The RAW file never gets changed. No matter what you do, PhotoLab, FilmPack and most other RAW editing tools are non-destructive. The only way to see the changed image is to export it to TIFF, JPEG or DNG, all of which will have different file sizes.
You say that you are using NX Studio and then moving on to something else, like FilmPack. But, in fact, you can start from the RAW file in PhotoLab and do everything you need in that alone, because PhotoLab includes FilmPack embedded in it, as well as ViewPoint. You don’t need the standalone applications and you certainly don’t need any pre-processing like NX Studio.
Except, if I understand correctly, if you do that you get little control over the RAW development because FilmPack as a standalone application simply applies DxO’s lens corrections and then only offers you its various film emulations by way of further editing options.
As others have already said, it would be far more beneficial to either develop your RAW file in PhotoLab (with FilmPack activated) or develop your RAW file in your RAW converter of choice and output a 16 bit TIFF from there for final editing in FP standalone.
Yes, compared to a fully featured PhotoLab version it’s “simplified”, while the new FP7 got more (different) tools.
Some time ago I also checked the denoising capability vs PL – and if I remember correctly the FP denoising is not quite on par with DeepPrime (or XD ?).
Thank you, Wolfgang. I see a lot of settings in FP7in the ‘customize’ tab → White balance, contras, exposure, highlights, midtones, shadows, blacks, saturation, tone curve.
