Hello. Using Photolab 8 (updated to the latest version) and am wondering how to enable the in-menu preview windows like the one in the image here:
I’ve tried a clean reinstall and think I’ve checked all of the options in the Preferences, but can’t figure it out.
Thanks!
Hello,
This image is of an old version of PL.
Since the V8 version, the loupe has changed and activates with a button in a top toolbar.
Hi and welcome here.
The small, denoised preview on the right is now replaced by the “Loupe”
( in Windows → S ) and available in two sizes and various zoom levels.
Try out the different comparison modes, including Virtual Copies.
Thanks. Seems like a step backward to require an additional key-press, but it is what it is.
But the major advantage is that you get a much larger, zoomable, preview with full processing applied, not just the NR the old one showed. Very useful for getting a 100% fully processed area, which ensures you see the effect those tools that are only effective at greater than 75%.
Just press the ‘S’ and play with it. You are the first that I’ve seen to complain about it.
No, it’s much more useful than before.
While we don’t yet have the “full-size preview” many have been waiting for, you can compare different images, even from different locations,
or, as I mentioned earlier, directly with virtual copies to check versions of your edits.
Not really complaining about it. It’s not a deal breaker. Just pointing out the negative UX consequence of adding an additional keystroke requirement for something that used to just be there and require no additional user interaction.
I understand your concern but it not a step backward. It s a significantly reworked version of an older, very limited feature that is now too large to fit into the limited space of the side panel. It is intended to be moveable around the editing screen in two different window sizes and 5 different zoom levels. How do you believe that could be accomplished without additional controls and complexity of use? The previous functionality was only barely useable by comparison.
This upgrade has been widely praised as a major improvement. I look at virtually every post on the I site and you appear to be the only person who prefers the earlier functionality.
Mark
@BWHH It is slightly negative because of the need to activate the window but as @Joanna pointed out it is potentially doing a lot of work and for those with a more limited system it is useful to be able to invoke the feature only when required.
But they missed an opportunity of putting the Loupe key on the the loupe window itself so it could be cancelled without going to the top of the screen (but the “S” key both activates and de-activates the loupe).
However, the loupe should have been equipped with the ability to automatically scroll the screen instead of having to use the ‘Move/Zoom’ function in conjunction with the Loupe. It preserves the functionality of the old NR preview window but why!?
Plus I have also never been a fan of the half Loupe issue, shown here. Which occurs at screen boundaries, I want the Loupe the whole Loupe and nothing but the whole Loupe (except a full screen render), I don’t want half a loupe or worse
@mwsilvers An excellent feature but the actual implementation is somewhat amateurish as I described above, i.e. when you get to the screen edge with the Loupe, scroll the screen. When you get to the image edge stop scrolling. How hard is it to program that?! Obviously too hard for the DxO Software engineers.
Plus I am still waiting for the ability to press another button and the Loupe function to be applied to the whole screen, including the F11 screen.
PS:- And yes I do understand that there are complications when the main screen is zoomed to a higher magnification than the Loupe but is it really rocket science to handle. The following is the screen at 200% and the Loupe at 100% and please note I complained about this when the feature first appeared in …
@BHAYT , there is no question that like many features in PhotoLab, this one needs more work. But I don’t think any of us other than @BWHH would want to go back to having a smaller iteration of the loupe permanently appearing in the denoising palette taking up space with very little added value.
Mark
@mwsilvers Agreed but I want a more professional job, which is the same cry from so many so much of the time, and and the full screen preview is there already but why are DxO are holding back on it I don’t know or understand.
The loupe may be more useful than the preview window, but anytime additional steps are added to the UX, for something that used to be just be there automatically, without any user intervention is a step backward. There’s no reason the NR preview window in the menu and the loupe couldn’t co-exist.
(Side note, I just joined and the forum software won’ t let me post enough to reply to everyone yet.)
Yes there is. Rendering effort and the preview window doesn’t take other adjustments into account.
From my experience, it is so much easier to see the larger of the two loupe sizes to give more context to the area I am examining.
And I’m not sure if there really was less effort to use the preview - you still had to position the area to focus on and there was so little area to be able to judge by
I’m very confident that most, if not all, experienced PhotoLab users would not agree with you on this one. As I said earlier, to my knowledge you are the first and only user on this site who has indicated a preference for retaining the tiny denoising window in the palette.
Mark
