I currently have Photolab 7 Elite with Filmpack and considering upgrade to 8.
Watching videos of Viewpoint 5, seems that much of the functionality is already included in Photolab without purchasing the Viewpoint plugin.
I have downloaded the Viewpoint 5 trial but it only works standalone not with Photolab 7.
Am I right in thinking Viewpoint does not add much to Photolab existing functionality?
VP5 requires PhotoLab 8 realease.
It’s all there
ViewPoint 5 does “Preshape Fusion” that previous versions can’t do.
Whether that is worth paying for depends on whether you need it (buy) or want it or or aren’t sure about it (don’t buy)
Anyways, you can test VP 5 for a rather limited time and I’d test standalone instead of wasting my time trying to make it work in PhotoLab. Moving the VP license file might be all it takes, but I cannot test this because my test period has expired.
Will see how much it is on black Friday but probably won’t buy as additional functionality looks complicated and something i can probably live without.
That is my impression too. Moreover, PhotoLab provides perspective correction and that is what I need. I’ll probably not upgrade.
I think the replies above are mixing two different perspectives:
Whether you consider VP worth buying at all depends upon how much you value its various features - which broadly comprise a) perspective corrections, b) compensating for wide-angle distortions and c) tilt-shifting. Personally, I’m a heavy user of a), use b) sometimes and never use c). I find the perspective corrections of VP easy to use and in my view they produce great results.
The significant change from VP4 to VP5 is the introduction of Reshape Fusion. Essentially this brings the ability to apply the Perspective corrections of VP4 to just part of an image (via the selection of a subset of the points on a mesh / grid over the image to which the corrections are applied). In trials of VP5 I haven’t found a great use for this over what I can achieve with VP4 so don’t see to great a case for the upgrade. Other users, of course, may have different requirements and different conclusions.
I understand the comment above about using VP5 standalone, but for me one of the additional great features of VP is its integration into PL. This applies to both the fact that the UI is just part of the overall PL UI and also to fact that VP can then be used in the same non-destructive manner as for applying all other PL image edits.
(As a user of FilmPack you’re probably familiar with the concept that, as well as being able to use FP standalone, the functionality of FP is already present within your installation of PL but is only accessible if you separately licence FP and then activate it within PL. The same applies to VP.)
Personally, I’d go for trying 30-day trials of PL8 and VP5 together, noting that you can have PL8 installed and in use alongside PL7 without any issues - as long as you don’t point the two at the same image folders.
VP8 worth purchasing? I’m sure it will be. For the moment, I have updated to VP5.
My trial of Photolab 8 has expired so I am unable to test it with Viewpoint 5.
I’m waiting for Black Friday pricing before I decide to upgrade Photolab 7 to 8. I’ll probably upgradde.
I don’t have Viewpoint 4 so upgrading Viewpoint 4 to 5 is not an option.
The majority of the Viewpoint functionality seems to already be included in Photolab 7 and 8 without needing Viewpoint. So seems it’s mainly reshape fusion which is missing. Not sure I’d ever use that.
Stefan,
Apologies, as I was incorrect in what I wrote earlier. I’ve got so used to having VP that I’d completely forgotten (or maybe never realised) that the main perspective corrections were already in PL without any need for a VP licence. The DxO website has a FAQ that itemises what you get extra with VP
“…correct wide-angle stretching using the Volume Deformation tool, warp locally with the ReShape and ReShape Fusion tools, add a Miniature Effect, and flip the image horizontally or vertically.”
Viewpoint also adds a Volume deformation tool which corrects for the distortion that occurs towards the edges of images when using wider angle lenses. The most obvious typical example of this distortion, is when shooting a group of people that fills the frame, those are the left and right look two to three times their actual weight and are badly distorted. Of course this distortion happens on many wide angle images, even without people, but is more obvious and objectionable when people are near the image edges. This feature is often unavailable in many of PhotoLab’s competitors. While I do not use this feature very often, I would not want to be without it.
The Reshape Fusion tool can be a bit tricky to use, and requires a learning curve to understand what it’s capable of achieving and its best use cases. It allows for a variety distortion adjustments in selected areas of an image in ways that is not available in any of PhotoLab’s competitors with which I am familiar.
As I have often said, If one wants the full PhotoLab experience, then having access to both Viewpoint and FilmPack is necessary. Some people are content with an abridged version of PhotoLab, without FilmPack and Viewpoint, but I prefer having all the tools available to me, even those I don’t use often.
Mark
Personally I don’t find anything useful for me in VP5, having PL8+FP7+VP4. But if I had no VP4, I would go for VP5, just for the Volume Deformation tool.
Some brain dump:
I bought PL7+FP7+VP4 Elite pack last year and recently upgraded to PL8. The only reason for me to buy VP4 was the Volume Deformation tool (Perspective and Horizon being included in PL7, “must have” for me). I use it mostly for group photos in event photography. You may like to shoot groups with 50+ mm lens (FF), but often there’s a wall behind you. More common in my practice, at the end of event there’s a swarm of excited people wanting to take photos with their smartphones and you are forced to shoot at 24mm (and even the organizers often can’t control that). So you are in the situation described by @mwsilvers above. I’ve used it also for some architecture, e.g. old, “long” houses in orchards, where you had to use very wide lens. Another example is wide angle city photos, where the composition requires the human “co-subject” to be at the frame edge. Dancing pairs is yet another example. You may take hundreds of good event photos, but if on the last ones, typically the groups photos, people on the edge look too fat, they’ll really hate you. So, I use Volume Deformation rarely, but mostly in important cases, and it makes a difference then. But be aware of geometry – some straight lines will be bend and you may have to crop a lot.
I’ve never seriously used the Reshape (I don’t like to cheat too much, but it may be useful if Perspective tool crops too much on the corner, e.g. if it’s clear sky), Miniature Effect, or Flip tools. Flip tool is useful for scanning film negatives, as I understand, while the first two have some creativity potential. Maybe I’ll try to have some fun with them one day…
Watch VP5 demos to see if you’ll find something essential for you.
The DxO products licensing/features policy may look strange, but it’s their business, not mine, so I’ll stop here.
Thanks for the responses.
Very occasionally I have people wide angle shots where deformation might help. Currently I would attempt any correction in Affinity Photo. Also scaling an object in an image might be useful sometimes to give more emphasis.
I have been trying to figure out how these two things work but struggling.
I did hope to use the sample images to work through the tutorials DxO ViewPoint 5 : découvrez comment utiliser au mieux ce puissant logiciel - DxO but unfortunately the links on this page all link back to the getting started video. I contacted DXO and unfortunately the tutorials are not ready yet but should be soon. Hopefully before my trial expires!
This video by Robin Whalley might help you:
My tutorial is ready 
Pascal
Just awful that DxO’s new promotional links all go to the “Getting Started With ViewPoint 4” lessons. Yes, 4 not 5. And I don’t see the benefits of having local adjustments in VP. I want to be convinced, but where’s the demonstration of benefit? Sorry, Pascal, but I don’t see anything new and exciting in your tutorial either. What am I missing?
There is not much to see, except the greatly enhanced tool that can now do many types of distortions. Steep learning curve though.
Thanks much. I’m traveling and have run out the PL8 trial, so am not able to see for myself right now if VP5 is worth buying. It looks a bit easier to use than VP4 in one respect. Still, I wonder when I’d want to use what only VP5 has, especially given the complexity. The examples I’ve seen look bad to me, not better, and don’t really give a motivation to upgrade.
What’s steep to learn ?
For what I’ve seen it is a deforming grid, with fall off option around selected zone and option to stick borders.
What am I missing ?
The various local adjustment modes.
@Joanna What is called local adjustment with this tool ?
From :
I understand that you have 3 ways for moving lattice points :
Is this what is called local adjustments ?
Or is it the fact that you can move group of points of your choice ?
Or is it something else ?