Image Masters

Why I use DxO Optics Pro?

I choose to use DxO Optics Pro for one simple reason - image quality. For individual images, where quality comes foremost, it is currently my raw converter of choice. With raw files from my 1Ds it handles partially burnt out highlights in a much more graceful way than Photoshop ACR. Much better for sunsets, and since I know that others have questioned the validity of this conclusion, I'd just say 'Try it and see for yourself'
I've used it extensively for my black and white landscape prints, where the 'lighting engine' helps provide color images that convert very well to black and white.
The lens correction ('Optics Engine') provides sharp images over the whole frame which gives much better prints when enlarged. It's also great where I know that I'm going to be correcting perspective and need truly straight lines. I particularly like the slight change of image size after geometric corrections - often I'm distorting images to correct for perspective, and that bit extra helps.
The noise reduction is very effective, but I tend to need noise reduction most when I've been shooting lots of images at high ISO (1250 on my 1Ds), typically at an event where I've avoided using flash….
In fact it is workflow that is my major problem -- I'm sure lots of professional photographers would jump at ways of integrating the DxO functionality into their Photoshop based workflows.