DXO Pure Raw 5 won’t import DNG files produced by Helicon Focus

DxO PureRAW Feature requests
1

Helicon dng files produce an error message when I try to import them into DXO Pure Raw. This must be a known issue but I can’t see any other posts about it. I have seen references that suggest dng files using Adobe dng converter should be ok and this is what Helicon uses but they won’t import. Obviously you would not really want to batch Denoise say a 100 file focus bracket prior to stacking in Helicon

2

Read it all on this page:

3

Yes ok but I want to import Helicon dngs. I haven’t had a problem with importing raws SOOC.

4

Have you tried processing with PureRAW first and then use Helicon?

5

It is far and away better to process raw files in PhotoLab (or PureRAW) first, export as TIF, then use the TIF files in Helicon.

I have tested both ways (even though I knew better) and Helicon does not come close to DXO quality for RAW processing. The stack quality out of Helicon is much better using DXO as the RAW processor.

6

Ok thanks for the comment. I was wanting to avoid such a large amount of processing but seems like that is not optimal

7

The process I use is really not difficult.

  1. For in-studio stacks, my lighting is consistent and I use PhotoLab for optical corrections only at this point. Looking through the stack, I choose an image that has the area of interest in most detail.
  2. On this one image I make the necessary optical corrections, then copy and paste those corrections to the entire stack. Finally, I export the stack as TIFF files. The entire process only takes a few minutes.
  3. I direct Helicon to the folder of TIFF images and choose the rendering method (A, B or C) then let Helicon stack the images., correcting as needed for a clear stack.
  4. I’ll take the exported TIFF from Helicon and continue editing is PhotoLab as desired.

It’s quite simply a straight-forward workflow that provides a final high quality image.

Cheers :wink:

8

Many thanks Bob. That’s the answer!

9

Bob, a curiosity question;

What do you mean when you say that you make the necessary optical corrections ?

  • How do you do that ?

  • PL makes these corrections for you, automatically, based on image characteristics and the appropriate Optics Module (for the body+lens combo that captured the image).

10

I intentionally choose No Corrections, and apply the optical corrections manually. Yes, the body/lens combo is there, which is applied to the entire stack – that’s okay since the lens/body does not change while shooting the stack.

The variables I want to control are which denoising method I want to use and how much lens sharpness optimization are used based on the representative file I’ve chosen.

1 Like