A storm in a teacup

[mikemyers]

Whether or not I buy a copy of PL8 has nothing to do with the bugs reports, only with what new features may be included that I don’t yet have, and want.

I haven’t knowingly experienced any bugs with PhotoLab; for me, it just works.

I’m just being realistic - I’m not yet aware of any bugs that cause me problems.

My point was, the old lists are probably ancient history, once PL8 comes out, and we, the users, should create a brand new list of problems with PL8 if we expect someone at DxO to take it seriously.

@BHAYT

I have traditionally undertaken large numbers of tests, and written posts that are mostly too long,

Unless you want to write your comments in French, I suggest you keep the reports short and right to the point. Just add you can provide more information upon request.

@BHAYT

DOPs are forwards compatible but not backwards compatible so back up old edits (DOPs) before starting to “play” with the new release, so that you can re-instate them if you go back to the old release.

If I spend the $$$ for PL8, I won’t be going back. Never had, but I’ve never had these issues (knowingly).

Unless PL8 adds something new and exciting that people in the forum feel is necessary, I may just stick with PL6 and save the $$$.

I’m not really trying to discuss all these things, only to suggest that we start up a new PL8 bug list for issues in PL8, regardless of whether they existed before in a previous release. If you all think that’s silly, so be it. I hope I don’t post anything else in this discussion. If I could click on a FORGET button, I would do so.

Everything has bugs in my opinion my cameras, my car, everything I own. Nothing is ever perfect, so every year a new model comes out. That’s been my life for as long as I can remember. But I just need something that is “good enough”, regardless of whether or not it is “perfect”.

[mwsilvers (Mark - New Jersey, USA)]

@mikemyers

Maybe, rather than discussing past history, it would be good to start a brand new forum discussion about issues in PhotoLab 8 once it is released. Rather than rehashing the past, the discussions can be about PL8 as soon as it becomes available.

Mike, all that’s going to happen when PL 8 comes out is that a lot of people are going to be upset that so many things on the large and constantly growing list of backlogged features and bug fixes have been completely ignored once again. I know you’re trying to be helpful, but we’re really talking about many issues that go back years., and the list is continuing to grow as each new version of PhotoLab is released. You’re trying to simplify something that can’t be simplified.

One example of the things that DXO has promised to do on a number of occasions is to create parity between the Windows and Mac versions. Instead, With each new version of PhotoLab the differences between the Mac and Windows versions continus to grow. There are things I can do on the PC version that you can’t do on your Mac, and vice versa. And, we’re not talking about one or two differences, we’re talking about a dozen or two dfferenses.

Mark

[Eigil_Skovgaard (Eigil Skovgaard Hansen)]

@mikemyers

When PL8 comes out, we’ll find out…

This makes me wonder, how far you investigating Darktable has come, Mike?
The software is free and fabulous, nobody makes money of it - except us users. How ideal is that?

[mikemyers]

@Eigil_Skovgaard

This makes me wonder, how far you investigating Darktable has come, Mike?

Well enough to edit my images, but not well enough to get the results I get with PhotoLab.

I think when I get to India, I will need to teach it to others.

[Eigil_Skovgaard (Eigil Skovgaard Hansen)]

@mikemyers

I think when I get to India, I will need to teach it to others.

If you can’t get at least as good a result with Darktable as with PhotoLab, I suggest you postpone the teaching. People from India are bright and critical.

As I am stuck with PhotoLab 7 I utilize it with stubborn images by testing my results in Darktable against PL7. Believe me, I would not hesitate to admit, if the PL7 result ever turned out to be the better.
So far I have reached a more satisfying result in Darktable, undoubtedly due to the number of excellent tools.
Because those tools look different from tools in most commercial raw editors, people give up on them too early. But I believe that you, Mike, dug into the core, eager to harvest the hidden treasures, before you decided for PL7. Of course, you could be a complete wizard with PhotoLab and I do thee wrong. ;O/

[mikemyers]

@Eigil_Skovgaard

If you can’t get at least as good a result with Darktable as with PhotoLab, I suggest you postpone the teaching. People from India are bright and critical.

Well, yes, but they can’t spend $$$$ the way we do in the USA, and DarkTable is open source = “free”.

I need to do more work in DarkTable, but I doubt if DxO wants those photos posted in this, the DxO Forum.

I quite using Adobe because it went subscription, but it is so inexpensive now, that’s no longer a big deal. I used to buy PhotoShop or LightRoom every few years.

I’m still using PL6, will not buy PL7, and maybe I’ll wait for “Black Friday Sale” pricing and buy PL8.

Do you have an image that you edited in both programs, so we can compare them?

[Eigil_Skovgaard (Eigil Skovgaard Hansen)]

@mikemyers

I need to do more work in DarkTable, but I doubt if DxO wants those photos posted in this, the DxO Forum.

If you posted images edited in Darktable here as a challenge, I am sure many would find it interesting to demonstrate the virtues of PhotoLab.

I quit Adobe because of their politics, not because of the price, which IS affordable, but the general Adobe attitude and the subscription concept annoys me. ACR and Photoshop are still in the top, especially Photoshop, but not irreplaceable. Affinity Photo 2 is low in price and of high quality. While ACR now has AI masking that part has become faster, but Darktable is a better tool for a dedicated craftsman.

No, I don’t save the edits from PhotoLab 7, and I have to be extraordinary challenged in Darktable before I begin to include PhotoLab. It also happens more rarely now because the outcome always is the same.

[mikemyers]

@Eigil_Skovgaard

If you posted images edited in Darktable here as a challenge, I am sure many would find it interesting to demonstrate the virtues of PhotoLab.

I posted one last night. See:
Florida Everglades visit with a Nikon D2h - #2 by mikemyers

I do have my own gripe about DxO software - there are perhaps 20 or 30 images in my folder with photos from my Nikon D2h from almost 20 years ago, and PhotoLab opened the first half of them with no problem, but for the other half I got this:

The images from my old Nikons, and my Leica M8.2 are not from a “supported camera”, so PhotoLab won’t open them unless I cheat an change the EXIF data. In this case, it is even more strange, as it apparently took PhotoLab some time to realize that these were illegal photos, and ban them.

Why not just post a notice that the images are from a non-supported camera, and open them anyway?

But I was remembering what you wrote, and opened them in DarkTable with no problems, and edited several of them. My favorite is now posted in my other discussion thread about my visit to the Florida Everglades.

In the next month or so, I want to start capturing infrared images again, which means using my Leica M8.2, which means I’ll need to use DarkTable.