Stenis
(Sten-Åke Sändh (Sony, Win 11, PL 6, CO 16, PM Plus 6, XnView))
1
Not a word from DXO??
I think I have received no less than four new service releases for XNView and at least a couple from Camera Bits for Photo Mechanic since version 7 of Photolab was released. During the same time there is just silence from DXO, despite they have got a lot of feed back on what doesn´t work or ought to get fixed in the present release.
I would like to get some information about if DXO is seriously planning to fix the outstanding problems in Local Adjustments. Where is the Color Picker in the Local Color Wheel, for example, just as one example of very low hanging fruits.
I don´t consider version 7 really finished yet. It needs some serious polishing. There are still too many loose ends hanging out there. I also think that the Local Adjustments menu ought to be anchored in the top and not allowed to scroll like today because the present solution is really ludicrously ineffective as it is.
For me it is hard to understand why this hasn´t been fixed months ago. If I would have known this before I doubt, I would have upgraded at all. I would rather have stuck with version 6 and that interface instead.
Exactly why I’ve stuck with version 6 despite being able to upgrade to v7. The pattern of stopping development when there is still progress to be made just keeps repeating. As for their silence, it’s getting worse over time, even hurtful. If these aren’t red flags, then someone is color blind.
The lack of the color picker in the Local Adjustments HSL Color Wheel is not a bug but was a design decision that it wasn’t necessary for Local Adjustments. While I believe DxO may eventually decide to include it, I wouldn’t hold my breath expecting them to add it anytime soon.
I agree it’s not a bug, as such, Mark - but I’m not so sure it was a “design decision” … I put it down to lack of time for DxO devs to properly tidy-up and finish-off in time for the fixed release date … like a bunch of other “loose ends” in PLv7 (some of which were listed above by Stenis)
This has been my exact thoughts during and after the PL7 EA period!
2 Likes
Stenis
(Sten-Åke Sändh (Sony, Win 11, PL 6, CO 16, PM Plus 6, XnView))
6
Did I talk about bugs here? I talked about what is still not working!
Mark I don´t care what you call that at all. Your comment will just add to the smoke screen around Photolab 7 and the problems we still have with it. As I said “I don´t consider version 7 really finished yet.”. The lacking Color picker and the hopeless design flaw with the scrolling Local Adjustments menu and the absent layer when activating and using the Local Color Wheel are very low hanging fruits to me that ought to have been fixed a long time ago.
This is all about productivity really. If I compare what Capture One has done with CO in the last versions in order to improve productivity I´m sad to say that DXO has a lot to prove. DXO is acting like a dog afraid of ironing or a scared ostrich. We need a dialog now about these problems they have to fix and a DXO that gets out from the bedroom.
In general I agree with you. Just to be clear, my earlier comments were based on direct feedback from DxO. I was not suggesting I agreed with it. The Windows version does have a workaround using the global HSL wheel’s color picker which also selects the same color in the Local adjustment HSL wheel. I have mentioned it in a different thread and it seems to work well, but unfortunately that workaround is not available in the Mac version.
Since DxO tends to not revisit new functionality once it has been implemented I wonder when or if the color picker will ever be added to the local HSL color wheel.
Mark
1 Like
Stenis
(Sten-Åke Sändh (Sony, Win 11, PL 6, CO 16, PM Plus 6, XnView))
10
… but John, this time Photolab was released it was weeks before they normally use to release the new versions I think. Why that hurry? Why release a new version that so clearly isn´t properly developed when released? It is to ask for disappointment and bad will.
I fear this has indeed oftern been the case but I think even DxO must know from the reaction to so many poor elements of 7 they will have to deal with them to reduce the poor reception.
Stenis
(Sten-Åke Sändh (Sony, Win 11, PL 6, CO 16, PM Plus 6, XnView))
12
That “work around” is a joke Mark. Use the Global Color Picker when working with the Local Color Wheel is a very odd solution. Not all that obvious for most people I have to say. In fact one of the less educational examples I’ve ever seen in terms of interface work and a very inefficient one.
Stenis
(Sten-Åke Sändh (Sony, Win 11, PL 6, CO 16, PM Plus 6, XnView))
13
If that case had been with a function in PhotoMechanic or XnView it had been addressed in the first service release possible.
Once I complained about a clear bug in the integration between PhotoMechanic Plus and Photolab when selecting images to open them in Photolab with the “Edit”-function in PM Plus.
Just a day or two after I got a reply where Kirk Baker asked me deeper about the problem. He downloaded a trial of Photolab and solved the problem in a few days and asked me to test a new version he had made especially for me and this case. After testing and approving the fix he promised to add the new code in the next service release and make it a permanent part of the package for the future and he kept his promises. That openminded, flexible and swift responsiveness is one reason many users really love the Camera Bits support and after 20 years + of tight interaction with their professional customers they have managed to develop a product that is extremely efficient.
I have worked many years with many American software companies in the nineteen nineties when I was working for a Nordic IT-distributor and I can say I can´t remember any other company that have been so uninteresting of getting feedback and help to develop their products and iron out bugs and design flaws as DXO. … and it is also a little sad that we spend so much time here barking up a tree that doesn´t even have any ears.
If it works it is not a joke and I find works well most of the time. A workaround is not a replacement for good functionality it is just a means to an end when something is not working properly. This workaround requires unnecessary extra steps which is both annoying and unintuitive. Of course It should be replaced with an actual LA color picker. But, until then it can provide some value to Windows users. If you are on Windows and don’t see any value in it then don’t use it. It certainly has value for me.
Strangely, this is not quite accurate in my experience. Whatever is picked with the global picker is slightly off in the local HSL wheel. Rotated clockwise by a few degrees. Noticeable with any colour but here is a yellow example:
I pick from the yellow panel at top left but when I go to the local HSL tool, it is more orange:
Some colours can be even further adrift. There needs to be a local picker. If I select an area for local adjustments, how am I supposed to select a colour within that area?
When PL 7 was first released, and even prior to it, it was much more exact. I hadn’t used it in a while and now see that it so longer syncs up like it used to. I suspect there was a change. introduced since its release. That is unfortunate. However, while it is now far from perfect it may still more useful than having no picker at all.
Because they need money for next year development. And they development is based on this : new year, new income to continue.
Anyway, better than renting a software that one can’t use if not paying monthly. And for which one have to pay even if there is no real substancial improvment.
I really hope you’re wrong and DxO didn’t thought a second this kind of workaround can replace a well designed and finished tool. And I hope they understand what they do and what is a finished and usable tool.
Waiting for v8 to see what happens.
