50% off DxO PhotoLab 4, or at least FilmPack 5 for Black Friday?

Yes, I had that email.

They seem to run a number of different but very similar things side by side. There's DxO Filmpack for example, but Nik SilverEfex has its own film presets.
 
Toby Webster said:
They seem to run a number of different but very similar things side by side. There's DxO Filmpack for example, but Nik SilverEfex has its own film presets.
Click to expand...
Essentially Nik is for bitmap files, whereas FilmPack, although it can be used standalone or as a plugin with other software, integrates very nicely into PhotoLab to give you a seamless RAW workflow.

You also need to consider that FilmPack is not just about film emulations, it also adds in some very useful stuff for B&W work to PhotoLab, like a channel mixer, highlight, midtone and shadow contrast, creative vignetting, etc. All in a way where you are not constrained to do your RAW conversion first and, if even if you move on to other non-RAW things, you can still go back to the RAW adjustments.

The general guidance seems to be that, if you don't want a completely integrated RAW workflow, go for Nik; otherwise, if you have or want PhotoLab, go for FilmPack. Most of the time I don't know which adjustments are part of PhotoLab and which of FilmPack; all I do know is that I don't have to think about RAW versus the rest :)

Oh, and don't forget the DeepPRIME noise reduction has to be seen to be believed!

And, no I don't get paid to go on about their stuff like this :p
 
I did get a trail version of filmpack a year or two ago, but I really didn't like the interface. Perhaps just used to Nik. I also use Alien Skin Exposure X3, which I quite like, the film emulations are perhaps better than Nik's.
 
It occurs that when I use Nik I don't tend to make the conversion from RAW until I save the work.
 
I suppose that the thing I like most about PhotoLab - I never have to explicitly save my work. The only time I create another file is when I export the finished item to jpeg and/or tiff, etc. I can have several versions of an image on the go and they all exist as virtual copies in one .dop sidecar file, which contains just the edits, and which is a lot smaller than a complete copy of the original file.

You could always download the 30 day free trial of everything and have a play. It's changed a lot over the past couple of years.
 
Joanna Carter said:
You also need to consider that FilmPack is not just about film emulations, it also adds in some very useful stuff for B&W work to PhotoLab, like a channel mixer, highlight, midtone and shadow contrast, creative vignetting, etc.
Click to expand...

Does this mean that PhotoLab doesn't havechannel mixer, highlight, midtone and shadow contrast, creative vignetting, etc. i.e.e do you need filmPack AS WELL to get those things
 
Digital Finger said:
Does this mean that PhotoLab doesn't havechannel mixer, highlight, midtone and shadow contrast, creative vignetting, etc. i.e.e do you need filmPack AS WELL to get those things
Click to expand...
You get basic versions of everything with PhotoLab; FilmPack takes it the next level.

Having said that, don't forget that DxO stuff is one time purchase, perpetual licence. So, even if you stop upgrading, you can still use the software and FilmPack doesn't need upgrading as often as PhotoLab.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top