DxO Pure RAW 5.4 can be used as a Plug-In for Lightroom Classic
For all of those photographers out there that do not want to leave the world of Adobe (and I don't blame you) but wish to take advantage of DxO's Denoising and Demosaicing capabilities, you can add the best RAW converter (although I don't believe DxO refers to this piece of software as such) to your workflow with simplicity and ease. It's what is known as "round tripping". In other words you start off in Lightroom by importing into your Lightroom Catalog as usual.
The main thing you need to be aware of is, you must turn off all things in the Details Panel such as Sharpening and Noise Reduction because DxO PureRAW 5.4 will do all of the Noise Reduction and Sharpening for you and you don't want to double-down on this stuff.
Now, a couple of other things to be aware of ... and they are; don't make any edits to your images before passing your Raw files onto PureRAW 5 as it will not recognize them. So if you either lightened up your image or did a white balance of sorts or enhanced your image in any way, shape or form, PureRAW will ignore all of that because it works directly with the original Raw data. PureRAW will also ignore any metadata added to your image(s) such as copyright info, keywords, star ratings and other creator data. If you did add that metadata upon import, well, you can just as easily add it again.
I would suggest that you cull your images right after importing them meaning, sort, rate and rank your images finding the best of the best and filter for these in Lightroom so they are the only ones in your Library view and select them all and then go to the File menu in Lightroom and from the resulting fly-out menu options choose Plug-In Extras and choose Preview and Process with DxO PureRAW 5.
Doing this will launch PureRAW 5 where you will be presented with the Preview and Process interface. In the Corrections Panel make sure you have the appropriate processing method chosen and then head on over to the Output Panel and make sure the DNG file format is selected.
Let's take a look at this process ...
Here we are in the Library Module in Lightroom Classic. I have imported eight (8) RAW files and I have applied some metadata on import.
Here is a closer look at some of the metadata applied to these images.
The image I have currently selected is under exposed and requires some white balance adjustments.
As you can see here I have adjusted the White Balance from a Temperature of 4100 and a Tint of -5 to a Temperature of 3900 and a Tint of 0. I have also increased the Exposure to +1.50 to lighten things up.
Now we will send this Raw file over to DxO's PureRAW 5.4 for Denoising & Demosaicing. With our image selected in the Filmstrip go File > Plug-in Extras > Preview and Process with DxO PureRAW 5
Here we are in the Corrections Panel in PureRAW 5. Notice that the software chose the latest process version, XD2s. The XD stands for Extra Detail.
Here is a close-up of the settings in the Correction Panel being applied.
Here we are in the Output Panel in PureRAW 5. Take note of the settings here.
And here is a close up view of the Output Settings.
In this panel you will notice thatI have a Custom Preset that utilizes the DeepPRIME XD2s process and outputs a DNG RAW file. The destination is set to the original image(s) folder. I have chosen not to rename this new DNG file and I am not exporting to an application as I am using the Lightroom workflow so it will automatically go back into my Lightroom catalog. Using this method and workflow, PureRAW generates a specific and unique Lightroom Collection based on the date the image is being processed. You can also choose to place the image inside a New Collection that you name yourself.
Here we are back in Lightroom inside the Develop Module showing that the As Shot White Balance is back to Temperature: 4100 and Tint: -5. Also notice that the Exposure increase to +1.50 did not hold.
Under the Collections Panel in Lightroom that PureRAW created you will notice the Collection Set named DxO PureRAW 5 and then inside of that a collection named after the date the image was processed.
Back in the Library Panel with the newly created DNG file produced by PureRAW 5 selected you can see that neither the Develop edits nor the Metadata that was added upon Import are a part of the image.
Also take notice above the Collections Panel in the Folders Panel you will see that we now have 9 images in the original folder. The currently selected image rests in the Collections folders which as we all know is a virtual copy of what lies in the original folder. What I am getting at is PureRAW 5 places the DNG version in both the original folder and inside the Collection Set.
On the right hand side under the Metadata Panel you will notice that none of the applied metadata during the import phase is there as well.
This can be easily remedied by clicking on the original folder in the Folder Panel and selecting the original edited NEF file and then copying & pasting both the metadata and Develop Module edits.
In order to do this, with the edited original selected in the Library Module, go to the Metadata menu and choose "Copy Metadata ...". A dialog will pop up for you to choose which fields you want to copy.
With the PureRAW DNG file selected go to the Metadata menu and choose "Paste ..."
The results of copying and pasting metadata from one image to another or to multiple images.
Notice that the Star Ratings have been applied to the thumbnail preview as well as all the other selected metadata shows up in the Metadata Panel on the right side of the interface.
Next we will select the original edited RAW NEF file and copy and paste from the NEF to the DNG.
Go under the Photo Menu and from the resulting fly-out menu choose Develop Settings > Copy Settings
Now choose which settings you want to copy. In this case since I only edited the White Balance and the Exposure, those are the only two items I want to copy.
Next go back to the Photo Menu and choose Develop Settings and choose Paste Settings
And there you have it. Your DxO PureRAW 5 DNG file back inside Lightroom with all of the image edits and all of the metadata intact.
Now you can continue to edit this DNG file further if that is what you desire to do.
So in this example I choose the Preview and Process method of working with DxO PureRAW 5.
In the next article I will cover off the other two options when choosing the PureRAW 5 plug-in.
Until then, happy editing ...
As always, here are my affiliate links. Try before you buy is always a good option:
Discount Code of 15%: JohnWarren
My Youtube Channel Links for DxO PureRAW 5:
DxO PureRAW 5 Part 1
DxO PureRAW 5 Part 2
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