Hi am using Photolab 5 on M1 MacBook Pro it’s excellent and really happy with the raw conversion with Deep Prime even on high ISO images
It is glitchy in a certain situation if photolab is open and I make changes to a folder in an external drive , for example copy raw files into a folder
If I then go to process those images in photolab using deep prime it runs really slow get basically freezes up
I work around it by closing and restarting DXO
Does anyone else have this issue, it’s ok I work around it but am hoping that DXO will update 5 soon
DxO already released PhotoLab 7 last year and we are awaiting PL8 within the next 2-3 months.
What you are seeing is more than likely the indexing happening when you change folders.
How many images are in a typical folder?
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DxO stopped updating PL5 some time after PL6 came out and before PL7 was released. It’s never going to get any new updates.
As @Joanna has already pointed out PL8 will be out very soon. However when that happens, unless DxO change their policy, then as a user of a version (PL5) three versions below the new release (PL8) you will not be eligible for the ‘existing user’ discounts, you will only qualify for the launch discount (and subsequent Black Friday discount).
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According to what I find in my Time Machine Backup, DPL5 has been last updated to version 5.16.1 (build 100) in March 2024. I suppose that PhotoLab 5 will get no future functional updates, although security (and possibly other) updates remain possible. DxO needs to stick to their published support data and regulations after all. We get perpetual licenses, but perpetuity in support is a different story 
PhotoLab is advertised as “needs no import”, which is advertising …mostly
- There is no menu item or any other action that needs to be taken by the user, except to direct DPL to a folder containing images.
- PhotoLab imports any image it sees automatically, without user consent
Now, if we add images to a folder that PhotoLab works on, it also starts other tasks (like implicit import, also called “indexing”, applying a default preset, calculating previews etc.) that take resources away from the export tasks. It is therefore highly recommended to let PhotoLab do its exports without any distractions. Have a cup of tea or read your mails instead.
Think of adding images to a folder being processed as of adding sand to a gearbox
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PL5 requirement
technically DxO have to make the software stable and usable before stopping any update, it’s in the policy statement. but now that PL8 is about to come out, PL5 won’t get any new update as it’s older and DxO support only the latest 3 OS.
if it’s not working as it should, send them a ticket and explain what’s wrong and they should be able to fix it.
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Thanks yes I didn’t explain very well meant bug fixes rather than new version
Normally 10 to 50 images ina folder , I pick out the best ones and copy into a new folder
DXO 5 doesn’t like it if I do that then open that folder , get the slow circle if I use the adjustment sliders in , have to force stop DXO
Now I do all the copying etc before opening DXO then it’s fine
Ahh I see thanks , to be honest I’m quite happy with version 5 does everything I need
Oh yes see what you mean, it definitely doesn’t like me making changes to a folder when DXO is open
Thanks yes that’s a good idea , send in a ticket
Quite a lot has changed since PL5 and, bearing in mind DxO don’t pay me a cent, the DeepPRIME XD is well worth the difference.
PL6 new features over PL5…
- DeepPRIME XD
- DxO Wide Gamut colour handling
- Soft Proofing for print
- ReTouch tool developed
- EXIF and IPTC fields extended
- Colour Labels added
- Project Hierarchies implemented
- Fully Apple Silicon native
PL7 new features over PL6…
- Colour calibration
- LUT support
- Local corrections palette for a cleaner interface
- ColourWheel (HSL) correction available in local adjustments
- DxO Styles and renderings for a distinctive starting point
- Black and white workflow
- Channel mixer (previously only available with FilmPack)
- DCP Curves — Choose between DxO or Adobe
If I were you, I would wait until PL8 is announced and download the trial, then look for the Black Friday reductions. You can run trial versions alongside PL5. Just don’t make changes to images you definitely want to stay with PL5 until you are satisfied.
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Thanks got me thinking now, to be honest I mostly use the DXO standard preset together with the smart lighting tool this works well for the majority of my images but sometimes colour correction is needed and I’ve been finding it easier to do in Affinity Photo
Will try DXO 8 when it comes out
As did I when I used PL5 but when I upgraded to PL7 (I skipped PL6) I found PL7’s default preset, ‘natural’ was anything but natural.
I quickly discovered that I got far better results if I took advantage of the wide gamut colour space and used the ‘neutral’ preset.
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While waiting, you can always check out the DPL7 trial. Just make sure that you have a backup before trying any newer release of PhotoLab. In default settings, PL updates .dop sidecars - they are not backwards compatible!
Also, Perspective Corrections have returned from ViewPoint.
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Thanks again for the help everyone, appreciated
I’ve got a bit to think about, will wait for the new version,8, to come out then look at that
I used to use Adobe photoshop but switched to DXO 5 when that came out in conjunction with Affinity photo , they both work really well together
I shoot Raw ( cRaw ) on my Canon R5 convert to tiff with DXO then work with Affinity for example macro image stacking
I was reluctant to switch to a newer version of DXO as I have got used to the DXO 5 settings and interface and to be honest don’t really fully understand everything that DXO can do , mainly use the either DXO standard presets or just the optical conversion option
I always use deep Prime but dial down the sharpening settings a lot
Thankfully PL5 runs also natively on Apple Silicon, there has been some update.
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Yes it runs really fast on my M1 MacBook Pro