Bug or no Bug: Cannot create a WB-only preset

DxO PhotoLab macOS topics
1

I wanted to create a partial preset tat only sets DxO Smart Lighting and White Balance…and found that this was impossible in both PhotoLab 7 and 8.

Rendering seems to be mandatory in such a preset. While this can be understood, it has unwanted side effects:

What I want is a preset, that only sets WB and leaves everything else as is.

Please check if you’ve got the same issue with DPL on Mac or Win and drop a short line here. I’ll then create a ticket for DxO support.

@StevenL : From a UI/UX point of view, the two tools should be in the same tool panel because they are not independent of each other. On the other hand, the Rendering panel is already overloaded, but maybe things can be rearranged in a way to make using the tools more consistent.

2

I seem to be able to achieve what you want. The steps are I followed to check this out, with PL8, are:

  1. Point PL8 at my usual “test folder” - which contains one image I’ve previously edited with PL8 and its accompanying DOP.
  2. Create a VC of this image (just so I have a reference for comparison).
  3. For the VC use “Reset” and also uncheck any PL settings still active (I normally have my own custom workspace, but for this I switched to the standard PL Advanced one)
  4. Used the WB dropper to select a suitable part of the image to set the WB. At this point I confirmed that the only active control was WB - in particular, the Colour/B&W Rendering control was greyed out inactive.
  5. Created a New preset from the image settings - named PR - PL8 WB Only
  6. In Preferences set this new preset as the default one for RAW images
  7. Closed PL8
  8. Copied another RAW image (without any DOP) into the same test folder.
  9. Launched PL8 and selected Customise for the new RAW image.
  10. As you can see from the attached screenshot, the only control active is WB (and the WB setting is indeed the same one I’d set on the VC of the existing image).

Hope this helps.

WB Only Preset
WB Only Preset1920×1040 367 KB

Update - I should have pointed out I’m using the Windows version of PL8

3

two sides of the coin… do you want to set just the same WB numbers in UI or you want to have the same result from applying the same numbers in UI ?

for example when you use a DCP camera profile the actual WB is calculated and set using CM tag(s) in it… so the same numbers in UI when used with DCP camera profiles where CM tag(s) are different will give you different result … so what is logical - allow to separate UI numbers from camera profile or not ?

PS: granted we do not know if dxo actually follows Adobe DNG standard when calculating WB, we can test though by using 2 DCP profiles with different CM tags… if somebody wants to spend 5-10 min testing

4

What exactly do you mean by that?? Maybe CCT?
(I’ve read the ‘Mapping Camera Color Space to CIE XYZ Space’ chapter of DNG specs, to be clear)

5

I mean that whatever K/tint numbers that you see in UI is just a part of how actual WB is calculated when using DCP camera profiles ( if photolab follows Adobe DNG standard of course when using DCP camera profile in terms of calculating ) - so different (values in) CM tags means same WB = different K/tint numbers shown in UI and vice versa same K/tint numbers in UI = different WB applied …

if you want to spend your time how photolab handles this please do ( “I’ve read the ‘Mapping Camera Color Space to CIE XYZ Space’ chapter of DNG specs, to be clear” → so now you can test how photolab handles this vs ACR/LR which are the standard how Adobe’s DCP profiles shall be used , who knows may be photolab does not follow , which will not be a surprise )

6

Doing this, you’ll get a full preset. WB is set as intended, but all other settings will be reset to DxO default settings.

7

I don’t care about that. What I want is a partial preset that sets WB and leaves everything else alone.

8

I had no problem with that using PL8.1/Win11. I have attached the preset file, which contains this (fully generated by PL, not by me in any way):

Preset = {
Settings = {
Base = {
WhiteBalanceRawTemperature = 5200,
WhiteBalanceRawActive = true,
WhiteBalanceRawPreset = “ManualTemp”,
WhiteBalanceRawInputImageColor = {
}
,
WhiteBalanceRawTint = 0,
}
,
Overrides = {
}
,
Version = “19.0”,
}
,
Version = “11.0”,
}

Is that what you wanted?

WB_5200.preset (266 Bytes)

1 Like
9

but there are different definitions of what “that sets WB” means, that was the point … in your case you do not care clearly about all possible WB application nuances, but simply want to set the same numeric values in UI which granted for the same type of camera profiles shall produce the same WB … nothing wrong w/ that for as long a you fully understand what possibly be some nuances ( that you may never ever run into )

10

Thanks @Wlodek, your preset works as expected.

Checking the presets again, I noticed that the ones I got were full presets, even though I had taken out all tools out of it. I really did, because I’d not have found that issue otherwise. I’ll have to test it again and will report back with results/findings.

One thing though:

  • Your preset has version numbers 19 and 11 respectively.
  • My presets get numbers 18 and 18 → probably just another difference between Mac and Win versions of DPL.8
11

you can create presets manually in a text editor, for a partial preset the min acceptable content is

Preset = {
Settings = {
Overrides = {
},
},
}

and in overrides you override what you want to override

you do not need any stinky versions in there

12

I know, but the point is, that the creation of a partial preset with PhotoLab does not allow to set WB without also setting rendering. This feels like a bug that could be in DPL for Mac, Win or both.