I’m aware there is a long-running request for the ability to edit HEIC files in Photolab. I fully support this request and hope it’s delivered someday.
However in the meantime - it would be very useful if we could at least view and ideally change metadata for HEIC files, even though we cannot yet edit the images. This would be helpful, even if the ability to edit images is not yet ready for release.
The lack of this feature causes at least two issues when using the DAM functionality of PL:
Doing basic tasks like deleting folders is risky, because they might contain HEIC images, which are invisible in PL. So this has resulted in me deleting many iPhone photos by accident, since the folder appears empty in PL. There is no warning that you’re deleting a folder which contains invisible files. So this means I have to constantly leave PL, to check all folders in finder. At the very least, there should be a warning pop up.
I cannot use PL as my DAM (even though I have very basic needs), because I’m not able to rate/flag/keyword images that came from my phone, or put them in albums. So I have to use a separate DAM based on the type of image, which is also impractical. It also makes the already rudimentary “Projects” function even less useful, because now I have to keep albums in multiple programs if I want to have HEIC images in my albums.
I understand PL will likely never be a class-leading DAM, or highly prioritize smart phone photos. But IMO this request is fairly basic and would be useful for any users who store their smart phone and camera photos in the same folders.
HEIC is already dead IMO.
It’s a format introduced by Apple back in 2017…to replace JPEG files.
This never happened, instead JPEG XL is the royalties-free / open source format which is going to replace, of course, JPEG as well as HEIC files.
The fact that Apple quietly introduced this new format inside their recent macOS/iOS is very telling.
Specs wise, JPEG XL is a superior format in all ways (and don’t forget that’s a royalties-free format).
I would bet DxO just skips the HEIC for the JPEG XL directly, which makes a lot of sense IMO.
I guess my request - regardless of jpeg xl vs heic - is for PL to allow me to:
a) See all common image formats, regardless of whether or not I can edit them, to allow reorganization of my files and to prevent accidental deletion, and
b) Allow me to edit metadata for these uneditable files, and the ability to place the images in projects with my other raw files
I think that at least it should be clear if DxO is ever going to implement this. There were promises in the past, but no further news. At a certain moment I really want to know if I have to convert all my HEIC files.
Only you can make that call. What I would say though is that even Apple see to have accepted that HIEC is not going to be the JPEG killer everyone thought it was going to be. For whatever reason it didn’t gain traction outside the Apple ecosystem. Consequently they now support The Next Big Thing ™, namely JPEG-XL.
Only time will tell if that format ever does replace the JPEG standard we all love and hate in equal measure but as many big names, including Samsung (who make an awful lot of camera phones), are also providing support for JPEG-XL, there are signs it might soon become the dominant format for image files.
in light of this, I’ll be very surprised if DxO ever provide support for HIEC.
This is exactly my opinion, but DXO PL is also promoted as a DAM solution and puts a lot of efforts into this DAM-part. And especially for this functionality, it is essential to support a variety of file types. Otherwise I need a special DAM software. After the switch to a subscription model and the price increase of Photo Mechanic, I switched to PhotoSupreme from Idimager.
In normal life, I don’t use only my Nikon, but also sometimes my iPhone and want to utilize the advantages of HEIC/HEIF vs. JPEG in my photos.
I’ve considered switching to Photo Supreme many times, but never made the leap because the interface and layout always felt a bit awkward to me. But on the other hand it has quite a bit of functionality.
How have you liked Photo Supreme so far, particularly when paired with Photolab?
I’m using PhotoSupreme and have been for many years. I’m on the Postgres server version which is very stable and works well in our family.
It’s pretty much transparent in combination with PL but you need to do some work and planning to ensure you get the most out f it.
Its meta data tagging is impressive and so is stacking and searching.
The gui is different but efficient.
For those not familiar with or in the need of a multi user environment the standard single user version does everything for except multi user.
In my point of view, PhotoSupreme (PSU) does a very good job in metadata management. If you want to utilize the new functionality of face recognition, it is some work to do to check the assignments, because sometimes they are not correct, esp. in case of near relatives (e.g. child pictures of father and son, pictures of twins, …). But after you have done this work, it’s an excellent tool for searching within your photo library.
In combination with Raw-photos, PSU even shows some basic corrections done in PhotoLab (cropping, some lightning adjustments, …).
