PL9.6 - DNGs not destructive anymore?

DxO PhotoLab macOS topics
1

macOS 26.3.1, PL version 9.6, custom RAW preset from 9.5 (and earlier).

Behaviour: When exporting, adjustments to the preset are not applied to DNGs anymore; with TIFFs, it works without any issues.

Same result also:

  • with a preset freshly created in 9.6 with basic settings (e.g. XD3 + Brightness +0.25).
  • regardless of DP3 / DPXD3.
  • DNG Standard / Compressed

Exporting with 9.5 made it possible to apply the preset settings to DNGs without any issues just yesterday.
In PL9.6 there is no option for destructive DNGs anymore.
I am aware that DNGs are not necessarily destructive, but there was an option in PL 9.5 and earlier up to now.

Can anyone confirm this on macOS?
If so, why was this option scrapped and will the option return?

Thanks

2

Yes, itā€™s an intended choice that was spelled out in the release notes. It was described in the release notes text in the update dialog that offered the 9.5 to 9.6 update.

See also https://download-center.dxo.com/Support/docs/PhotoLab_v9/release-notes/PL9_release-note_win_EN.pdf which says:

Known Limitations:

ā€¢ The previous DNG export option has been removed. Existing DNG files created with prior versions of DxO PhotoLab remain fully compatible.

No idea. As a software developer, I find it strange that a feature would be removed in a dot release, rather than in a major release (or at all).

If you look at other threads, a few users on this forum are not happy about it.

1 Like
3

Thanks for pointing to the release notes, @fvsch - Iā€™ve read them, but seemingly not at the same time. Or at least Iā€™ve interpreted the to me rather vague point ā€œprevious DNG export option has been removedā€ somehow differently ā€¦

Thatā€™s why I suspected it to be related with the macOS version and overlooked / did not search for other topics on this point.
Iā€™ll follow the updates in the other threads :+1:

4

Count me as one that is even less than ā€œnot happyā€

5

DxO explains the DNG export change here:

Why does DxO PhotoLab now export DNG files with only technical corrections? ā€“ Help center

1 Like
6

Thanks for the hint @Egregius - on it: I understand the attempted line of reasoning, but I do not consider it sufficient justification for removing the option to choose.

1 Like
7

I totally agree!
Removing options is never a good idea.

8

Why would one want a destructive DNG? Itā€™s just a 16bit TIFF enclosed in a DNG format. There is no point in it. Just go for the TIFF if this what you need. I guess many users were thinking that this ā€˜all corrections ā€˜DNG was the holy grail of export format but this is not true. Now, there is no confusion possible anymore: what you get is a linear DNG.

9

The fact that some of us want to keep the existing option for a dng with all corrections, must mean we have use for it in our workflow.

1 Like
10

A compressed DNG with the PL edits will be considerably smaller than a compressed 8-bit TIFF file.

1 Like
11

If you were open to other workflows, you could have read all sorts of reasons for them in the existing threads. So Iā€™m not going to waste my time spoon-feeding you the information.

@fvsch point about the dot release from a different perspective: Iā€™ve paid for PL9 and its featureset. Throughout the product update cycle, I want to be able to use the full range of features without restriction and benefit from bug fixes and enhancements at the same time, so staying on 9.5 is not an option. If it would have been done in 10.x it would have been my choice again to buy or not buy.

So I couldnā€™t care less whether you can understand the use of a particular feature.
Especially when your reasons and assessment of it are inaccurate.

1 Like
12

Thatā€™s not what Iā€™m seeing in my own tests here, but maybe my methodology is wrong.

2 Likes
13

We do agree on this. As I said, I find it strange to remove a feature in a dot release (e.g. 9.5 to 9.6) rather than a major release (e.g. 9.x to 10.x), because itā€™s common practice in software development to avoid any breaking change outside of major releases (look up ā€œsemantic versioningā€ for more info). And, as you said, it would line up with the licensing scheme and the userā€™s choice to buy an upgrade or not.

1 Like