DxO PureRAW 6 is announced, as DxO’s top-quality RAW processor gets major updates

DxO PureRAW is like a RAW file preprocessor, applying DxO’s now-legendary lens corrections and denoising to produce full-corrected DNG files that can be opened and edited as enhanced RAW files in other programs like Lightroom. And PureRAW 6 fixes a major pain point of its predecessor while adding a brand new and potentially game-changing new feature.

The one issue with previous versions of PureRAW was that the DNG RAW files it produced were 2-4 times larger than the original RAW files. This seemed like an unavoidable result of the RAW ‘demosaicing’ process itself, where the red-green-blue pixels in the RAW file are converted into full colour.

However, in PureRAW 6 DxO has introduced a new compressed DNG format which produces files no larger than the original RAWs, and makes it a practical day-to-day processor for all your RAW files, not just for occasional use where necessary. This is big news at a time when storage prices are high, especially SSD storage.

Another big update is the inclusion of DeepPRIME 3 denoising, DxO’s best version yet, for regular bayer sensors (DeepPRIME 3 for X-Trans is already out). To be honest, it’s getting harder to see the differences between successive DeepPRIME versions, but at least PureRAW 6 is now up to date with the latest generations.

Some unexpected news, though, is the inclusion of AI dust removal. What a smart idea! It would be great to have sensor dust spots removed at source rather than having to do it later in software, and while both Capture One and Lightroom have AI dust removal, it’s still an extra editing step. I will run some tests on my two Sony A7-series cameras, which I affectionately call ‘Dusty’ and ‘Spot’, to see how effective it is…

DxO PureRAW 6 is available now from the DxO website:

• New license $139.99 / 129.99 € / £119.99
• Upgrade from DxO PureRAW 4 or 5 $89.99 / 79.99 € / £74.99

New users can get a special 15% discount with this exclusive Life After Photoshop code: LAP15