Those sound like similar reasons for me with DS also. I don't have issues with DOF, I've figured out how to use it effectively; I just don't ever run a DOF render unless I'm going to sleep while it renders.
The materials make more sense to me in DS also. And I'm able to get the textures to pop better, too. I also don't have this infuriating seam issue around the torso's material zone barrier on Dusk inside of DS, either! You can see the seams clear as day in those two quickie renders, and there's no good reason for it. None. That does NOT happen in Studio.
The lights, materials, the menus, the entire layout of the software... for me, Poser is cramped, and I feel like I'm being squashed into a tiny box that's too small for me to fit into when I'm working in it... I can't wait to get OUT of it again. Not to mention that Poser is riddled with memory holes... sure, I can render Dusk just fine. But if I add Dawn, clothes, hair, and even a simple background setting, it will crash out with a memory error. While I am sure that part of the memory management issues in P10 is because it's a 32-bit program, not a 64-bit... I have 12 GBs of memory, and an i7 processor, and there is no excuse for that level of poor memory management.
When I can pull off 10+ figures in Studio, plus a fully loaded, heavily littered and dressed scene background, and it renders all in one pass, WITH DOF and WITH AOA and UE2 lights... and it renders in less than 3 hours, there is no excuse for P10 to be incapable of rendering two figures in clothing and hair with a very simple, mostly empty background. -_-
Among other things. I just don't like Poser at all anymore... I only keep it around for content support, because I really do try to support both sides of the hobby... but the more I do, the more I'm beginning to understand why a lot of vendors pick one platform and stick to it. DS is far more stable on my system, too... P10 crashed out on me at least a dozen times just while I was dialing in Nataani's morphs. I literally save every other minute or so, because I never know when it's going to crash to the desktop.
DS just works for me. Poser, at this point, simply doesn't. If I stuck to DS support I would probably save myself a lot of headaches, LOL, but I don't like the thought of locking out one side of the hobby from a product simply because I personally can't stand the program.
Anyway. I'm going to sign off for the night. It's after 3am here, and my Bear will be up for work in 45 minutes... and I am getting cranky, I think.
I'll see if I can improve on this tomorrow.
See you all later.