I have a Konica-Minolta A2 and have been impressed with its many features, so when I saw the DxO home page it looked as though Optics Pro might have some solutions I've spent hours trying to achieve with Photoshop. The clickable "FREE Demo" button didn't hurt either. So I downloaded and took it for a test run.

First a bit about demos; I hate the ones that cripple features, or put watermarks on results. I don't mind time limits, or even use limits, as long as they aren't too short. I do still have work to get done. So I was pleased to find that DxO's demo was full-featured, and gave results I could use and print.

There are restrictions of course. A 21-day limit and 30 uses. It is also limited to five pictures in a single batch operation. But within a few hours I had adjusted over 60 pictures. I did about six trying all the features, and the rest in batch mode (more about that later). The unrestricted licensed version has none of those restrictions, which I'll be using on a Mac PowerBook G4 using the Tiger OS.

Overview
Installation is straightforward, and the activation code is a set of hyphenated words rather than the impossibly long sequence of numbers and letters some companies use, some of which include the letter O and the number 0 in a font making it impossible to tell the difference.

The first thing you'll notice is a quick loading of modules and the sound of a shutter clicking in burst mode (cool touch). On the first use of the program a dialog box opens with a screen offering you three options and a brief explanation of the operation modes: Fully Automatic, Key Controls, and Expert Controls. I selected Automatic.

The opening screen looks like a typical photo program, with menus, icon buttons, and an image workspace. The workspace displays "No image" until one is loaded. Sliding the cursor along the top of the menus reveals the usual options, with the exception of two, Workflow and Workspace.