Beware of New "DxO Style – Natural" Default Preset

I’ve been a fan of DxO since OpticsPro 9. Back then, I tested all available “raw” converters and found that only DxO maintains Olympus’s color gamut. I was immediately hooked. Since then, upgrades have been incremental, and new photos have always been imported as old ones, unless I squinted…

All that changed with PhotoLab 7, in which “DxO Style – Natural” has finally replaced “DxO Standard” as its default preset. Not only does the latter look unnatural, but it also looks un-Olympus-like, defeating my original purpose. After a week of experimenting, I’ve switched the default back to standard…

Now I regret the upgrade. Sure, I might find a reason to use its new tools, especially color grading in my more cinematic pics, but most of the time I’m working around the “upgrades” for which I paid. I haven’t read anyone else with a similar experience, so I’m posting this here. Your mileage may vary…

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DxO Standard is still available. Upgrading to PL7 did not remove it on my copy. Why don’t you just replace it as the default in Preferences. Alternatively create your own start-up preset and make that the default in Preferences. With PhotoLab Elite you have complete control over the default presets.

Mark

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That’s what I did, @mwsilvers! I’d never gotten such wildly divergent results when upgrading, so It took me a while to realize what was happening. I only posed this to save someone else that time…

I should note that the new default preset is only applied to newly imported pics. All previous pics remain unchanged, even all the way back to my very oldest ones…

That is correct.

Mark

what is “Olympus’s color gamut” ?

Great question, @noname! ViewSonic defines a color gamut as “a range of colors within the spectrum of colors, or a color space, that can be reproduced on an output device.” Every camera manufacturer has its own color science, and I prefer that of Olympus to the extent that I desire to preserve it through every step of my process…

PhotoLab can do many things and some of it might be useless for specific intentions. So we just use the things that are relevant and ignore the remaining features…until we eventually find a sensible use for them. Market laws dictate adding features to well beyond the necessary - but we can always skip an update or freeze our configurations. It helps to know what one needs, what one wants - and to distinguish between need and want.

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@deserator
Jonathan don´t give up yet.
Try to stay with “Wide gamut” and Type: “Generic rendering” and Rendering: “The DXO camera profile for your camera”. (see image)

When I test to switch from Wide Gamut to Classic with a RAW-image from my A7 IV-camera and the profile for ILCE-7M4 which is a Sony model number för A7 IV active, the colors will be totally stable as long as the default profile is used in both cases.

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Thanks @Stenis! I’m not giving up for sure. I did exactly as you describe above and am getting the same results I got with PL6. I’m just frustrated I spent on something I’m actively working around. Hopefully the good content above saves someone the same…

Did you buy pl7 for DxO style natural ?
You still have DxO standard.

I don’t understand what bother you.

camera is an input device… so what is “Olympus’s color gamut” ? unlike ViewSonic which makes output devices ( that indeed have gamut ) Olympus makes input devices ( that do not have any gamut ) .

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After many years of getting similar results of from DxO updates, I was suddenly getting different results from PL7. It took me much trial and error to determine that the default preset had changed drastically. I initially thought HDR - Realistic had changed, as it overrides most of the new default presets. It seems I’m the only one who experienced this, so maybe this post is pointless…

A camera is also an output device when photos are exported and displayed onscreen. Gamut might be the wrong word, but Olympus’s colors differ from Canon, Nikon, and other brands. My point is that DxO Style - Natural changes those colors, overemphasizing the red end of the spectrum. Regardless of how one chooses to describe it, it’s a first in my experience from DxO…

Default presets can change when a new version is released, but since preset you like still exist and you can decide what preset is used when opening an image (this choice is done in preference panel), what is the problem (maybe I don’t understand your point) ?

There’s no problem, @JoPoV. I’m merely pointing out a change in something that hadn’t changed substantively in many years and wasn’t advertised as such. I found nothing Googling it, so I posted this description for others to find should they do the same…

Indeed, google have become how to learn things for many, and DxO should really take care of it.

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@deserator

You might not have seen this (or too late)
Image Browser vs. Editor - #6 by Wolfgang
Photolab 7 Elite Not Saving Preferences - #3 by Wolfgang
:man_shrugging:

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Thanks, @Wolfgang! Indeed, I missed it entirely, but misery loves company, so I’m relieved to know I’m not the only one who noticed and corrected it…

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I believe you can choose what the default is , and even if not a simple ‘selec’ and a click to apply will set it up . Every option is still available to get the exact same rendering as earlier.

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It’s a default which as you have done, is easily changed, never to be thought about again :slight_smile:
I have played about with a couple of Olympus images and I don’t see a big difference between camera profile and natural. Could you post a couple of examples of the differences you are seeing?

On a separate topic, given you are sensitive to Olympus renderings, how accurate do the Camera body renderings look to you ie do the Olympus camera body renderings actually give good results?