DxO is Bad as Adobe

DxO PhotoLab
42

@JoPoV Hi,
I still have Capture One 23 and get excelent results with Capture One, Photolab 6 and On1. They are all very good, but the pricing of Capture One and new policies turned me off as well as the price policy and marketing of DXO. I just don’t like to be in a money trap and never knowing when for example the new FP or VP comes out. With buying “Elite” I was under the impression to buy a complete application without the need of buying VP and FP to make it fully functional!

The on1 website has nothing to do with the functioning of their excelent app!

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43

always been ON1 thing, showing over done images for their promo, it is still a good software but easily over done processing. one good thing with ON1 is the “Resize” which does a great job as good if not better than topaz resize for a fraction of it’s price…

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45

Hopefully, you will find your destiny on the front.

47

same here! I bought a perpetual license for capture one only to see them release new versions which rendered my version useless. this business model boils down to their ownership which is a private equity firm, and all they are out to do is to make money. too bad it won’t be recurring from me no longer!!!

48

did your license stop working ?

49

what is the alternative though ?

50

What exactly do you mean by useless? That implies it no longer works. I know it can be very frustrating when new software versions are released shortly after a purchase. What version did you purchase and how long after that purchase was the new version released? Did you check to see whether you were within the window for a free upgrade?

Mark

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A Business wants to make money so it can afford to reinvest in the next version of its product, pay its employees, pay taxes, and make a profit for the owners. DxO and Adobe can be accused of this, and I certainly don’t have an issue with that.

Now, I can understand why people may not like the idea of stopping paying for something and then loosing access to that product (such as Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscription), and I also have my grumbles about DxO’s product stucture (ie Filmpack and Viewpoint being required to make Photolab Elite a truly complete/capable application), but being annoyed at a business releasing new products and making a profit seems an odd complaint.

I would love to see DxO offer an alternative (lower than the regular) upgrade price for people who have recently invested in the application(s). Perhaps for people who purchased the full app within the past 6 months before the next update. I eel this would create a lot of good will amongst new users. I purchased PL Elite 4 about 4 months before v5 came out. But also, you do have the choice to pay for the update or not. The version purchased remains useable until you update to a new camera and that camera is not supported in the version of the software you have (I don’t know how far back PL releases continue to have new cameras and lenses added to them).

Don’t forget, there are free alternatives to Photolab and Lightroom, Darktable comes to mind immediately: https://www.darktable.org/

Please just be aware that Darktable may not do what you want/isn’t as good as paid for software. Ultimately, you often get what you pay for :wink:

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53

Statement was made in reference to my experience with C1, not Dxo. Please don’t take it out of context and then go on to talk about DXO in your entire reply. Thanks

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I recall it was for C1 20 back in 2020, paid a good $400+/500+ for it in my local currency. Maybe I was new to the way software pricing are but am not silly. The next versions came out and I could not upgrade for free, neither could I upgrade for a discounted price. It was abit ridiculous, I’m sure the company has now realised its mistake as they have converted to pushing more a monthly subscription basis like adobe does, even though you can still buy a perpetual license.

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55

The CaptureOne craziness around upgrade pricing and pusing people into subscription is one reason I just dropped the application completely. DxO PhotoLab would cover all my needs, except:

  1. doesn’t handle mobile phone RAW files. Not iPhone, not Android. Argh. What’s worse is that when PhotoLab did support mobile phone DNG the results were great!
  2. the contrast levels in the interface have fallen so low now that I have to look for new software. I used to love PhotoLab 6 but go blind trying to use PhotoLab 7. PhotoLab 8 is just as bad as PhotoLab 7. This lack of respect for the health of their users makes me really angry,
  3. only supports latest two Apple OS. I was pushed off Mojave a year earlier, and now won’t be pushed off Monterey for PhotoLab 8. I have a three or four year major OS upgrade cycle and will choose publishers who support at least three versions of macOS.

Basically Adobe were the original bad actors. CaptureOne (owned by VC company last eight years) followed. DxO has treated users much worse since about PhotoLab 4 or 5.

56

I too have some regrets on jumping the shark and purchasing before my trial was up. I have no one to blame but myself. Certainly not DXOs fault.

I’m trying to currently polish up a workflow that allows me to utilize all the tools that I’ve purchased over the past few months.

Currently, that workflow is:

  1. On1 Photo Raw for culling/DAM/Pano/HDR/Focus stacking etc.
  2. Open and process selects in PL8 for its absolutely fantastic demosaicing, lens handling and noise reduction, etc. Export out to DNG
  3. Back in to On1 for the rest of the processing workflow.
  4. . Any extra pixel editing is done in Affinity Photo 2 if needed.

I’m really struggling with PL8 lack of SOME masking tools and also with the u point workflow. I’m just finding it easier to get the desired results with the above workflow. I’m not a pro or a really high volume shooter so this is working for me for now.

I’m also NOT blaming DXO. I fully realize that SOME if not most of these issues are my own ignorance and knowledge in how to properly use the tools in PL8. But I have asked a couple times a question about certain workflows and the answers I’ve gotten (while I appreciate) haven’t exactly been helpful to me to help figure this out yet.

Tom

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I will say, however, that I find myself determined to learn and figure it out. I keep going back to PL and trying stuff.

Tom

59

… but when I started it was about 90 U$ for the Sony version and soon there was both a Fuji and a Nikon-version. Maybe that was too cheap to ve sustainable.

61

Please guys.
Can’t we keep world politics and related discussions out of the photography threads? :heart:

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62

I whole-heartedly concur with this.

Tom

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63

I have used PLE and its previous incarnation for many years. I got stung with the same issue of buying too close to the upgrade, partly due to not doing my research but also being encouraged by a badly timed review in magazine. I complained and got nowhere. I really like the software and it does a great job for what I need, and yes the now yearly upgrade could be considered extortionate for the extra functionality you get (usually not much), so my policy now is upgrading every two years, and I’ll see how things go in the future. I’m going to stick with Nik at 2022 standard.

That’s still cheaper than an Adobe subscription, which I canned back in 2019 after running both and hardly using LR or PS, with the LR catalog becoming a bit of a monster. It would appear from the comments that other software is not immune from such practices but at least you can stick with what you’ve got.

I do struggle a bit with the initiating post though, why would you spend all that money for a capable piece of software and then be done with it because the company brings out a new version, which is hardly a massive upgrade?

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65

The irony of this expected turn of events is that you can find each year, during the Black Friday, an Amazon/Adobe offer that brings us a costless subscription (73,99€) for both Lightroom + Photoshop instead of the 89,99€ for only Photolab !

Now that we have learnt that Photolab will be licence connected, and when faced with piecemeal updates that don’t justify a yearly version change, there are serious questions to ask ourself because the promises are not up to scratch …
Wasn’ t the Dxo’s creed, some years ago, to make things differents to be in the photographer’s side ?

I’m really thinking to give up with Photolab updates and stay with my PL7 and give another try with Adobe (I’ve already done it, actually…) .
Nik is always worth it but is going on the same way that Photolab…
What a waste, Photolab was so nice but not at any price !

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66

With all the competition available it is great that we have a lot of choices. After years of experience with a wide variety of post processing programs I would rather stick with the PhotoLab suite, including FilmPack and Viewpoint than use anything else. I am willing to pay a premium price for it, but I understand the reluctance of other users to do the same.

Mark

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67

Let’s say that, some years ago PL suite was a game changer in front of Adobe but years after years it becomes less true. One example and not the least, we can’t totally move to Dxo, for the simple reason that not ALL raw files are supported (old digital camera, smartphone, scanner, DNG). I don’t have speak about the anecdotic library, but it’s a true subject to compete with LR.
I.A is another one with a long advance for Adobe.
For now, lightroom and darktable stand as universal raw softwares. In my personal/professional case I should have kept both PL and LR but regarding my yearly budget, and the messy files management by keeping both, one should be abandonned and the reason would suggest me to keep the more professional and universal’s one…
I’m not a Adobe’s fanboy nor any other brand’s software or hardware but there is a reality principle in our buying decisions that must meet our expectations as a priority and avoid disappointing us.
For those points, the winners are always the brands that do listen to their customer.
Are DXO and Adobe bad companies ? I don’t think so but the way they move the cursor towards their wallet or towards ours is the main success factor for customer loyalty.

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