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
