Given the regular requests here to enable DeepPRIME in the main viewer, I see Adobe’s implementation as… problematic. There are people here who ‘do the PureRAW’ — i.e. export to DNG with optical corrections and de-noise only — and edit the resulting (enormous) file, but it’s not popular, I think, due to the amount of space, and the time required at the start of the editing process.
please stop nagging about all these costs and pricing tactics by DxO ; just wait till black friday and buy/upgrade cheap and be thankfull for what you got and it being good software 
chill ! I have PL5.14 and skipped 6 and maybe thinking about 7 to be able to upgrade cheap in the future if I find the trial satisfying and thinking about upgrading VP3 to 4, I have a free Nikcollection where I mainly just use Silver Efex Pro 2 but now i PL7 there is a better B&W rendering and maybe i won’t need a newer nikcollection because i’m still satisfied with that free google version back in the days, filmpack not sure if I need that and luminosity masks : I could do without it for all those years why get it now … so DxO has tactics that aren’t good for everyone but that’s not a reality to satisfy everyone, I’m a fan of PL since version 2 or 3 can’t remember it was in 2018 when I switched from Nikon Capture NX to something that used u-point technology, because i love that type of masking and never looked back I don’t use LR orr Ps (only an old version for panorama’s), DeepPrime is now applied to every NEF (yes a nikon boy here) since i got a better/supported GPU and my small D700 files fly ! happy customer so far
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Following your reasonning, you could do with what you have all those years. So why ever would you need any upgrade ?
Hi Jimmy @Jim71
Welcome on board.
Pascal
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Back in July I purchased an Adobe Photography Plan from Amazon during their Prime day deals.
I chose to wait to see what PL7 would bring before activating it.
I activated it today…
The 1yr Photography Plan was £25 cheaper than updating my version of PL5 to PL7 (and that’s without updating both my copies of FP and VP to get 100% app functionality). And it comes with Ai stuff which is really, really useful (imo).
The danger DxO has (in my opinion) is that if people are not impressed enough with the yearly updates they choose to not update, but once they fall out of the two year discount cycle and they have to pay full price once more what is the chance of them returning? Pretty slim I’d say unless something revolutionary comes along in PL?
Currently my cameras are supported in PL5, but a day will come when I get new ones which aren’t supported. I’ll probably take a look at PL again when that day comes, we’ll see.
If I get on with Lr then I suspect I’ll use PL in a similar vein to how PureRAW works. I’ll select the images from a shoot I wish to edit, open them in PL, auto apply a preset which has lens corrections and DeepPrime enabled and then promptly export them as DNG files for Lr.
I’ve no idea how I’m going to find Lr and Ps. I’ve not used either of them since v6, but I’ve never been one to go with ‘better the devil you know’.
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I think you’re correct in suggesting that some PhotoLab users may fall out of the upgrade cycle due to limited improvements and not come back, which could hurt PhotoLab’s viability. PhotoLab is still valuable to me as a Raw image processor, applying camera and lens optical and color corrections, noise reduction, and some sharpening. I don’t use it for much else. But would I pay full price for it now just to do that? That would be a close call; I’m not so sure. Probably only if I had a new camera.
I did not like Adobe’s subscription pricing model at rollout and, like you, stayed pat on LR6 for years. I thought Adobe would raise subscription rates and get lazy about innovating; they did neither of those things. I did subscribe a few years ago, and LR is so much better than it was at LR6. I think you’ll be very impressed. I far prefer LR’s local adjustments over PL’s. Plus even if you’re intimidated by Adobe Photoshop as a general editor (I am), there are some quick and easy things it can do jaw-droppingly well, including sky replacement, generative fill (to remove objects, not insert an elephant into Cades Cove at the Great Smokies park), generative expand, and remove–very easy to do–see YouTube. At the monthly rate Adobe’s charging, the value of the Photography Plan is very high. Of all the apps I use regularly (PhotoLab, Radiant Photo, Topaz Sharpen AI, Lightroom and Photoshop), the Adobe apps at subscription are the best value for me.
Try importing your Raw files into LR, using LR’s File > Plug-in Extras > DxO PhotoLab (this allows you to stay in Raw format using DNG files; if you instead use LR’s > Photo > Edit In > DxO PhotoLab, LR makes you switch to TIFF. TIFF is a fine editing format, but it is not Raw, and you lose the Raw advantages too early on.
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For me, no other product comes close on the basic image. The lens/sensor modules, combined with DeepPRIME & DeepPRIME XD cannot be bested, in my experience. Even when the same results are possible, they require a lot more work in other tools.
The rest of PhotoLab is fine. Sure, I have some problems with the way it works in some areas, but lack of AI is not one of them — they use it where it counts. My experience with AI in competing products, so far, has been “really great when it works” but I’ve found them seriously wanting even after trying out only a handful of images. Lightroom couldn’t handle some of the most basic of sky selections, for example.
One of the things I disliked about Adobe’s subscription model is that it is a yearly commitment. One year of the Photography Plan is slightly more expensive than a full license for PhotoLab, which releases… once a year. With upgrade pricing, that makes maintaining current PhotoLab significantly cheaper than maintaining current Lightroom. Oh, and paying for a year in one go with Adobe saves you nothing.
Yes, you get Photoshop, too, and if you have a use for it that’s pretty good value. I used to be heavily invested in Lightroom and Photoshop but Affinity Photo replaced the latter many years ago at a much lower cost and, frankly, it has a much better user experience.
I would just say be wary of justifying the Photography Plan on the basis of getting an extra tool you were not actually looking for.
I am also reminded of the frequent refrain in years not long past about iPhone apps being “outrageously priced” at $10, or begrudging a switch to subscription at prices like $2 per month or $10 per year. Value is relative — what you get, versus what you need and want.
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I completely agree. That’s why I’m still here and still using PhotoLab Elite. (I used to use ON1, Luminar, and other Topaz apps, but rarely want to now and am probably done upgrading those.) PL combines really well with the other apps I do still use.
I never tried Affinity. Or Capture One. Who knows, I might like one or both better, but I’m happy with what I’ve got for now. Reliant Photo is working really well for me.
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Affinity Photo is Photoshop for people who get scared by Photoshop. No it doesn’t have everything Photoshop does, but it contains more than most people will ever use.
Capture One is a product I am surprised does not get mentioned when people complain about DxO’s pricing practices. It is the only major ‘darkroom’ application I have not tried, purely because of their pricing. It was particularly annoying when they offered ‘Nikon’ and ‘Canon’ versions for substantially lower prices — a snub to other brand users — but they’ve even stopped doing that last I checked. For the price they were asking, I’d expect to give it a snapshot of my cat and get a photo of a tiger with one button click. 
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ViewPoint is perhaps in PhotoLab but it exists as an application
I have not tried to put VP in the bin to verify !
What you are seeing is the standalone app. Deleting it will not stop it working from within PL.
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Viewpoint and FilmPack both have standalone applications as well as unhiding features already in PhotoLab. Once you have a license for FilmPack and Viewpoint you can activate the license in PhotoLab without even installing the standalone versions. That is what I do since I have no need for them.
Mark
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that’s a wrong statement IMO, it’s for people that don’t want to give a dime to Adobe and their subscription which still break their own record of how much money they make every year 
lol. I used Photoshop from Photoshop 4 (THAT long ago) and switched to Affinity as it is simply better (ok, their Raw Develop is pants, I’ll give you that). I do photos, while ‘Photoshop’ prefers to do everything it can jam into an app… and charges accordingly. Binned it and glad I did. Rentware is a model I won’t support.
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Do you have any idea how long the upgrade price will last for photolab elite? I have tried up grade before and Black Friday and found sometimes Black Friday is a better price than the upgrade price.
I started using Photolab 5 as a replacement for Affinity Photo’s RAW develop module. With the improved masking in Photolab 7 I use it quite a bit more now.
Current policy lets you upgrade the two previous versions, and you can always check offers in your DxO shop account: Customer Login
Past year Upgrade price for Elite version was 109$
Black Friday sell price was 69$ (paid on Nov. 21st 2022)
