Pilot error? Can I do these functions in PL8?

[CALupo]

There are a few functions I am used to doing in other programs that I can’t figure out in PL8. I’m trying to dump Adobe in favor of PL8 and would like to have at least some of the same functionality. Perhaps I am expecting too much? I appreciate the insight of those of you more familiar with the program.

1. I can’t seem to use DeNoising on TIFF or JPEG files. Yes, the “High Quality” works but is very basic and nowhere near as effective as the DeepPrime options. Is it supposed to work?
   2. Focus stacking?
   3. Panoramas?
   4. HDR? This one is only a minor concern
   5. Vignettes, as in purposely darkening edges and corners of an image after other processing (not as a lens correction)
   6. Combine RAW+JPEG view? as I am able to do in On1, PhotoMechanic, and LR.

I have searched the user guide for these. I’m sure some of this is my lack of knowledge/ignorance of PL8. I use PureRaw 4 but that is only a fraction of PL8.

Thank you in advance

[mikerofoto]

1- no, work on RAW
2- no
3- no
4- no
5- only with filmpack but even then… very limited compared to other software.
6- … i don’t know, i don’t use PL folder view, i do it in PM.

sorry to answer no to most of them =/

[CALupo]

Thanks for answering!
Lots of “no” but that’s okay as this is the information I need. Looks like I need to adjust my perspective for how I might use PL8.

Obviously PL is great for single image professional editing of raw files. Out of all those functions the only one I use reasonably often is the vignette. Perhaps a carry-over from my roots in the film age…but I do hope DxO will implement that in a future version. I’m sure I’m not the only one in that regard.

I have always had a multi-app workflow. I guess I was just wishing for something more streamlined.

In spite of LR’s improvements in recent years (after being terrible in many respects) I can’t in good conscience, support Adobe. As a company, IMO, they are detrimental to photograhers and photography.

Thanks again for your input!
-Joel

[VincentR (Vincent)]

So, let me get this out of the way: I hate Adobe’s subscription model just as much as the next person. Shelling out a monthly fee for the rest of eternity? Yeah, no thanks. But here’s the kicker—if you’re thinking of jumping ship to DxO PhotoLab to escape the subscription trap, you’d better be ready to spend a lot of extra money on other software to cover the gaps that DxO doesn’t fill. And I mean a lot.

I’m on a Mac, so let me share what I’ve been using daily now that I’ve ditched Adobe:

Focus Stacking

DxO PhotoLab doesn’t have built-in focus stacking, but I’ve found a solid alternative: Helicon Focus. Honestly, I’d say it’s even better than Photoshop in this department. There are tons of reviews and tutorials for it, and it’s become my go-to recommendation for focus stacking. Super reliable and easy to use.

Panoramas

Photoshop handles panoramas pretty well, but since I’m no longer in that ecosystem, I switched to PanoramaStudio 3 Pro. It’s simple, no-nonsense, and does exactly what I need for my landscape shots. I’ve tried a bunch of panorama tools, and this one consistently gives me the best results.

Vignettes

Oh boy, this is where DxO really loses me. I mean, a vignette is like the most basic feature of any photo editing software, right? Well, apparently not for DxO. They’ve moved it behind a paywall! If you want to add a vignette to your photos in PhotoLab, you need to buy a whole other package.

My DxO Journey (And Frustration)

I originally moved to DxO for two main reasons:

1. The U-Point system (which, to be fair, is fantastic).
2. The one-time payment model.

But let me tell you, DxO has been playing fast and loose with their pricing in the last few years. First, they hit us with these ridiculous upgrade schemes, and it’s no longer economical. Sure, you could skip a year of updates to save some cash, but then you miss out on important features and bug fixes. And let’s not pretend like that’s a real argument—upgrading is pretty much necessary if you want to stay current, especially if you buy new cameras or lenses.

But the real kicker? They stripped out basic features from DxO PhotoLab 7 and moved them into paid add-ons, which feels like a huge slap in the face. If you don’t shell out for the elite version of PhotoLab and buy every add-on they release, you’re seriously limited in what you can do. When you add it all up, you could’ve covered like five years of Adobe’s Lightroom + Photoshop subscription for the same cost.

In short: If you’re considering DxO, just know that while you avoid Adobe’s subscription model, you’ll be paying in other ways. You might save a little here and there, but once you factor in all the extras you have to buy to get the same functionality, the cost difference becomes negligible.

[CALupo]

@VincentR
Thanks for this. This is great information and I appreciate that you’ve provided all of your alternatives to Adobe. I am also on a Mac though it looks like Helicon and PanoramaStudio are also on Windows.
You bring up many good points and considerations. I agree Vignettes are pretty basic and it’s a big hole for them not to have it.
I will think this one through carefully before turning over my money. I’m currently on the trial version.

My main workflow has been:
• Lightroom, primarily just for database as I have over 400K images cataloged in it
• ON1 Photo Raw for a lot of processing tasks. I’m not crazy about their profiles, especially for Fujifilm, Leica, and Panasonic.
• Photo Mechanic for culling/rating/keywords/captioning. I recently got the Plus version and cataloged my 400K+ images. Now I can search and filter but it’s not nearly as easy or useful for me as Lightroom’s database capabilities
• PureRaw 4 for improving raw files

I was hoping to dump the Adobe portion of this and replace with PL8 but that may be difficult. I’m still trying out different combinations and workflows to find something efficient…Less time in front of the computer and more time behind the camera

[mikerofoto]

get affinity photo for your pano, vignette and hdr and whatever dxo doesn’t do, i think if you don’t use Ps then AP is the next best thing to have in your toolbox. for focus stacking helicon focus or zerene stacker are top notch even though i use HF more than the other.

photo mechanic went subscription which raised the price tag pretty high, so if you’re not making money from selling some of your work there’s similar alternative. but PM is awesome for importing and culling.

[John-M (Melbourne, Australia - Win10)]

@CALupo

Vignettes, as in purposely darkening edges and corners of an image after other processing (not as a lens correction)

A “Creative Vignette” tool is accessible within PL if you have a Film Pack licence

• It does everything I need it to do …
  

• It also includes a related “Blur” tool to provide a Bokeh affect;
  

[mikerofoto]

@John-M

A “Creative Vignette” tool is accessible within PL if you have a Film Pack licence

yes but it give a lens vignette effect, there’s no setting to darken the edge or brightening the centre, which is the main point of “creative” vignette, which many other software offer and gives better or in other word, more beautiful result. **( but to each their own as we are all different).

[PopsInABox (Tom [Nikon Z8,MacOS, PL8+FP7+VP5, PR4, Nik7])]

@CALupo you mentioned you already have ON1. Have you tried their HDR, Pano, Focus Stacking? You MAY already have what you need.

I am continuing to experiment and learn DXO products… but currently I’m using the following workflow:

1. Use ON1 for DAM, HDR, Pano, Focus Stacking (again, still learning and experimenting).
2. Open the RAW (or exported from ON1 DNG raw) in PL8. Do everything I can inside PL8. If I run up against something that I can’t do (or, in my case, can’t figure out or don’t know how to do), I export a DNG with adjustments from PL8.
3. Open the DNG in ON1 for finishing processing (if needed).
4. Any pixel editing things that I can’t do in PL8 or ON1, I have Affinity Photo 2 available. I haven’t needed it as of yet.

I hope this helps and YMMV of course. Just giving another perspective.

Tom

[Wolfgang ([ Win10, PL+VP+FP, Nik7 / 3.3 ])]

@mikerofoto

… there’s no setting to darken the edge or brightening the centre, which is the main point of “creative” vignette …

One gets this from Nik Color Efex → Filter: Darken Lighten Center and to me this simple filter works much better than the FP version.

[John-M (Melbourne, Australia - Win10)]

@mikerofoto

there’s no setting to darken the edge or brightening the centre, which is the main point of “creative” vignette

Absolutely there is … that’s exactly what this tool enables !!

Furthermore, it allows the “centre” of the affect to be moved around - allowing, for example, one edge (or off-centre part) of the image to receive more impact from the darkening (or brightening).

John

[Wolfgang ([ Win10, PL+VP+FP, Nik7 / 3.3 ])]

Hi John,
not really important …

in FP7

in Nik 7 (ColorEfex 7 → Darken/Lighten Centre)

in Nik 3.3 (ColorEfex 4 → Darken/Lighten Centre)

In the Nik Collection you have several filters instead of one

• Vignette Filters
• Vignette Lens
• Darken/Lighten Center

The latter I use for smooth and “undetectable" adjustments, very different from the PL FP plugin. – If you want to try and imitate in PL use 2 control points, 1x normal for the center, 1x inverted for the vignette.

[JoPoV]

@mikerofoto

yes but it give a lens vignette effect, there’s no setting to darken the edge or brightening the centre, which is the main point of “creative” vignette,

When I want to do this, I combine vignette (to darken the edges) and exposure (to lighten the center).
Not sure it is exactly the same, but it easily gives me results I want.

[mikerofoto]

@Wolfgang

One gets this from Nik Color Efex

yes but the same can also be done from AP using lasso+curve on a mask and either one of those makes vignette much nicer than what you achieve with FP vignette.

[mikerofoto]

sure you can multiply that combo or in PL you can use control point if you want, but you end up spending more time figgling around to get it done. the good thing using anything other than PL to make a vignette is that you have “mask” to give ever more flexibility.

[mikerofoto]

@John-M

Absolutely there is … that’s exactly what this tool enables !!

sorry, that’s a lens vignette effect that you apply, with the option to moving the centre point.
look at Wolfgang screenshot, actually you can replicate that nik color efex "darken/lighten filter in Ps and AP just by using a lasso tool + curve and a mask and you’ll end up with a better and nicer vignette than what you get from PL+FP creative vignette.

[John-M (Melbourne, Australia - Win10)]

@mikerofoto

that’s a lens vignette effect that you apply, with the option to moving the centre point.

Yep - - and that’s exactly what the OP asked for …

@CALupo

Vignettes, as in purposely darkening edges and corners of an image after other processing (not as a lens correction)

[auser]

@CALupo

Looks like I need to adjust my perspective for how I might use PL8.

consider PL as a ACR/LR pre processor/converter, where you follow up with finishing touches in ACR/PS or LR/PS on either linear DNG from photolab with NR/demosaick/Optics corrections only applied =OR= on TIFF from photolab with other corrections applied… some might argue for a 3rd way (DNG with the rest of corrections)

that way you transition to another gender will be less painful …

[PopsInABox (Tom [Nikon Z8,MacOS, PL8+FP7+VP5, PR4, Nik7])]

@auser

that way you transition to another gender will be less painful …

OMG… .I think I may stop reading here.

Tom

[VincentR (Vincent)]

I’ve tried to like Affinity. In fact, I’ve purchased V1 and V2 and went through various tutorials. In the end, it always felt like they were trying too hard to be different, and nothing worked as I would generally expect it to.