PureRAW Bug on Windows 10

,

I purchased PureRAW to try and speed up my workflow, I don’t want to have to add another step to clear up something that shouldn’t be there. This is the first time in 12+ years of working with RAW files that I see this, I’ve worked with a dozen or so RAW converters and this is the first that has caused this issue. The camera is not new and is in their data base so that shouldn’t be the cause.

It is a problem I have experienced (and reported to DxO) with blown out highlights on some smaller sensor cameras such as the Canon s95 and Sony RX100 M7. It seems to only be a problem when exporting the DNG to Affinity Photo. There are other cameras where the problem does not appear to occur.

It is not just a PureRaw issue; the same problem occurs with some DNG files created by PhotoLab if exported to Affinity.

I supplied example images to DxO and I think they are examining the issue but I have no idea if, or when, it may be resolved.

It’s not just with Affinity Photo, I’ve also experienced it using Darktable, Rawtherapee and Luminar

In which case I regret I am completely baffled. It does seem to be a problem with the DNG files produced by DxO and their compatibility (or lack of) with a number of programs. I did not experience any problems with the DNG’s when exporting to Adobe Elements but I know that is of absolutely no comfort to you.

I hope a member of the DxO team reads this thread and is able to be of rather more help.

Regards

Peter

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Thanks, hopefully it will get sorted out soon. If I can at least getting it working with Affinity Photo I will be happy as that is my go too editor! :slight_smile: I’m going to experiment more with Affinity as there are a few settings that can be changed with opening RAW files.

This sounds a lot like the same problem that I ran into when the ability to “Export to DNG: NR and optical corrections only” was first introduced in PL4. This problem was fixed in V 4.1.0 so may not be the same problem. HERE is the link to the discussion that solved the problem.

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Looks very much like my problem! If they fixed in PL4 then they should be able to fix it in PureRAW. Thanks for your input.

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export with PL4

Out of curiosity I exported a NEF-file (D800) showing a gradually overexposed sky, which can be ‘fixed’ with PL’s SmartLighting (standard setting +25), as DNG “NR and optical corrections only”.

Reducing Exposure, Lights, White … in ON1 PhotoRaw 2020 as well LR5 worked as expected
– and in Affinity Photo (1.9.2.1035) in 32 bit mode/preview.
But with ‘normal’ Exposure, Brightness, Lights … it produced an increasingly pinkish colour gradiant
the more the sky was overblown.

While not very familiar with AP, I don’t know if it’s a persisting ‘problem’. – Checking the original NEF-file in AP didn’t show this pink …

Wolfgang


To countercheck, if it’s in DxO or Serif’s ‘ballpark’, maybe someone could try this in AP with an original DNG-file .

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I don’t believe this is an issue with PureRAW or PhotoLab. Someone recently reported the same problem with a DNG file they downloaded from my website. That DNG file was from a Fuji XT3 which was converted to a DNG using a product called Iridient XTransformer. When opening the DNG in Affinity you see this problem in areas of extreme highlight clipping. If I convert the file to a DNG with the latest version of Lightroom you don’t see the problem.

My best guess at what could be happening is that it possibly tied relates to the recent change in the DNG specifications. It’s more than likely a problem with the way Affinity is decoding the data in the DNG file for the clipped area. I don’t see this problem if I open the DNG file in Photoshop, Lightroom etc. It’s only when using Affinity Photo.

Try opening the problem DNG file with something other than Affinity to see if you still get the problem.

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I see the problem in Darktable and with some files with Rawtherapee (blown highlights), those are the only other RAW converters that I own, other than the Olympus Workspace but that doesn’t open DNG files.

I’m happy to take a look in Photoshop and other converters if you like. If you want me to take a look my email is robin@lenscraft.co.uk. Please use a file transfer like Google Drive, DropBox or WeTransfer rather than sending it directly by email though.

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Sure OK, I will send it this evening as I’m at work at the moment. I also have the guys from Affinity Photo looking into the issue, as that is my go too editor and I really want to be able to use PureRAW with it!

No problem. It may be Saturday before I can check them properly as I have a long drive to a shoot tomorrow and don’t expect to get back until late. Then again these things never go quite to plan.

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update to PureRAW Bug on Windows 10 - #13 by Wolfgang

@Lenscraft & all,
completely forgot to run the aforesaid NEF-file (D800) through Adobe DNG Converter (11.2.0.135)

  • in AP the same result as with the original NEF-file
  • in AP pinkish again when ‘re-processed’ in PL4 (DNG NR + optical corrections only)

Wolfgang

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I can confirm the problem. I use a Canon 6 D Mark 2 and for RAW development I use Luminar AI and Affinity Photo. Incidentally, I have never (even when I was using Photoshop) had problems with the DNG images created by the Adobe DNG Converter. But I always had problems with the DNG’s from DXO. I actually don’t think the program is bad. It applies the correct lens profile, provides excellent noise reduction from the image and subtly sharpens it. I saw a significant improvement in all problematic images with image noise. But the eroding of the extreme lights and the purple coloring destroy the entire utility of the program. It’s just not usable like that. I would also have liked to be able to influence the strength of the noise reduction and sharpening in the program in several stages. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work either.

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I too have experienced problems with magenta highlights in converted DNG files from my Olympus EM1ii files and my SonyRX100mk1 files when using DXO Pure Raw and like you say, it sadly makes the program unusable if you photo contains any extreme highlights. I wonder what would happen if the program converted the files to TIFF instead?

I’m also getting the same problem with PureRAW and Affinity photo, I’m evaluating PureRAW currently and this may be a show stopper.

I have also started another thread to see if there has been a fix for this.

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I haven’t seen anything about it being fixed. I’m not sure who’s responsibility it is to fix it, PureRaw or Affinity? I have contacted both and each point their finger at the other. I wish I knew this before I bought it, as I wouldn’t have purchased it. I didn’t think to try an overexposed shot when I was evaluating (my fault). I just use it now as an expensive RAW to JPG converter because that is all it’s good for, for me!

This problem occurs in all operating systems and with all cameras.

The magenta highlights are a problem with the RAW development software, but there is a fatal problem with DxO PureRAW itself.

DxO PureRAW seems to clip the highlights, so it is not possible to reconstruct the highlights with other RAW development software.

This is a problem that will not be solved until DxO PureRAW itself is updated to perform better highlight reconstruction or to be able to export without clipping.

In RAW development software such as Darktable, you can simply set “highlight reconstrucion” and the magenta color will not appear.

But since it is already clipped in PureRAW, the highlight will still be lost even if you use “highlight reconstruction”.

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Hello! I have the same problem! The absence of color information in the areas of overexposure, while it is clear that the information of the brightness component exists. Therefore, color reconstruction in overexposed areas is impossible.

Here are examples below:

  1. Processing in RawTherapee without DxO Pure RAW

  2. Processing in RawTherapee using DxO Pure RAW

Thank you for your attention

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