DXO Black Friday Deals

[adeC1]

I have just had an Email regarding the DXO Software deals for Black Friday and wondered if anyone uses any of the software.
I use NIK4 but not any of the others eg Photolab or PureRaw.
They are currently offering Photolab Elite for £99.50 and Essential edition for £64.50 both for new users. And PureRaw for £57.50
I currently use the Adobe Photographers subscription but just wondered if the DXO would be worth a look at the discounted prices.
Any advice or feedback on the software would be welcome please

Adrian

 

[bsamcash]

I've tried pre Apple Silicon and found it slow and choppy. Not sure if it has improved since then.

 

[mackmgg]

Adobe also tends to do Black Friday discounts for those that use that. They often advertise them as "for new customers only" but I've never had an issue buying the discounted annual code from B&H and just redeeming it as an existing customer.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

I have just had an Email regarding the DXO Software deals for Black Friday and wondered if anyone uses any of the software.
I use NIK4 but not any of the others eg Photolab or PureRaw.
They are currently offering Photolab Elite for £99.50 and Essential edition for £64.50 both for new users. And PureRaw for £57.50
I currently use the Adobe Photographers subscription but just wondered if the DXO would be worth a look at the discounted prices.
Any advice or feedback on the software would be welcome please

Adrian

DXO Photo Lab and the NIK software bundle are fully compatible. I plan to upgrade from Photo Lab 4 to 5 since the upgrade is not very expensive. Great software combination! I refuse to pay for the Adobe CC apps, and am still using a standalone version of CS6. But it is time for me to upgrade the OS of my 2019 iMac, so I won't be using CS6 any longer. Instead, I will use Photo Lab, and GC.

By the way, I haven't figure out how to size "wed ready" photos by pixels using DXO. At least not as easy as sizing web-ready photos using CS5 and CS6. However, I have always had a late version of an application on my editing computer that has been called, "the poor man's Photoshop." This app, Graphic Converter allows me to size photos for Internet posting as easily as CS6. I also have Affinity Photo on my Mac, but it's taking me a long time to learn how to edit photos with it. Photo Lab is a lot easier to use.

 

[adeC1]

DXO Photo Lab and the NIK software bundle are fully compatible. I plan to upgrade from Photo Lab 4 to 5 since the upgrade is not very expensive. Great software combination! I refuse to pay for the Adobe CC apps, and am still using a standalone version of CS6. But it is time for me to upgrade the OS of my 2019 iMac, so I won't be using CS6 any longer. Instead, I will use Photo Lab, and GC.

By the way, I haven't figure out how to size "wed ready" photos by pixels using DXO. At least not as easy as sizing web-ready photos using CS5 and CS6. However, I have always had a late version of an application on my editing computer that has been called, "the poor man's Photoshop." This app, Graphic Converter allows me to size photos for Internet posting as easily as CS6. I also have Affinity Photo on my Mac, but it's taking me a long time to learn how to edit photos with it. Photo Lab is a lot easier to use.

Thanks for the info.
I am going to purchase PL5 and start the learning curve with that

 

[AlaskaMoose]

Thanks for the info.
I am going to purchase PL5 and start the learning curve with that

The NIK software bundle is nothing but impressive. It will amaze you!
For example, the noise removal app is perhaps the best around, but PhotoLab includes a similar version of it (I just prefer the NIK's one. There are several other NIK effects that I find indispensable for photo editing. Please take a look:

Nik Collection 7: The world's favorite photography plugins - Nik Collection by DxO

Why you will fall in love withNik Collection 7 Creative Inspiration is just a click away, ready to take every edit in a completely fresh direction. Fast Supercharge your existing workflow and put incredible tools at your fingertips. Precise Exclusive U Point™ local adjustments give you maximum...

nikcollection.dxo.com

However, the Nik Software package is an addition to PhotoLab 4 or 5 (you have to pay for it), and the apps reside within PhotoLab. However, some of the other photo-editing apps, including PhotoShop, Affinity Photo, etc., accept the NIK software bundle (the NIK effects can be installed in the photo-editing apps above). When using PhotoLab, the NIK effects' icon is displayed at the right side of the PL window. So if you want to use any of the NIK effects to make changes to the photo displayed on the PL window, all you have to do is to click the mouse's pointer on the NIK's icon.

 

[adeC1]

I actually do use the NIK collection in PS and find it brilliant. I used to use the original free version but decided to upgrade to the newer NK4 a while ago.
I will look forward to its integration with PL5.
I will start having a read of the user guide to get my head around things over the weekend

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I’ve never tried PhotoLab before, so I signed up for the trial. It’s definitely what I could call laggy with the M1 mini. Slider adjustments have a delay, which makes fine tuning a bit painful. I think it tries to apply a lot of stuff in advance or something, because zooming gets you a preview result before the final result loads. I like their PureRAW software, where each photo takes 15s to process, but that’s a passive situation when I can do other things while it runs. I don’t know if I could get used to editing photos with a lag all the time. I’ll have to think about their Viewpoint program, which is also a little laggy. I could use a good perspective correcting program for fisheye shots, and the price isn’t too bad with the sale.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

I’ve never tried PhotoLab before, so I signed up for the trial. It’s definitely what I could call laggy with the M1 mini. Slider adjustments have a delay, which makes fine tuning a bit painful. I think it tries to apply a lot of stuff in advance or something, because zooming gets you a preview result before the final result loads. I like their PureRAW software, where each photo takes 15s to process, but that’s a passive situation when I can do other things while it runs. I don’t know if I could get used to editing photos with a lag all the time. I’ll have to think about their Viewpoint program, which is also a little laggy. I could use a good perspective correcting program for fisheye shots, and the price isn’t too bad with the sale.

I imagine that DXO will address the lag issue with an update. The issue should already be talked about at the DXO PL forum.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

I actually do use the NIK collection in PS and find it brilliant. I used to use the original free version but decided to upgrade to the newer NK4 a while ago.
I will look forward to its integration with PL5.
I will start having a read of the user guide to get my head around things over the weekend

The NIK collection makes the PS CS6 on my iMac a great photo-editing application. The problem for me is that CS6 not longer works with Catalina and newer OS'. I am still using CS6 and the NIK apps on my 2019 iMac, but have decided to upgrade the OS to at least Big Sur. When I take this step I won't be able to use CS6, and will be using PhotoLab 5 (I have PL 4 on my iMac, and can upgrade to version 5). Also, some of the NIK apps stopped working with CS6 (Viveza 3, Silver Efex, for example). Viveza is a very useful effect, since it allows for brightening the whole image, or a small portion of it, as well a few other functions. Color Efex is another app that allows for multiple effects to take place on the photo. If Adobe would still support CS6, I would only need CS6 and the Nik Collection for all my photo editing.

 

[adeC1]

The NIK collection makes the PS CS6 on my iMac a great photo-editing application. The problem for me is that CS6 not longer works with Catalina and newer OS'. I am still using CS6 and the NIK apps on my 2019 iMac, but have decided to upgrade the OS to at least Big Sur. When I take this step I won't be able to use CS6, and will be using PhotoLab 5 (I have PL 4 on my iMac, and can upgrade to version 5). Also, some of the NIK apps stopped working with CS6 (Viveza 3, Silver Efex, for example). Viveza is a very useful effect, since it allows for brightening the whole image, or a small portion of it, as well a few other functions. Color Efex is another app that allows for multiple effects to take place onthe photo. If Adobe would still support CS6, I would only need CS6 and the Nik Collection for all my photo editing.

The NIK collection is a great set of plugins or even standalone apps. They work well along with Photoshop CC and must admit i am happy with the combination.
I have been paying the subscription based CC for a long time now and looking to get away from it and just buy a one off such ads PL although you do have to pay if you want to upgrade to a newer version but at least that is down to the individuals choice.
A shame you cannot get a work around for CS6
Is it a common issue with PL to be laggy as Darmok has stated ?

 

[AlaskaMoose]

The NIK collection is a great set of plugins or even standalone apps. They work well along with Photoshop CC and must admit i am happy with the combination.
I have been paying the subscription based CC for a long time now and looking to get away from it and just buy a one off such ads PL although you do have to pay if you want to upgrade to a newer version but at least that is down to the individuals choice.
A shame you cannot get a work around for CS6
Is it a common issue with PL to be laggy as Darmok has stated ?

I believe that it may be the case with the Mac and the M1 chip, but not on my 2019 iMac/Mohave. I have no idea if PL 5 running under OS X Big Sur and later would create any problems for me. While my iMac has, if I well remember...over 48GB or RAM, maybe I should wait before upgrading from version 4 to PL version 5.

Release Date for making PL5 native for M1 Macs

@StevenL , you posted this on May 10, 2021. Is it still the case that PL5 will be native on M1 Macs soon? My current version is 5.0.1. So far, I’m really enjoying the product, but I’m fairly confident it could be faster with a native version… especially memory management. I purchased PL5 and...

feedback.dxo.com

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I ended up buying the Viewpoint program to help out with the wideangle and fisheye shots I take. I already had PureRAW, and didn’t find PL to be a good enough performer in its current state to pay for it. I generally like the layout it offers, but performance needs to improve for sure.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

I ended up buying the Viewpoint program to help out with the wideangle and fisheye shots I take. I already had PureRAW, and didn’t find PL to be a good enough performer in its current state to pay for it. I generally like the layout it offers, but performance needs to improve for sure.

The main thing for me is not PL, but the NIK Collection. Someone mentioned in they forum the this collection was similar to the apps used by Nikon a few years ago. I have no idea if that's a true, but the NIK Collection is second to none at what it does for photo editing.

Re-edit: it may be true that Nikon was involved with the Nik software development.

Nik Software - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Nik Software was, until Google's acquisition, a privately held company owned by investors and Nikon, which in 2010 had a 35% stake in it.[4] Nikon made its investment in 2005.[9] As of 2010, the company had 120 employees — around 40 of whom are located in San Diego where the company is headquartered while the remaining staff (primarily engineering) are based in Germany.[4]

In September 2012, Nik Software was acquired by Google for an undisclosed amount.[6]