Moving to DxO PhotoLab 9

Although many prefer using PhotoLab as the central hub of their photography workflow, using separate applications for DAM and printing, I’m looking for an all-in-one solution with tight integration and a uniform interface. PhotoLab 9 seems (after a several days with the trial) to have hit the sweet spot in capabilities for my needs.

I’ve used Lightroom for many years and never really objected to Adobe’s subscription plan. Still, I wonder if the subscription model makes them less motivated to add and improve features quickly? I’ve also never really been comfortable with its interface, even after all this time, having come from Apple’s Aperture. Up until now, it has done what I needed to do better than the alternatives. The alternatives are getting better and better.

The Key New Features

PhotoLab 9 has made significant improvements in the areas I’m especially interested in and that had kept me from seriously considering it.

• HEIC – I often take iPhone pictures and I’d like to edit them like any other image.
• AI Masks – This is a big. The speed and general accuracy of AI enhanced masks allow for impressive local adjustments.
• Stacks – This is an important feature for keeping my library organized, especially when I have multiple variations of basically the same image.
• Noise Reduction in preview – Working with what will be the final image makes it far easier to see the effects of adjustments.

And with AI masking now provided, can it be long before we’ll have content-aware spot repair and erase? I hope not.

I enjoy working with PhotoLab. The interface suits me and the features seem well implemented (with the caveat that there are posts on the DxO forum about some bugs which I haven’t encountered). In the end, I don’t know that I can get to a place with an image that I couldn’t with Lightroom, but I can get there faster and easier with PhotoLab.

Where PhotoLab Has Always Excelled

I find that PhotoLab is best-in-class at demosaicing, lens corrections, camera color profiles, and lens corrections. DxO’s process of testing and profiling each supported camera body and lens combination gives them the edge over the more generic approaches used by some of its competitors.

The user interface ‘feels’ good to use, looks professional, and is intuitive enough for someone with photo editing experience to be very comfortable. Even though PhotoLab is cross-platform, the interface stays consistent without mixing in any interface components from the host system.

The Missing Pieces

There are some areas that PhotoLab does not yet match Lightroom. I can get by without, or work around, them but I don’t like doing that.

Printing features are still basic. There are no effective print presets (to save paper size, margins, paper type, etc.) or paper and size-specific sharpening options.

PhotoLab’s DAM features are a little weak. I would really like to have metadata presets for assigning repeating IPTC information. And, dang it, the keyword pane is still limited in height, even as a separate panel!

I can see the argument for leaving some features to other applications such as Photoshop or Affinity Photo. But Lightroom does include panorama merging, and content-aware repair or erase. PhotoLab’s repair and clone tools are just not up to dealing with such things as power lines or other large distractions.

PhotoLab is not an inexpensive program. At $240 for the application, it’s the same price a year’s subscription to Lightroom together with Photoshop. If you add in FilmPack (to provide creative vignettes, microcontrast control, split toning, luminance masking, and many different traditional film looks) and ViewPoint (for horizontal/vertical flip, excellent perspective corrections, and the ability to warp and stretch), you’re up to $370 if you get the package deal. Annual upgrades for PhotoLab are $120 currently, the same price of a Lightroom yearly subscription.

Regardless of which application you use, the cost is far less than just one nice lens. So I don’t make too much a deal of cost, but I can’t ignore it, either.

I’ve Switched

UPDATE: After more time with the PhotoLab trial, I’ve made the switch from Lightroom. I’ll miss the print presets and the radial masks, but there are enough things I like about PhotoLab that I don’t think it will bother me much.