History of certain PL and FP features

[Wlodek]

I would like to know some development background for ‘SmartLighting’, ‘ClearVision (Plus)’, ‘Selective Tones’, ‘Fine contrast’ (FilmPack) tools. Can anyone provide rationale for implementations and their history, beyond what was published by DxO? Perhaps some research papers? I know the basics, but I’d like to know some more technical details.

[Egregius ([Greg] (Micro 4/3 + Win11))]

That’s a very broad request. I think the best info would be the following:

• The help text in the adjustment palettes (accessed by clicking on the ?).
• The technical articles at dxo.com under the Explore menu.
• Searching the knowledge base at support.dxo.com.

The history for these features goes back a very long way and largely predates the DxO forums that now exist. You could try to dig up release notes for the early versions of Optics Pro and FilmPack. I can tell you that ClearView Plus was introduced as an “improvement” in PhotoLab 2. I don’t think it was an improvement over the original ClearView, which goes back to OpticsPro 10 - but the rationale was to make the effect stronger while reducing unwanted artifacts. I think it’s usually much too strong. Smart Lighting changed a lot over time, sometimes not for the better - though I think it’s pretty good at this point. (OpticsPro 9 had a good formula that was retained for a little while and then disappeared in favor of a new direction that took several years to fully realize.)

Some people think OpticsPro 7 had the best formula for Smart Lighting.

This might help:

PL Smart Lighting has lost algorithm to process (purposefully) under-exposed images from ISO-Invariant sensors

Note: I am classifying this issue as a “Bug” because it was something that was working (very well) with OpticsPro … but it has been lost/broken with the implementation of PhotoLab. Background; Modern sensors (especially from the likes of Sony & Nikon) are tending, more and more, towards being “ISO invariant”. The practical benefit of these sensors is that one can shoot at low ISO values with exposure settings that would traditionally depend on high ISO settings - which results in a dark unpro…

[Egregius ([Greg] (Micro 4/3 + Win11))]

For Selective Tone, I suggest reading this:

Understanding Selective Tone control

I see that I’ve run into a topic that’s been discussed in several other posts and at great length. However, I believe this post may add some clarity to those. The purpose of this post is to help you understand what the Selective Tone sliders do and why you might want to consider using the Tonal Curve as an alternative. NOTE: I’ve included a summary of the extensive discussion at the bottom of this post. There are other alternatives besides the Tone Curve. If you want to vote for a change in b…

and this:

Selective Tone / Highlights too "broad"

Using Selective Tone / Highlights (with a negative number) to darken too-light highlight areas (like white plates) also darkens skin tones, which I don’t want. Is there any way to prevent this? PhotoLab4

I’m not aware of anything from DxO on the subject that would resemble a white paper or explanation of how it works. As far as I know, the functionality hasn’t changed since it was first implemented, whenever that was.

[John-M (Melbourne, Australia - Win10)]

@Egregius

This might help:

Haha - A blast-from-the past ! … Thx, Greg.

[platypus (Canon & Mac (Intel and M1))]

@Wlodek

I would like to know some development background

That’s rephrasing “the answer to the questions of to live, the universe and everything”, which is (as some of us might know) 42

Fun aside: What exactly do you want to know except that DxO is driven by

• the urge for the technically best solution
• the urge to stay financially afloat

I’ve attached a screen capture or two of the development/availability of tools in PL1 … n, but of course, it only shows what’s visible. All the background is, well, hidden, but squeezing hard will probably fill the two drivers listed above. The how and why is most probably hidden away in a box saying “trade secret”.