Adobe Camera Raw 5.2 versus DxO Optics Pro 5.3 - Part I - Chromatic Aberration
Introduction
To be sure, I also tested with a Nikon D3 and the AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED lens, and the conclusions are less catastrophic but similar, so we won't go into the same detail as with the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III images. Although the difference with ACR was less extreme here, DxO still came out much worse, even though I used the lens-specific D3/AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED module. CA was not completely removed via the default settings. Trying to remove it entirely resulted in desaturation of areas which should not be desaturated.
Software and Platform
• Nikon D3 with D3/AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 17-35mm lens
• Adobe Camera Raw 5.2 in Photoshop CS4 (called
ACR in this review)
• DxO Optics Pro 5.3 (Build 7250) with Nikon D3/AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED module (called
DxO in this review)
• Intel Core 2 Quad Processor @ 2.67GHz, 4GB DDR3 SDRAM running Windows Vista Ultimate
Test Objective
To verify if DxO Optics Pro 5.3 lives up to its claim that
"Aberrations are corrected by lens/camera specific modules, ensuring laboratory-grade precision without user intervention".
Test Image
The image below was shot with a Nikon D3 fitted with a AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED lens. We will focus on crops A and B which have chromatic aberration. The images are processed with ACR and DxO in their default positions. The only exception is that we disabled the lens distortion correction in DxO because it is by default disabled in ACR as well. This makes the crops more comparable and does not affect the conclusion. You can email me to request for the original RAW image.
Crop
A
B
JPEG image as it came out of the camera
Crops A and B clearly show chromatic aberration (CA).
RAW image opened with ACR
CA removed

After sliding the Chromatic Aberration sliders in the Lens Corrections tab to the following positions:
Fix Red/Cyan Fringe -30
Fix Blue/Yellow Fringe 0
All CA is removed and no new artifacts are introduced.
RAW image opened with DxO
Default CA settings

Image processed with DxO in default CA settings (Intensity 100, Size 6, Lateral CA enabled) does not remove all CA. Also note that default DxO sharpening creates undesirable sharpening halos.
RAW image opened with DxO
Maximum CA settings

Sliding the Intensity slider to the maximum 200 removed the CA but completely desaturates the color of the red laundry on the balcony. It also causes desaturation in other areas of the image.
Conclusion
DxO Optics Pro 5.3 claims that "Aberrations are corrected by lens/camera specific modules, ensuring laboratory-grade precision without user intervention". While this sounds great on paper, when testing this with an image shot with a Nikon D3, DxO was unable to remove the CA with the default settings (i.e. no user intervention), while the maximum settings caused undesirable desaturation. This despite using the lens/camera-specific DxO module for Nikon D3/AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED. The default sharpening setting is too strong.

It is hard to improve on the ACR result. The DxO CA results are inferior to ACR and if you improve crop A, then crop B desaturates colors which should not be desaturated by CA removal.
Article written by Vincent Bockaert,
author of "The 123 of digital imaging Interactive Learning Suite"
http://www.123di.com