I just wanted to drop in and say hi, as I’ve just flipped the switch from Adobe everything, to Adobe nothing. For a number of reasons, I decided to close off my long-standing relationship with Adobe (as a designer and a photographer) and go all-in with DXO. Man alive, I wish I would have known how good Photolab is, earlier!
Anyway, so I’m running PL7, and already have NIK Collection 7 (I wanted SilverFX as I’m a black and white photographer!).
I’m assuming that if I have NIK Collection 7, then there’s very little reason to buy the Film Pack (other than luminance masking?).
Anyway…hello all. Nice to meet you, and this is what I do…
I also do a lot of B&W work but, personally, haven’t found a reason to use SilverFX over FilmPack. My film of choice for large format work was Fuji Acros 100 and I find that the FilmPack emulation is superb and works wonderfully with the coloured filters that come with FP. What’s more, I never have to leave the RAW image.
From your experience, what is it that SFX gives you that FP doesn’t, apart from presets?
Oh, and I love the shot. Where is it?
Addenda - just took a look at your Glass page - Nice!
why is it that nik collection are only preset to you and that’s all you ever come up with for answer? FP is more preset than any other software to start with!
i’ve been user of Nik for over a decade and never use a single preset that comes with, while on the other hand… FP is basically old film emulation which are… presets.
money for money nik is cheaper than FP and you actually have your FP presets emulation within if you like them (plus nik 6 has viewpoint) sorry nik 7, so other than adding 3 sliders to PL that should had been part of PL Elite to start with, FP doesn’t really do more than being emulation presets.
Thanks so much for your kind comments on my work (both this image and the Glass account). Honestly, the only reasons I use SilverFX is because I’ve been using it for years and it allowed me to have more control over the image than Lightroom at the time. Back then, Lr was TERRIBLE for Fuji Raw files (it’s not that much better now!), and so I wanted another black and white specific application to give me the tools I needed to create the image I wanted to make.
I’ve never really subscribed to the idea of presets, as I’ve never really felt like I wanted a starting point for the image. I’ve always tried to get it really close in camera, then finish it off…so I guess my head and my heart were the ‘preset’, and I built off that. But everyone is different, I appreciate.
The image was taken on Mere Downs, fairly near to where I live. I’m in a rural location, so this is just one of a very many fields like this.
In which case, you could be better off moving completely to PhotoLab plus FilmPack.
It means, first and foremost, everything you can do in SilverFX, you can do in PhotoLab, but without having to convert from the RAW file before starting and having to use another app. What is more, if you need to readjust any of the RAW conversion settings, you can do just that in PhotoLab without having to re-convert.
Of course, there will be a slight learning curve as you get used to finding where things are in the PhotoLab palettes but, if you already use PL first, then just carry on as you would normally.
Try downloading the free trial but don’t install the standalone app - just activate it on the app menu…
… to make it visible but, when you can see the palette, just start exploring.
Lovely countryside around there. We used to drive through it on the way from Southport to Poole to catch the ferry, before we moved over here eight years ago.
Now we have the amazing Brittany countryside and coast to explore.
Don’t dismiss FilmPack just because you have NIK. Activating FilmPack unlocks the extra Fine Contrast sliders in PL. For me, that was the reason to buy FilmPack.
Yeah, that made sense to me. So what I did was to activate the trial film pack through a photo lab and I think within about five minutes of using it I knew that it would be a lot of value to me. Probably not so much the presets but yeah the fine contrast is great, but also all of the other options like creating like a proper vignette and adding frames
I am touching the presets mostly to get a feeling what’s hidden inside the rawfile.
To get a feel of possibility’s.
In reality al those old film emulations are for people who like to simulate a certain film in one click, but if you look past that you can learn how to use settings from those presets. Look at the sliders positions look which tools are active.
And then take out the things your like and make your own (partial) preset.
Inside Filmpack you find more controls who give you much more control over highlight details and shadow details.
I use the advanged contrast sliders alot in combination with selective sliders.
The luminance masking tool is a bonus.
And some creative tools like miniature and creative lens softning and more are a bonus which complete dxopl elite.
It’s a money pain for one’s but your not need to buy every year, you can update plv7 to 8 and stay on the same FP for years until they put something in you really like.
As B&W goes, FP ánd Silvereffex are both very nice.
I played with B&W on image’s i made in the winter on the dutch coast near Schoorl and silvereffex did helped me out more in his presets.
FP’s preset’s are overwelming at first like a cookiedraw filled to the top with all kinds of cookies so you need the hole week to decide which is your favorite cookie.
Start to learn how DxOPL works and after awile select some images you are struggling with place a copy in a folder.
Then take a trail of FP and concentrate on those you selected.
Then you can decide if FP is worth to buy on your one.
Not a good answer, but when I used my Leica M8.2 camera, it wasn’t supported. So, I changed the camera name in EXIF data, and then it opened fine. Not sure if I set it to M9 or M10.
I had no desire to go back to Adobe.
Until I found this trick, I was using DarkTable to edit the M8.2 images.
I didn’t expect DxO to go back to an old, not very popular camera, so the choice was to use a different image processor, or “cheat”.
Like you Mike, I have no desire to go back to Adobe. I’ve just finished cancelling my subscription with them. I’m sure that they support most cameras, as they’ve been the industry standard for so long.
But I think people are beginning to realise (as is the case with a lot of things) just what they have to give up for the sake of convenience. Adobe being the case in point that we’re beginning to see just how bad Adobe as a company are in their business practices.
So, yep, they might be more convenient in supporting more cameras, but I’m staying with DXO because my Fuji cameras ARE supported, and they make my images look SO good
Hi Michael - I’m just new in here too. I used SilverFX and then was horrified to realise my Adobe monthly sign-up comes with penalties - nowhere on their ‘sales’ pages is this made anything like clear. BTW - has anyone successfully disputed this?
I’m a firm fan now of PR/PL/Nik/FP - all in!!! And I had never heard of Glass so off to investigate - nice work. Very nice
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m-photo
( Marc (macOS Sonoma on MBP16" Intel))
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Hey Rider, yeah, I just got off lightly by only having to pay £14.98 cancellation fee…that was after I paid my monthly subscription! Oh well - live and learn. Glad you’re loving the suite of tools, as I am.
Thanks also for the kind comments on my work and, yes, I love Glass. It’s a very different proposition to the other big name social platforms out there.
