Hi JohnM,
Thanks for your thoughtful and detailed reply. I think we have some philosophical differences about the way image editing software should work and what feels easy & natural to the user. Those differences are perfectly valid and if it works for you, that’s great.
At the same time, I still do see a couple of things which constitute stumbling blocks for me. First is the issue of changing settings in a PL2 .DOP file which can then affect the way you edit a TIFF file with Color Efex Pro a second time. I addressed that issue in a separate reply just now.
Then there’s the issue for which you have submitted an enhancement request. If DxO does implement your suggested change that would remove for me the second stumbling block. But, for now, having to use a naming convention to keep track of sidecar files feels like extra, unnecessary work.
I think the fundamental difference I have is that I like the idea of having all of an image’s edits encapsulated in a single file. That’s what I get by creating a Photoshop SmartObject and then applying Adobe Camera Raw adjustments followed by Color Efex Pro: a PSD file with all the edits in a single place. And then there’s the question posed by 1dave of what to do if you want multiple Nik effects. Suppose I want to apply both CEP and Dfine to an image. Is that reasonably doable in a non-destructive way with just the DxO tools? With the Photoshop SmartObject approach it’s entirely doable, again all in a single file.
Cheers,
DavidSalahi