DxO Labs - A Return to the Film Era

Friday, September 23, 2011

DxO Labs - A Return to the Film Era

     It was bound to happen sooner or later, and so it was with DxO Labs. The company created a program to have your DSLR digital images converted into old-fashioned print results from film. DxO certainly was on the ball, and beat out the companies that are producing record turntables. There were enough audiophiles who wanted to listen to records! 

     The program may not be for everyone, but it certainly has a niche market. The DxO lab site even has Sebastien Delgato promoting their product. He's the world-renowned photojournalist who among other assignments, photographed the dismantling of super-sized ships off the coast of Pakistan.

The DxO Website

The DxO Icon

The Opening Window

1. Open a File

The working window comes alive once a file is selected to open.

2. Adjust your Image - Basic Controls

3. Select the type of film from the bottom window

The Black and White Menu is much more interesting!

You can see more changes than with the Colour Menu.

The B & W menu even has a sub-menu for on the lens filters.

After B & W photography was established, people desired to record more visible changes to the image.

As a consequence, special colou-sensitive dyes were added to film emulsions. The way a lens filter worked was in the way it let in certain colours (Transmit) and blocked other colour (Absorb).

AS a result of this transmit/absorb mechanism colours in a scene could then become lighter or darker and thus create more B & W contrast.

The B & W Filter Menu

The Red Tractor lightens from the use of a Red filter

The Red Tractor darkens from the use of a Blue filter

The B & W sub-menu also has the ability to create a toning experience.

Once again, after B & W photography was established, photographers wanted and needed some technique to enhance the photograph. Toning was invented to do just that. Special chemicals called "toners" were used post-development. That meant that you first had to make a B & W print. Then you toned it.

Toning used heavy metals or stains that bound themselves to the silver in the print. AS a consequence the black and white print changed its' colour subtly to selections of browns, golds, blues and greens.

The Opening Toning Menu

The Toning Sub-Menu in the B& W Menu

A Sepia-Toned Result

A Split-Screen to view the Before/After Effect

Another Split-Screen to view the Before/After Effect

This one splits the actual content in half, whereas the other one shows the side-by-side comparison of no tone/toned.

A Close-up View

The Default Result of a Sepia Tone

The Result of an increased effect of Sepia Tone.

A slider is used to enhance or increase the sepia toning effect.

A Choice of Ilford Delta 3200 (ISO) Film

This was selected for its' grain effect

 This is the Result form Gold-Toning

 Using the Colour Negative Menu

 The Result of a Colour Negative Film.

The Film is Fuji Superia HG 1600

 An Enlargement of the Fuji Superia Effect

 Smoother (Finer-Grain)  Effect from Colour Negative Film

 Grainer Effect from Colour Negative Film

 A Comparison of before and after a Cross-Processing Effect

This is a result that occurred when you a slide film in negative film chemistry

 An enlarged View of the Effect of Cross-Processing

 A Dual Effect of Grain and Toning

 Toned but With Smooth or Finer Grain

Toned but With Larger or Increased Grain

    So this is DxO FilmPack 3. It harkens back to a time not so long ago (10-15 years) when there still were  black and white darkrooms and enlargers. By the 1990's, black and white was still with us, but was being replaced more and more by colour.  By now, colour printing in the lab has been replaced by the digital printer and the computer, along with image-editin g software.

    DxO FilmPack 3 is available and is easy to use. However, I think that it would more to the generation that still enjoyed the allure of working in the darkroom, and seeing the image "magically" appear on a sheet of exposed enlarging paper in a chemical developer. These are the people who would know the difference between Kodak Tri-X pushed (ASA reset higher) from ASA 400 to ASA 6400. ASA is or was an acronym  for the American Standards Association, that eventually was replaced by ISO (International Standards Association). They also would know the difference between the slide film Kodachrome and Extachrome or Fujichrome.

  As with most current software manufacturers, you can download a demo copy for a certain time span. This "free trial download" seems to be getting more and more popular, and with less-intrusive questions.

You still have to give your name and an e-mail address, and check or uncheck whether or not you want to receive periodic e-mail updates on their product.

Have a nice weekend, and to all start getting out and enjoying the fall (autumn) season. It just began today.

dxo This is a link to dxo.com/us/photo.