Its cuz of Eric and I, we confess.

We held DXO at gunpoint and told them that if they didn't start supporting Alpha more, "well, they would be sleeping with the fishes, seee!!!!"

Knees are good to have in working order.

Don Garrard

:)~

Godfather!

Youse guys take good care of the family in the a-mount neighborhoods. I talked your great deeds over with Vinny, Frankie B, Frankie D, Big-Tiny, & Guido, and wese decideds - all of us, togethers - unanimously agreed - with out any disagreement - that we must pay our respecz for your generosity that you generously gave to all the A- family. Godfather, how can we show youse the respecz that you deserves? What can we do?

Maybe you could 'persuade' them to start supporting the A200/A300 as well. Then we could all join in .

This is great.

We should have a "talk like the Mob day", where all text put in to the comment section is automatically converted to mob-speak. :)

Carl

I'm rather shocked as well, good for them, hopefully they're wising up to not just the demand but business advantages of providing more support. Thanks for posting this.

Is this product available in retail stores?
It appears that it would be the "I can take great pictures" solution for me.
I see that my camera and lens are supported so I may indeed be interested.

But they do have a trial version here

http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/free_demo

There's some more background about DxO optics pro here, if it's of interest or you didn't already see it

DxO Optics Sony Support

Thanks Eric,
I saw the film pack demo but missed the optic pro.
I downloaded it and shall give it a try.

I was actually getting slightly curious about this software. However, I've seen more progress on the a100 front than the a200 front. Also, is it just me or does the a200 NOT save the lens information in the exif data? dxo claims to read the lens info from the exif data, but I see not a single mention of whatever lens I was using. Is this why there's no support for a200 yet, or, is the issue completely unrelated? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
--Kiran

If you could post an a200 image on a site that doesn't strip EXIF data, then I'll tell you if it captures lens data. I'd be surprised if it wasn't there.

Regarding a200 support from DXO, a200 is not supported most likely because they have a limited staff. Which is too bad, 'cause I think a200 is very popular and a very good camera. I believe they had intended to support it at one point because they list it in their pull-down dialog-box to request lens-camera modules.

Until they list enough supported lenses for your camera, it's hard to justify a purchase. However, when they support both lens and camera, I really value the software. For example, I can easily set up a batch to develop each RAW image at multiple settings - great for stitched panoramic images that depend on HDR. (I suppose that's kind of my niche). Also, importantly, it can take the results of a run-of-the-mill lens and make it appear as if you have a very expensive top-of-the-line-lens.

Regarding lens support, I'd be surprised if they ever supported a great lens like the CZ24-70. Why? Because it's razor sharp and it has negligible distortion - so their algorithms to fix lens softness and to fix lens distortion wouldn't have much to correct. They'd almost be wasting their time developing the correction modules.

Regarding your options for post processing software. You can get most of the features from other software packages - For example, Bibble or LR, PTLens, & Focus Magic, would get you *almost* the same set of capabilities as DxO. Nonetheless, there is a bit of difference because DxO develops essentially custom solutions per camera/lens combination and because of their algorithms in their workflow.

The good news is that there is competition among the software vendors and that continues to improve each of their respective products - all for our benefit.

Hey b shaw,

I have a flickr image that shows them all. I can't think of any file hosting services, or I'd upload the file as a .zip file so anyone could look at it. Below is a screenshot of lightroom when I tried to filter by lens. The other pictures weren't from this camera, but they were others that happened to be in the folders I edit.

Below is the link to A raw file if you'd like to read the exif data from it.
http://www.mediafire.com/?ytgy9vjxp4q

Oh, and I agree with what you said. It's pretty sad they have a limited staff, but I'm really glad at least somebody does their job. Also, another things about which I'm curious: minolta lenses on sony bodies. If, theoretically, they had the staff, would they jump on it or do you think it's lower on their list of priorities?
--Kiran

Hi Kiran,

I guess that as the have limited resources, they would want to support the current Sony lenses first before working on the Minolta stuff. It would be nice to have classics like the 70-210 Beercan supported with others like the 85mm 1.4 and 50mm 1.4/7 too. If the range continues to expand and have success then they may very well develop support for them.

IF there is a lens you desperately want support for, why not send them feedback- if they get 10,000 people asking for support of the beercan they might just do it!!!

Andrew

Not so sure about limited resources. My own feelings are that adobe are just too lazy ;-)

Do C&N and you have most covered. Though I believe that it reports lenses for most pentax and olympus cameras. The excuses are wearing amazingly thin IMO. Dimage master is able to report lenses used, no reason this cannot.

Kiran,

Here is the EXIF info (plus other stuff) from the DNG file & it clearly identifies that you used the 18-70 lens (see the data towards the very bottom of the list)

By the way, to get this type of info, there are a couple of different tools you could use
- EXIFTool http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ (very powerful - cmd line - great for batch runs)
- PhotoME http://www.photome.de/ (very powerful - very nice GUI - and Jens Duttke is a good guy - very helpful - he's commented on AMW before)

nota: If you were to use the aforementioned software on the original RAW image (the original ARW image from the camera) - then there may be even more info available than what was preserved in the Adobe's DNG file.

Regarding support for Minolta lenses from DxO, Andrew is right when he says they support new stuff, however feedback is always helpful. Go here to vote/request camera/lens modules - http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/support/modules/availability/pb_availabili...

Note that they have all of the Sony Alpha's in the pull down list now. That is different than what was listed a month ago, they only had some of the Alphas - perhaps there may be more modules on the way for the different cameras - but that is just speculation.

**However, don't hold your breath for the new DxO modules - they are Parisian after all. I believe, by law, Parisians are required to take a minimum of 37 cigarette breaks each day. Unless they are on strike - then, by law, they are required to block traffic. ;-)

Anyway, here is some good news about Minolta lenses: If the Minolta lens is a sister lens to a Sony lens and both have the same LensID, then I have experienced that DxO will recognize the older Minolta lens as the new Sony lens. For example, the Minolta 11-18, the Sony 11-18, (as well as the Tamron 11-18) have the EXIF LensID of 41. (Go here for more info on LensIDs - http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/TagNames/Sony.html)
All three of the those are recognized by DxO as the Sony 11-18. So even if DxO doesn't list the Minolta sister lens, but they list the Sony lens and both lenses have the same LensID, DxO should support it.

[PhotoME]
PhotoME version: 0.79R16 (Build 853)

[Overview]
File name: DSC03396.dng
File type: Adobe Digital Negative
File size: 7,820.6 KB
Creation date: 8/16/2008 14:55
Last modification: 8/17/2008 21:57
Make: SONY (http://www.sony.com)
Camera: DSLR-A200
Lens: Minolta/Sony AF DT 18-70mm F3.5-5.6 (D)
Software: DSLR-A200 v1.00
Dimension: 3878 x 2600 px (10.1 MP, 3:2)
Focal length: 18 mm (equiv. 27 mm)
Aperture: F10
Exposure time: 1/1000"
ISO speed rating: 200/24°
Program: Aperture priority
Metering Mode: Spot
White Balance: Auto
Image Stabilizer: On
Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode

[Image]
New subfile type: Reduced-resolution image data
Image width: 256 px
Image height: 171 px
Number of bits per component: 8, 8, 8
Compression scheme: uncompressed
Pixel scheme: RGB
Image title: SONY DSC
Manufacturer: SONY
Image input equipment model: DSLR-A200
Image data location: 0x00028C82
Orientation of image: 0° (top/left)
Number of components: 3
Number of rows per strip: 171 rows
Bytes per compressed strip: 131328 bytes
Image data arrangement: Chunky Format (Interleaved)
Software: DSLR-A200 v1.00
File change date and time: 2008-08-16 14:55:04
SubIFD Pointer: 0x0002823E, 0x00028954
Exif IFD Pointer: 0x00028ADC
Time Zone Offset: UTC -04:00, UTC -04:00
DNG Version: Version 1.2.0.0
DNG Backward Version: Version 1.1.0.0
Unique Camera Model: Sony DSLR-A200
Color Matrix 1: [1.1085, -0.4387, -0.0219], [-0.7253, 1.4836, 0.2615], [-0.0415, 0.0458, 0.6948]
Color Matrix 2: [0.9847, -0.3091, -0.0929], [-0.8485, 1.6346, 0.2225], [-0.0714, 0.0595, 0.7103]
Camera Calibration 1: [0.9501, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0], [0, 0, 0.9932]
Camera Calibration 2: [0.9501, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0], [0, 0, 0.9932]
I can't believe: you are reading all of this detail
Analog Balance: 1, 1, 1
As Shot Neutral: 0.556522, 1, 0.585812
Baseline Exposure: 0
Baseline Noise: 1.2
Baseline Sharpness: 1
Linear Response Limit: 1
Shadow Scale: 1
DNG Private Data: 0x00003010
Calibration Illuminant 1: 17
Calibration Illuminant 2: 21
Raw Data Unique ID: 2B916661-A9FA-BBE3-BDB7-2D7F08FCDC8F
Original Raw File Name: DSC03396.ARW
Camera Calibration Signature: com.adobe
Profile Calibration Signature: com.adobe
Profile Name: Adobe Standard beta 1
Profile Embed Policy: Allow copying
Profile Copyright: Copyright 2008 Adobe Systems, Inc.
Preview Application Name: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
Preview Application Version: 2.0
Preview Settings Digest: 20D042BF-1194-D6BF-9E0E012A9DCDAF63
Preview Color Space: sRGB
Preview Date Time: 2008-08-16T19:04:02-04:00
RAW Image Digest: 67016C30-7E74-4182-222EDDA4453B4972
Hue Divisions: 36
Saturation Divisions: 8
Value Divisions: 16

[Additional Image Data (1)]
New subfile type: Not set
Image width: 3878 px
Image height: 2600 px
Number of bits per component: 16
Compression scheme: JPEG
Pixel scheme: CFA (Color Filter Matrix)
Number of components: 1
Image data arrangement: Chunky Format (Interleaved)
I like Peanut Butter in: Chunky Format
Tile Width: 256 px
Tile Length: 240 px
Tile Offsets: 0x00054A98
Tile Byte Counts: 41478 bytes
CFA Repeat Pattern Dimension: Horizontal repeat pixel unit: 2, Vertical repeat pixel unit: 2
CFA Pattern 2: [Green, Red], [Blue, Green]
CFA Plane Color: RGB
CFA Layout: Rectangular (or square) layout
Black Level Repeat Dim: Rows: 1
Cols: 1
Black Level: 0
White Level: 4095
Default Scale: Horizontal: 1
Vertical: 1
Default Crop Origin: Horizontal: 3
Vertical: 4
Default Crop Size: Horizontal: 3872
Vertical: 2592
Bayer Green Split: 10000
Relative strength of the camera's anti-alias filter: 1
Best Quality Scale: 1
Active Area: Top: 0 px
Left: 0 px
Bottom: 2600 px
Right: 3878 px

[Additional Image Data (2)]
New subfile type: Reduced-resolution image data
Image width: 1024 px
Image height: 685 px
Number of bits per component: 8, 8, 8
Compression scheme: JPEG
Pixel scheme: YCbCr
Image data location: 0x00048D82
Number of components: 3
Number of rows per strip: 685 rows
Bytes per compressed strip: 48406 bytes
Image data arrangement: Chunky Format (Interleaved)
Color space transformation matrix coefficients: 0.299, 0.587, 0.114
You should: stop reading this and take more pictures
Subsampling ratio of Y to C: YCbCr4:2:0
Y and C positioning: Co-Sited
Pair of black and white reference values: [0, 255, 128, 255, 128, 255]
Preview Application Name: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
Preview Application Version: 2.0
Preview Settings Digest: 20D042BF-1194-D6BF-9E0E012A9DCDAF63
Preview Color Space: sRGB
Preview Date Time: 2008-08-16T19:04:02-04:00

[Camera]
Exposure time: 1/1000"
F number: F10
Exposure program: Aperture priority
ISO speed rating: 200/24°
Exif version: Version 2.21
Date and time of original data generation: 2008-08-16 14:55:04
Date and time of digital data generation: 2008-08-16 14:55:04
Seriously: why are you still reading this?
Shutter speed: 9.97 Tv (1/1000")
Aperture: 6.64 Av (F10)
Brightness: 10.75 (1722.2 fL)
Exposure bias: ±0 EV
Maximum lens aperture: 3.61 Av (F3.5)
Metering mode: Spot
Light source: Unknown
Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Lens focal length: 18 mm
File source: Digital Camera
Scene type: A directly photographed image
Custom image processing: Normal process
Exposure mode: Auto exposure
White balance: Auto
Focal length in 35 mm film: 27 mm
Scene capture type: Standard
Contrast: Hard
Saturation: High saturation
Sharpness: Hard

[Manufacturer notes]
Quality: RAW
Flash Exposure Compensation: ±0
Converter: None
??? (0112): 0
AF Area: Spot
??? (0115): 0
??? (2000): 0
??? (2002): 0
??? (2003):
??? (B000): 3, 0, 0, 0
??? (B001): 259
Color Reproduction: 
Color Temperature: Auto
??? (B022): 0
Scene selection: Manual (P, A, S or M)
Zone Matching: Off (ISO Setting used)
D-Range Optimizer: Off
Image Stabilization: On
Lens Name: Minolta/Sony AF DT 18-70mm F3.5-5.6 (D)
Lens ID: 40
Creative Style: Vivid color
??? (B02A): 0, 0, 240, 161, 0, 0, 2, 114
??? (B02B): 65539, 0
??? (B02C): 1914699776, 65539

I can't believe: you are reading all of this detail
I like Peanut Butter in: Chunky Format
You should: stop reading this and take more pictures
Seriously: why are you still reading this?

hahahah NICE.

Andrew: I agree. Even though I'm not a pro, maybe some pro would benefit from my request. sweet haha.

Bfitz, the laziness IS Adobe far more than anyone else haha. If PhotoME, a single man operation, can read all that data, I think Adobe can, too. Also, I love how this stuff needs to be manually entered into the metadata. Laaaaaaaaaaame.

Also a big thank you to Jens for PhotoME; your help is greatly appreciated, even more now after I found PhotoME. And bshaw, for all those helpful links you provided.
--Kiran