A small addendum to v.5.1. The problem – which appeared in the beta using the latest Apple Leopard OSX - is still with us. It did not seem to be a problem before about a month prior to the release date of the final Mac version of 5.1 (hope this helps?).

I use this application for time-lapse, primarily. This means loading 300-1500 images (usually only JPEGs) into the processing set-up window. After the last few OSX upgrades, the time to move the images into the pre-process que (for stacking) now takes about 20 minutes+ for 500 images. At 600+ images times ran into an hour or more. This is only half the problem. After running the first batch, if I try loading a set of images, Pro Elite fails. Throw away all plist files and reset permissions and I got one more batch to run. Then, crash on the next, and so on.

What gives? As it is - at least for people like me with a large batch to run - this is close to unusable. Time to get this fixed!

And what's up with the lack of controls over the famous DxO lens softness. It seems ... disabled using JPEGs. This was one of DxO's best features.

In fact, sometimes the split mode - side-by-side before-and-after corrections more – seems unable to show any changes made in some modules. In one case, lens softening filter disabled, I tried unsharp masking and the effect appeared to be in both windows, when it should have only showed up in the right window. VERY confusing. After messing around for 5 minutes, the preview mode (as bad as it was) crashed the program. Between photo load times and general instabilities, DxO's once famous reputation is looking questionable. And this is really a shame. After all, we all stand to loose when good programs falter.

In this field - Professional Photography – there are large communities of well-funded users. Most Mac users I know actually pay for software. And most of us are knowledgeable, educated, and somewhat intolerant of BS. There have been times when companies like Ado _ _ started putting out unstable versions of their flagship photo program. Many people began looking around for alternatives. I know I did.

NO software is sacrosanct. DxO's fine product is a MUST HAVE ... IF AND WHEN it works correctly. Perhaps they took on too many goals and there are simply not enough competent programmers in house to handle their growth. I think they owe their user base some serious answers and rapid fixes. I am a great supporter, and have backed them in the past when others were complaining and whining. I even put up with the VERY slow response to upgrading their Mac version. Heck, we all want a good independent developer to succeed, this is, after all, a Mac community, not a windoze buy-whatever-they-throw-at-you group. But come on...

I already bought the 5.1 (hmm...no 5.0)?) upgrade, so I am a numbered among the "faithful." However, I am starting to wonder if I made a mistake. Maybe I should have waited for 5.2? Version 4 was pretty solid, so what gives? I hope the DxO gnomes are busy fixing all these -should-have-been-fixed-in-beta issues?

I am using an 8-processor Mac Pro with 16Gb of RAM and virtually unlimited hard drive space.