The amazing deal on the XF56mmF1.2 is making the lens run out of stock quickly at many places. It is discontinued at BHphoto here and backordered at many other stores.
But he went an extra step. He did not simply load the files into Lightroom to process the RAW files (with Lightroom standard settings) and then print the images.
Nope, he wanted to “help” Lightroom to deal with X-Trans files, and hence used DxO Pure RAW to transform the files into a DNG and only then processed them in Lightroom.
Unfair?
Well, he did the same with Canon files, but DxO did not bring any benefits in terms of sharpness to the Canon files, as opposed to Fujifilm X-Trans files, which definitely saw an improvement if passed through the DxO engine.
The result: the Fujifilm X-H2 and the Canon R5 both delivered very comparable results. Sometimes in certain areas he preferred the details on the X-H2, sometimes on the R5. But overall, both delivered absolutely excellent results.
Not bad for the Fujifilm combo, which costs about half as much as the Canon combo.
Look, RAW files are intended to be processed. And it’s up to everyone to decide how to do that.
But if you own X-Trans cameras and use Lightroom, then using DxO as a plug-in is definitely a recommended step to take into your post processing workflow.
Not mentioned by Ian in the video is the new DxO “DeepPRIME XD” support for X-Trans files, which is clearly superior to the more basic “DeepPRIME”. Now it really handles noise especially in dark areas much better.