This was a nice conversation to listen too. And it will get me excited to maybe buy Photolab 6 Elite. I wish the upgrade was $80 exactly but I also understood you are paying a good price for a excellent software 😀 😉
I have been using DXO PhotoLab Elite Since ver 3. Going to DeepPrime was like getting a Sensor upgrade for my Nikon D850. DeepPrime XD enables me to safely use ISO 6400 on my Panasonic G9. The wide Color Gamut is easily noticeable on my 5K 27inch iMac. Very satisfied with DXO.
Have been a DxO OpticsPro/PhotoLab user since 2015, coming from Adobe LR, and I like how you're keeping your videos relatively unscripted and conversational. As you're saying, life is busy and there're so many things to attend to, but then again, not everything has to be smoothened and streamlined until all personality and human warmth is lost. Your passion for using the software is tangible. As for upgrading from PL v5 to v6, I will do just that as soon as I can pony up the 99 euros (or hopefully a little less if there should be sales). With major improvements of at least two IQ-related features (DeepPrime XD, Wide Gamut) and a number of smaller tweaks, there're enough carrots for me to do so. It's a bit like my time-honoured Pentax K-3 was receiving regular IQ enhancements just through these PL upgrades, which is so amazing that I find myself reprocessing older images and having a blast seeing them shine like they were shot only yesterday. DxO also has a well-organized forum where you can get help with even some of the more esoteric aspects of the software. Subscribed to your channel.
I know right. It is really interesting how older images can shine with a re-edit and a more modern processor. Thanks for watching and for the feedback. I sometimes feel like I need to tighten things up, but I prefer a conversational tone too :)
Very good review I have only recently discovered your channel. I didn't quite understand your comments on difference in Win/Mac layout of tools. You can customise the UI, create new palettes etc and DXO normally transfers Workspaces between versions quite well?
Thanks for watching! Yes... I think I know about the customization you are mentioning... But for day to day work I like the tabs that exist... Just suits my brain well.... And to my knowledge you cannot customise those.(let me know if I am wrong about that) But it has been fixed in PL 6 anyway... so I am happy as. Now if I could convince them to work the HSL wheel the same as it is on Mac... That would be amazing.
@@dxflow3271 You can create your own tabs with the tools you want, in the order you want, to suite yourself and save the workspace for recall. Doing architectural photos, create a new workspace where for example the geometry tools are given priority. Want to add keywords etc, configure the workspace to give more room and priority for this. Not sure what the difference with the HSL tool under Mac & Win is? Can you elaborate?
I think I know what you mean. You can customise it in the old style menu (the way it looked years ago) - where the 'tabs' or 'groups' are one on top of the other kind of like Lightroom. I just kind of like the tabs that go along the top and the only thing you see is the items in that tab (i.e. no longer list). I am easily distracted and that keeps me better focused having less available at a time. But as I say, they have fixed the order of the items in the new style 'tabs' to make much more sense in windows (and to match the order in Mac) now so it is no problem. Funny enough my next video is actually about customising that menu you mention in order to speed up workflow when you are working with small changes to a large volume of images. As for the HSL behaviour. In Mac (and I just tested it to be sure this hasn't changed in PL6) you can assign any colour to any pot. So for example I can click on the yellow pot and it will grab the default yellow selection. But then if I take the eye dropper and grab a blue colour it will change that pot to blue. In windows it will move me to the blue pot rather than updating the yellow one. I prefer the mac behaviour because it will let me grab two slightly different blues and adjust them separately. Cheers, Don
I upgraded from PL5 Elite to PL6 Elite. PL6 Elite is faster loading and in use and the file management capabilities are improved. it also has better noise reduction capabilities. The only downside is I don't like the changes to the crop tool which doesn't appear to be as user friendly as PL5 was when moving from a landscape format to a portrait format crop. It now just does it automatically once you reduce the size of the box - but it's cumbersome.
I thought it always auto switched?? Maybe that was a mac vs windows thing in the past. there are (or were at least a number of little differences between the two versions. Thanks for watching.
I have not upgraded and based on the cost of my last upgrade and the cost of the new upgrade, it's very doubtful that I will. The new features are good, but in my opinion they are not substantial enough for $99 US dollars. I have software that I don't use much already and I can get by just fine without upgrading DXO. I am going to have to be tempted with a better price offering for upgrading or I will pass on this one.
@@jpmccormac Fair enough. It is interesting isn't it. That $99 dollar price point seems to be a real sticking point for many. Anyway, I am sure PL4 will serve you well for years to come. Not like it was a slouch.
That is exactly what I have been doing this past 3 years to upgrade, I only upgrade on Thanksgiving deals and like the old saying goes, "A dollar save is a dollar earned." 🌹
i am finding this program (one month trial version) annoying that it does not let me move on to editing the next photo when they are saving the edited one. I cannot spend 8 minutes a photo for my thousand trip photos...Do you know if this a DxO PL issue, computer issue, or trial software issue? thank you.
I am not sure if I am barking up the correct tree but I will offer some thoughts based on what I think you are saying. If your export is taking 8 minutes I am guessing you have either Deep Prime or Deep Prime XD turned on for the photos. Even then 8 minutes does seem a little on the long side for that export (I do have a pretty powerful computer - but even with the Deep Prime on my export takes 7-10 seconds). That said I have heard of other's taking several minutes. If I were you I would select the photos I wanted to edit/export - for example with a star rating. Then I would use the filter function to view only those images. Then I would go through and do all my edits on all the images. If there are 1000 that might not be practical to do all at once... but lets say you could do the first 50 images (or whatever works for you). Then when you need to take an edit break select all the images you have been working on (click the first edited image then scroll to the last edited image and hold shift while you click on that one and it should select everything in between) and export them all. This will be a sort of batch export-it will do them all. Walk away from the machine and let it do its work while you have a coffee. Other than that I can add you should still be able to work in the software while an export is happening - if not - maybe your computer is struggling.
I have upgraded and it was worth the price of the upgrade for the better noise reduction. I shoot wildlife frequently at very high ISO (12-16K) to get the speed I need because many times I'm shooting at dawn or twilight. The other improvements were all additional benefits.
I understand the detail rendering is better in the new noise reduction. I imagine that makes a big difference in wildlife. I have never shot really high ISO s much.
Thanks for the useful tips. I'll probably go from PL5 to PL6 when it goes on sale, along with ViewPoint and Nik (DxO should give more of a price break for upgrades--it adds up to more than an Adobe subscription--it's not that I can't afford it, but a question of value). Anyway, although I'm a bit skeptical about the accuracy of any soft proofing, how does it populate the ICC Profile droplist? Do I need to import every ICC profile I might use individually or can I direct it to a folder where I could copy all of them?
Thanks @ddsdds If you click 'choose ICC profile' you can only single select them. Once a profile has been selected will persist in a 'Recent profiles' list. There is an item to clear the recent list in case this becomes unhelpful. I see this as a good thing for me as it keeps me from hunting through a massive list every time since I only actually use about 5 or 6 profiles regularly. The Mac version also has an "installed RGB" and "Installed CMYK" dropdown lists to more quickly access the full list of what is available - but to my memory those choices aren't on my Windows machine. I will look when I am home later.
@@dxflow3271 Thanks for the quick response. Yeah, it makes sense to only populate the drop list with frequently-used profiles. I'll just have to do so one-at-a-time (and I do use Windows).
You can make sure it is visible by going to the palettes menu. It will naturally show up in the left side-panel. You can click and drag it out of that panel and onto the image (floating). You can just drag it back onto the side panel to dock it again. I most often float the histogram and then close the left panel to give me more space.
I'm really impressed with the new 2023 version of ON1 Raw. The new super select masking even makes it much easier to edit than Lightroom. Plus it has many Photoshop abilities in it. There's hardly any need to go to another app. How would you review it? Have you tried it yet? I find Photolab 6 really lacking in editing abilities compared to ON1 Raw.
I might give it a try again soon but I have not enjoyed ON1 for a while - too may bits and pieces for me and it has always been really slow on my machines when I have tried in the past. That said they are working hard to improve and I will be curious to see how it is developing. I find DxO does everything I need RAW wise and I go to Photoshop or affinity if I need those type of tools.
@@dxflow3271 I completely understand. I did the same as you. I've been using Lightroom along with Photolab 5. But I'm blown away with what they have done with ON1 Raw 2023. I am now editing all my images in it and getting better results faster. But what I love most is ON1 is allowing me to be more creative. You will see what I mean when you try it.
I'm experimenting with the PL6 Trial. Generally, I use Capture One and I've been enjoying PL6 more than I thought I would. I actually like having no Catalogs or Libraries hiding my photos and having sidecar files with the RAW edits. Easy and simple to backup with any filesystem backup. Also, being able to store and edit off of a 10Gbps NAS and all seems well. Highly considering buying Elite when trial is up. The only thing missing is a Whites adjustment? Am I crazy, but I don't see one.
I am currently on a trial for PL6, I have always used Lightroom and ON1, I heard that this program is great for M43, but so far I don’t see an advantage. What might I be missing.
I understand the biggest benefit for M43 is the noise reduction that helps get a bit more out of the smaller sensor. If you are sitting in plenty of light I suspect there wouldn't be much. Differences of course but nothing above personal taste. That is my understanding as a non M43 owner
I remain unconvinced also. Two areas of improvement , DP xd and file searching are not sufficiently impressive to merit a full update and the associated cost. For the former Denoise photo ai remains as good and can also manage non raw files. I will be a lot more cautious when it comes to the next full update.
Fair enough. Everyone has different priorities. For me I am not that into denoising. It is probably one of my least used aspects of DxO and I don't have another denoiser. Don't get me wrong it is incredible but I wouldn't use it on more than 5% of images (if that). For me colour and tone are everything and they have just hit it out of the park. I do have to admit I am pretty happy with the file management improvements too... it is pretty much perfect for my needs now.
No doubt. If Adobe is your thing I am sure it does a fine job. I think most any editor can get great results nowadays... And Adobe is certainly leading on number of users it seems.
If you are used to it, then no doubt LR will be quicker at first. After 7+ years of Lightroom I am now a DxO convert. I do far less editing than I used to as it renders the raw files so beautifully - maybe just a bit of a crop and noise reduction. The only downside for me is Photolab is a bit slow, so I ended up buying Photo Mechanic to speed up browsing, culling and organising. Not sure if the latest one is quicker, but this combo works great for me.
This was a nice conversation to listen too. And it will get me excited to maybe buy Photolab 6 Elite. I wish the upgrade was $80 exactly but I also understood you are paying a good price for a excellent software 😀 😉
Couldn't agree more. Thanks for watching.
I have been using DXO PhotoLab Elite Since ver 3. Going to DeepPrime was like getting a Sensor upgrade for my Nikon D850. DeepPrime XD enables me to safely use ISO 6400 on my Panasonic G9. The wide Color Gamut is easily noticeable on my 5K 27inch iMac. Very satisfied with DXO.
Nice!
Have been a DxO OpticsPro/PhotoLab user since 2015, coming from Adobe LR, and I like how you're keeping your videos relatively unscripted and conversational. As you're saying, life is busy and there're so many things to attend to, but then again, not everything has to be smoothened and streamlined until all personality and human warmth is lost. Your passion for using the software is tangible. As for upgrading from PL v5 to v6, I will do just that as soon as I can pony up the 99 euros (or hopefully a little less if there should be sales). With major improvements of at least two IQ-related features (DeepPrime XD, Wide Gamut) and a number of smaller tweaks, there're enough carrots for me to do so. It's a bit like my time-honoured Pentax K-3 was receiving regular IQ enhancements just through these PL upgrades, which is so amazing that I find myself reprocessing older images and having a blast seeing them shine like they were shot only yesterday. DxO also has a well-organized forum where you can get help with even some of the more esoteric aspects of the software. Subscribed to your channel.
I know right. It is really interesting how older images can shine with a re-edit and a more modern processor. Thanks for watching and for the feedback. I sometimes feel like I need to tighten things up, but I prefer a conversational tone too :)
The K-3 is a mighty bit of kit. Mine goes everywhere with me alongside the K-1.
Now it needs panorama/hdr/focus stacking modes imho
I would like to see those too. It would be nice to keep it all in the raw space and save to a DNG right.
Very good review I have only recently discovered your channel. I didn't quite understand your comments on difference in Win/Mac layout of tools. You can customise the UI, create new palettes etc and DXO normally transfers Workspaces between versions quite well?
Thanks for watching! Yes... I think I know about the customization you are mentioning... But for day to day work I like the tabs that exist... Just suits my brain well.... And to my knowledge you cannot customise those.(let me know if I am wrong about that) But it has been fixed in PL 6 anyway... so I am happy as. Now if I could convince them to work the HSL wheel the same as it is on Mac... That would be amazing.
@@dxflow3271 You can create your own tabs with the tools you want, in the order you want, to suite yourself and save the workspace for recall. Doing architectural photos, create a new workspace where for example the geometry tools are given priority. Want to add keywords etc, configure the workspace to give more room and priority for this.
Not sure what the difference with the HSL tool under Mac & Win is? Can you elaborate?
I think I know what you mean. You can customise it in the old style menu (the way it looked years ago) - where the 'tabs' or 'groups' are one on top of the other kind of like Lightroom. I just kind of like the tabs that go along the top and the only thing you see is the items in that tab (i.e. no longer list). I am easily distracted and that keeps me better focused having less available at a time.
But as I say, they have fixed the order of the items in the new style 'tabs' to make much more sense in windows (and to match the order in Mac) now so it is no problem. Funny enough my next video is actually about customising that menu you mention in order to speed up workflow when you are working with small changes to a large volume of images.
As for the HSL behaviour. In Mac (and I just tested it to be sure this hasn't changed in PL6) you can assign any colour to any pot. So for example I can click on the yellow pot and it will grab the default yellow selection. But then if I take the eye dropper and grab a blue colour it will change that pot to blue. In windows it will move me to the blue pot rather than updating the yellow one. I prefer the mac behaviour because it will let me grab two slightly different blues and adjust them separately.
Cheers, Don
I upgraded from PL5 Elite to PL6 Elite. PL6 Elite is faster loading and in use and the file management capabilities are improved. it also has better noise reduction capabilities.
The only downside is I don't like the changes to the crop tool which doesn't appear to be as user friendly as PL5 was when moving from a landscape format to a portrait format crop.
It now just does it automatically once you reduce the size of the box - but it's cumbersome.
I thought it always auto switched?? Maybe that was a mac vs windows thing in the past. there are (or were at least a number of little differences between the two versions. Thanks for watching.
I have not upgraded and based on the cost of my last upgrade and the cost of the new upgrade, it's very doubtful that I will. The new features are good, but in my opinion they are not substantial enough for $99 US dollars. I have software that I don't use much already and I can get by just fine without upgrading DXO. I am going to have to be tempted with a better price offering for upgrading or I will pass on this one.
I feel the same about other products so I think I get where you are coming from. The annual paid upgrade cycle is a pain.
I’d wait until Black Friday. For the past couple of years, I’ve got the new version of PL for cheaper than the launch price.
@@andyhughes073 sounds good of you've got the patience for it... Lol 🤣
Not worth $99 upgrade, IMO. I'll stick with PL4 Elite and ADCSee 2022 Pro.
@@jpmccormac Fair enough. It is interesting isn't it. That $99 dollar price point seems to be a real sticking point for many. Anyway, I am sure PL4 will serve you well for years to come. Not like it was a slouch.
I will probably upgrade when they have their Black Friday sale.
That is exactly what I have been doing this past 3 years to upgrade, I only upgrade on Thanksgiving deals and like the old saying goes, "A dollar save is a dollar earned." 🌹
cool
Thanks for watching.
i am finding this program (one month trial version) annoying that it does not let me move on to editing the next photo when they are saving the edited one. I cannot spend 8 minutes a photo for my thousand trip photos...Do you know if this a DxO PL issue, computer issue, or trial software issue? thank you.
I am not sure if I am barking up the correct tree but I will offer some thoughts based on what I think you are saying. If your export is taking 8 minutes I am guessing you have either Deep Prime or Deep Prime XD turned on for the photos. Even then 8 minutes does seem a little on the long side for that export (I do have a pretty powerful computer - but even with the Deep Prime on my export takes 7-10 seconds). That said I have heard of other's taking several minutes. If I were you I would select the photos I wanted to edit/export - for example with a star rating. Then I would use the filter function to view only those images. Then I would go through and do all my edits on all the images. If there are 1000 that might not be practical to do all at once... but lets say you could do the first 50 images (or whatever works for you). Then when you need to take an edit break select all the images you have been working on (click the first edited image then scroll to the last edited image and hold shift while you click on that one and it should select everything in between) and export them all. This will be a sort of batch export-it will do them all. Walk away from the machine and let it do its work while you have a coffee. Other than that I can add you should still be able to work in the software while an export is happening - if not - maybe your computer is struggling.
@@dxflow3271 thank you for the reply... i will try the batch concept! Really want to love this program.
I have upgraded and it was worth the price of the upgrade for the better noise reduction. I shoot wildlife frequently at very high ISO (12-16K) to get the speed I need because many times I'm shooting at dawn or twilight. The other improvements were all additional benefits.
I understand the detail rendering is better in the new noise reduction. I imagine that makes a big difference in wildlife. I have never shot really high ISO s much.
Thanks for the useful tips. I'll probably go from PL5 to PL6 when it goes on sale, along with ViewPoint and Nik (DxO should give more of a price break for upgrades--it adds up to more than an Adobe subscription--it's not that I can't afford it, but a question of value). Anyway, although I'm a bit skeptical about the accuracy of any soft proofing, how does it populate the ICC Profile droplist? Do I need to import every ICC profile I might use individually or can I direct it to a folder where I could copy all of them?
Thanks @ddsdds If you click 'choose ICC profile' you can only single select them. Once a profile has been selected will persist in a 'Recent profiles' list. There is an item to clear the recent list in case this becomes unhelpful. I see this as a good thing for me as it keeps me from hunting through a massive list every time since I only actually use about 5 or 6 profiles regularly. The Mac version also has an "installed RGB" and "Installed CMYK" dropdown lists to more quickly access the full list of what is available - but to my memory those choices aren't on my Windows machine. I will look when I am home later.
@@dxflow3271 Thanks for the quick response. Yeah, it makes sense to only populate the drop list with frequently-used profiles. I'll just have to do so one-at-a-time (and I do use Windows).
I just wish they add support to Nikon Z9 Compressed files.
Did I see that they did this in version 6.4?
very good explaining, i do like to know how did you get your hisgram on the photo??
could you please how
You can make sure it is visible by going to the palettes menu. It will naturally show up in the left side-panel. You can click and drag it out of that panel and onto the image (floating). You can just drag it back onto the side panel to dock it again. I most often float the histogram and then close the left panel to give me more space.
Cool!! thank you so much.
I'm really impressed with the new 2023 version of ON1 Raw. The new super select masking even makes it much easier to edit than Lightroom. Plus it has many Photoshop abilities in it. There's hardly any need to go to another app. How would you review it? Have you tried it yet? I find Photolab 6 really lacking in editing abilities compared to ON1 Raw.
I might give it a try again soon but I have not enjoyed ON1 for a while - too may bits and pieces for me and it has always been really slow on my machines when I have tried in the past. That said they are working hard to improve and I will be curious to see how it is developing. I find DxO does everything I need RAW wise and I go to Photoshop or affinity if I need those type of tools.
@@dxflow3271 I completely understand. I did the same as you. I've been using Lightroom along with Photolab 5. But I'm blown away with what they have done with ON1 Raw 2023. I am now editing all my images in it and getting better results faster. But what I love most is ON1 is allowing me to be more creative. You will see what I mean when you try it.
I'm experimenting with the PL6 Trial. Generally, I use Capture One and I've been enjoying PL6 more than I thought I would. I actually like having no Catalogs or Libraries hiding my photos and having sidecar files with the RAW edits. Easy and simple to backup with any filesystem backup. Also, being able to store and edit off of a 10Gbps NAS and all seems well.
Highly considering buying Elite when trial is up. The only thing missing is a Whites adjustment? Am I crazy, but I don't see one.
No you are right. No whites slider. I sometimes use the tone curve for this but of course there will be more of a global impact to doing that.
Also affiliate links in the description if you do decide to go for it. Cheers.
I am currently on a trial for PL6, I have always used Lightroom and ON1, I heard that this program is great for M43, but so far I don’t see an advantage. What might I be missing.
I understand the biggest benefit for M43 is the noise reduction that helps get a bit more out of the smaller sensor. If you are sitting in plenty of light I suspect there wouldn't be much. Differences of course but nothing above personal taste. That is my understanding as a non M43 owner
I remain unconvinced also. Two areas of improvement , DP xd and file searching are not sufficiently impressive to merit a full update and the associated cost. For the former Denoise photo ai remains as good and can also manage non raw files. I will be a lot more cautious when it comes to the next full update.
Fair enough. Everyone has different priorities. For me I am not that into denoising. It is probably one of my least used aspects of DxO and I don't have another denoiser. Don't get me wrong it is incredible but I wouldn't use it on more than 5% of images (if that). For me colour and tone are everything and they have just hit it out of the park. I do have to admit I am pretty happy with the file management improvements too... it is pretty much perfect for my needs now.
Less editing the better. Adobe lightroom does just fine with a sprinkle of Nik Collection.
No doubt. If Adobe is your thing I am sure it does a fine job. I think most any editor can get great results nowadays... And Adobe is certainly leading on number of users it seems.
If you are used to it, then no doubt LR will be quicker at first. After 7+ years of Lightroom I am now a DxO convert. I do far less editing than I used to as it renders the raw files so beautifully - maybe just a bit of a crop and noise reduction. The only downside for me is Photolab is a bit slow, so I ended up buying Photo Mechanic to speed up browsing, culling and organising. Not sure if the latest one is quicker, but this combo works great for me.