Why I won't purchase PhotoLab 5 as a Lightroom alternative

DxO PhotoLab macOS topics
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If you decide to purchase Photolab 5 Elite, I strongly advise also purchasing Viewpoint 3, and FilmPack 6 Elite. The initial cost of all three programs might seem fairly high, but keep in mind that the initial cost of all three is probably in the same range as purchasing Capture One for the first time. The annual upgrade cost for the next version of PhotoLab is around half of annual upgrade cost for Capture One.

Both FilmPack and Viewpoint are not updated on a yearly basis so there is no additional annual cost needed to keep them current. FilmPack was just updated to version 6. It is the first upgrade in at least 5 years. Viewpoint has not been updated in at least 5 years either. Additionally, while both programs’ features are embedded in PhotoLab, the same license also
installs stand-alone versions of these programs to use individually or with other software.

The two most important features of Viewpoint are its ability to fix perspective issues such as converging verticals, and it’s ability to fix volume deformation distortion issues such as when people on the edges of a group shot look much heavier than they should.

FilmPack 6 Elite is much more than film emulations. It adds a fine contrast slider, with three additional sliders to control highlight contrast, midtone contrast and shadow contrast separately.

FilmPack adds a channel mixer not included in Photolab. It includes a creative vignetting tool, a blur tool, a grain tool, and a frame tool, among other things.

FilmPack gives you the ability to use 97 different black and white, color positive, color negative, and special effects film emulations. It also gives you The Time Machine feature which allows you to alter your images to emulate the look of images from the beginning of photography to today.

Finally, it now provides seven Fujifilm emulations for use directly with your raw files which I believe are similar to the ones available in Fuji xtrans cameras that are applied to JPEGs.

I went through similar angst over whether to spend the money to buy all three. I purchased PhotoLab 1 Elite, Viewpoint 3, and FilmPack 5 Elite in late 2017 and happy uninstalled Lightroom 6.14 three months later. I have never regretted my purchase for a single second, and I have upgraded PhotoLab to the most current version every year.

Mark

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Wow. I should have got a trial of that. Never mind that looks like what I want.
Thanks for the information.

Is the DXO FilmPack Channel Mixer feature like the one in Photoshop? I really want to try and do everything in PL5 not keep having to swap in/out to get things done. I dont mind finishing in Photoshop as I have so many Actions etc that I use but now with Photoshop CS6 not working on Mac Catalina/Big Sur/ Monterey I need to look seriously at other options. I dont like Serif Affinity Photo and my Actions need conversion to their Macros. This would take me a long while presuming I could even do this effectively.

For my IR work I really should think hard about moving my IR converted cameras to a more modern camera such as XT2/3 which are supported by DXO.

Thank you for all your help.

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I can’t comment on any similarity between the channel mixer in FilmPack and Photoshop. However, if forced to make a guess, I would think that the channel mixer in Photoshop may not look the same and may work differently. It probably also has more functionality. I’m sure there are others here that can fill in the blanks.

Mark

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Thanks.
Is there a picture of the controls anywhere that I can compare the controls?
Is there a PDF manual for the FilmPack6 and PL5?.
I guess I should be able to work it out from there.

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Here is FilmPack’s Channel Mixer.

Mark

image

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Not the same, as you can read in the info on the above screenshot.

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Thanks to Mark and Tom.
That is really helpful.
It does say that the Channel Mixer is for B&W conversions so for me it is a test item. No problem so far everything is working out fine.
I have just sourced a Fuji XT1 IR Full Spectrum converted camera so that moves me forward.

I also just found the User Manuals on the DXO website for both PL5 and FilmPack6. This means I can read up and understand it more.

Thanks everyone for all their help it is really appreciated.

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My recommendation, as always, is to try software out before buying it. There is a much smaller chance of buyer’s remorse that way.

Mark

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SilverEfex is really that much better for BW than anything possible in PhotoLab or even Lightroom. That said there is FilmPack which does have lots of BW presets and some dedicated tools.

Bad news though: you need FilmPack to access Fine Contrast which is the hidden sauce in ClearView. I prefer to roll my own (while a lark at first, relatively ClearView is primitive and heavy-handed) so every image gets its own Fine Contrast.

I would suggest you should plan to buy the Elite Version of PhotoLab, ViewPoint and FilmPack (now is a good time with Black Friday 50% off) or don’t buy PhotoLab at all. Basic version is extremely pedestrian and essential tools are locked away in the Elite version of ViewPoint and FilmPack.

The good news: paid update cycles for ViewPoint and FilmPack are slow. You’ll only have to upgrade each one every three or four years. So count €218 now and then €50/year (if you buy at the Black Friday event).

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I already have PL5 Elite , with 3 licenses … I think
Also have View Point with how many licenses ?
If buying Filmpack 6 Elite , how many licenses ?

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I think they all 3 licence, you can always contact them to remove one so you can install on your new computer