chromatic aberration and Distortion corrections based on camera/lens profile, which is my default setting.

* Highlights -50
* Shadows 25
* Contrast 25
* Saturation 25
* Cropped to 2400 x 1600

Did not apply 'Clear View'. Exported JPEG at 90% quality.

There are more options in DxO (for example, microcontrast in addition to contrast, vibrance in addition to saturation, etc. but I kept my editing to the same adjustments as in FS above)


DxO Optics Pro 11 Elite

Capture NX-D:
I don't think it applied any lens corrections

* Highlight protection 50
* Shadow protection 25
* Contrast 25
* Saturation 25
* Cropped to 2400 x 1600
Exported JPEG at 90% quality.
Cropping in NX-D was the most difficult. It doesn't show me the crop size as I am dragging the box. It took several tries.


Nikon Capture NX-D

This second photo was shot at 300mm in 1.3x crop mode, giving FOV similar to 585mn at 15 mp resolution. 'Neutral' picture style. Vignette and distortion corrections were turned on. Same place, same bird, but it turned to the other side.

FastStone Image Viewer 6:
* Highlights -50
* Shadows 25
* Contrast 25
* Saturation 25
* Sharpening 25
* Cropped to 2400 x 1600

Applying sharpening is simple. There is only one parameter to select and I left it at default.


FastStone Image Viewer 6

DxO 11:
* Highlights -50
* Shadows 25
* Contrast 25
* Saturation 25
* Unsharp mask, intensity = 100, Radius = 0.5, Threshold = 4 (all defaults) [more options = more power + more confusion!]
* Cropped to 2400 x 1600
Exported JPEG at 90% quality.

DxO Optics Pro 9 Elite

Capture NX-D:
* Highlight protection 50
* Shadow protection 25
* Contrast 25
* Saturation 25
* Unsharp Mask, intensity = 25, radius = 5 (all defaults)
* Cropped to 2400 x 1600
Exported JPEG at 90% quality.


Nikon Capture NX-D

Overall, when used with basic/similar settings, they all perform very similarly. May be, the FSIV is doing a bit more than what the selections show. I was surprised with its slightly increased the clarity, which is similar to applying DxO's Clear View at about 20% (or the Clarity slider in PSE 15).

FSIV's disadvantage is that it cannot apply any camera/lens corrections, nor can it process RAW images. If you get corrected images out of the camera, while retaining as much detail as possible, then FSIV may be one of the best free editors.

NX-D's advantage is that is has RAW processing capability, understands Nikon's NEF files better but the UI can frustrate sometimes. Best of all it is FREE!

DxO is probably the most powerful of these three and comes at a price. It has the ability to save full or partial presets with custom adjustments (I have one for birds, one for fireworks, etc.). It probably does the best camera/lens corrections. I like that it saves all settings in a sidecar file without needing a lot of storage (some folks like that PSE creates its own PSD files, but for me they are huge). It allows me to create 'virtual copy' of a file so that each one can be processed differently.

If I process the above two photos to my taste in DxO, the result is below...


Applied some additional adjustments on top of the first image above


Applied some additional adjustments on top of the second image above

Thanks.

--
'Knowledge is the only form of wealth that increases when shared' - unknown
My FZ2500 album: https://flic.kr/s/aHskQU7Thb
My D7200 album: https://flic.kr/s/aHskQjybAS
All my albums: https://www.flickr.com/photos/satya_a/albums

 

[dudewithcamera]

Excellent post. Thanks for taking the time and effort. I also use FS, DXO, and NXD as my trio of editors. Agreed that DXO is the most powerful. Great write-up.

 

[Satyaa]

Thanks - glad you like it

 

[Chuvarsky]

Great write up, and I agree also.

 

[Satyaa]

Thank you

 

[jshen808]

Wow, thanks for these comparisons!

 

[sankos]

Note that FastStone doesn't do proper colour management, even if you switch on its CMS (it disregards the monitor profile). So while it's great for a basic preview of your files (for things like importing from the memory card, evaluating composition and sharpness, etc.), it's not very accurate with colours. How much it matters in practice is up to you to decide, but I'd rather use a properly colour-managed application as my raw converter.

If you want free, there's RawTherapee (which is probably more complicated than DxO but in some respects better than it).

With DxO I'd watch out for the Moire and CA removal, as they can desaturate some small, colourful detail in your photos. Also, I find that the USM sharpening is not necessary, and I'd even back off the Lens softness (deconvolution) sharpening. See my review of DOP9.

 

[Satyaa]

Thank you for that additional info. I will look into those aspects of DxO.

 

[Satyaa]

Thanks.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

As a regular user of Lightroom I took the advice of some DPReview members to give DXO a try. I took advantage of a free offering of DXO Optics Pro 9 Elite. I'm finding it to be as good or better the LR.

Since I have an older camera body, Nikon D7000, it has no problem with handling the files. DXO has most of the tools I regularly use and then some. It's color rendition I like more than LR's. One of the biggest advantages in DXO is it's noise reduction, it beats LR hands down and is even better than Topaz NR which I sometimes use.

Unfortunately, DXO does not support one of my Nikon lenses. Why, I don't know.

My subscription for LR is about to renew and I may cancel it. I'll lose Photoshop but I rarely ever use it.

I really like DXO and would welcome not having to dish out the monthly subscription to Adobe.

 

[jshen808]

As a regular user of Lightroom I took the advice of some DPReview members to give DXO a try. I took advantage of a free offering of DXO Optics Pro 9 Elite. I'm finding it to be as good or better the LR.

Since I have an older camera body, Nikon D7000, it has no problem with handling the files. DXO has most of the tools I regularly use and then some. It's color rendition I like more than LR's. One of the biggest advantages in DXO is it's noise reduction, it beats LR hands down and is even better than Topaz NR which I sometimes use.

Unfortunately, DXO does not support one of my Nikon lenses. Why, I don't know.

My subscription for LR is about to renew and I may cancel it. I'll lose Photoshop but I rarely ever use it.

I really like DXO and would welcome not having to dish out the monthly subscription to Adobe.