Is this the BEST raw file processing software? - 5 reasons why I think it is

[@michaels7889]

Well, I did upgrade to 8 but had totally missed those key new controls. Really useful.

[@Alister_Benn]

Great to hear!

[@trishf29]

Thanks Alister. I watched your last video, then upgraded to DXO 8, and waited for this video. New features perfectly explained. Thanks for sharing!

[@Alister_Benn]

Great to hear!

[@martinoberstein8431]

Hallo Alister, and thank you very much for this one! I bought myself pure raw 4 a few months ago as a plug in for Capture One, which I use for years now. The noise reduction is really superb ( I use it for nightscapes particularly. If CO‘s price policy will get even worse for hobby- users like me I will consider switching to DxO. Seems to be a strong contender.

[@chriscockett106]

I've just bought it and really pleased with the results! This is going to be a lot of fun! It's turned one photo right around in terms of usability and l love the shot, so that's great! Thanks a lot 👍😀

[@Alister_Benn]

That’s fabulous Chris. Delighted to hear that. Sometimes a change in architecture can make a huge difference

[@chriscockett106]

It can! Just transformed another....excellent! Can't put it down!😂❤

[@chriscockett106]

I'm getting unbelievable results and I don't even know how to use it properly yet! Amazing macro of a moorland stream! Making iso 3200 look stunning.

[@Alister_Benn]

Delighted to hear that mate

[@vlt14]

How do manage your photo library if you're not using Lightroom? Are projects portable?

[@David-Schmidt]

Thank you for the video and the code - it still worked! :-)

[@Alister_Benn]

Awesome

[@patrickwynne6666]

wow, you explained it very well, thank you.😁😊

[@ashvarma2486]

Great review. Many thanks for sharing. Will definitely try it.

[@Alister_Benn]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@bergis65]

Nice to watch. I happened to download it today - pure coincidence. I have used it many years ago, so I can buy it as an upgrade, but I need to evaluate if I want to spend the money. I haven’t used it since version 1, and I can’t claim that I learned how to use it, mostly used the noise reduction - which was good even that far back in time. I am going to watch this video again with the software open and one of my own images.

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks for sharing! Appreciate the feedback. Enjoy. it has come a long way..

[@bergis65]

@@Alister_Benn bought it :)

[@Alister_Benn]

@@bergis65enjoy

[@zdenkoboskovic4532]

Thank you for the review!

[@auroratours6716]

Perfect timing for valuable info👍 - I'm planning a new Macbook and some software updates for end of next month... Thanks!

[@Alister_Benn]

Awesome, delighted to hear that

[@michaelgoulding4425]

Very informative video Allister, appreciate how you manage to inject your usual level of passion into a product review. I've been using Nik collection for years but never photo lab. Will utilize the free trial and see how it goes. Again, much appreciated

[@Alister_Benn]

Thank you, I really appreciate the kind feedback. You can’t go wrong with a free trial 🙏

[@stevecush100]

Thanks. Like you using Fuji GFX system and love the ability to use Fuji film simulations and can change this in LR. I can’t find a way to do this in DXO Am I missing something? Steve

[@mozzamhosein6476]

Looks Interesting. Will definitely check it out. Thanks. I am currently going over your dodge and burn videos.

[@Yalelax]

Thanks for the review Alister. Does DxO PL 8 have the ability to edit iPhone RAW files? Regarding the new Luminosity Curve: Will using the "curve" in PS with the Luminosity Blend Mode accomplish the same adjustment without affecting the colors? I agree with others that use DxO Pure Raw with PS. Indeed, DxO Pure Raw was aimed at those who wanted to use the DxO Lens Profiles with another photo editor. I continue to appreciate the time and effort that you take presenting these informative videos.

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks for that. It sure about iPhone files, a quick google search should answer that. Luminosity blend mode isn’t the same as a luma curve, or adjusting the L curve in LAB. I never liked the luminosity blend mode very much and haven’t used it in years. Thanks again for the kind words

[@kurtshoens2584]

I've used DxO PhotoLab happily through several versions, along with Photoshop and Lightroom. With each editor I approach images in a different way. Photoshop is the most different, where I rely on curves, layer blending modes (particularly to work on color and contrast separately), apply image, layer masks, blur, and a light application of curves in LAB color space. I think I can do more in Photoshop, but maybe I'm not actually accomplishing more. I'm interested in whether choice of photo tool influences the "look" that other people choose. I'm pretty sure it does for me.

[@Alister_Benn]

I think for any competent, or experienced user with any software they can get great results. A Photoshop expert will struggle with PhotoLab 8 and see it as having restrictions, but an expert on PL8 would struggle with Photoshop. As a minimum I would say any Photoshop user should start with PureRaw 4, just because of the science or lens and noise corrections. The colour science of DxO is also quite different from Adobe, and I personally prefer it. To be 100% honest, these days, more than ever, the human is the weak link, not the choice of software!

[@Ruscombephotos]

Hi Alister! Thanks for the video. I will try the demo. Do you think this is a good route to cutting the cord with Adobe? If so, what could I replace the Photoshop part with? I would have to come up with some sort of catalogue system of my own, I guess. Some folk swear by Affinity as an alternative for both Lightroom and Photoshop, but I found it baffling when it first came out. One last question: is the noise reduction/sharpening capabilities as good as or better than Topaz?

[@Alister_Benn]

I think you could replace PS with PhotoLab 8 quite easily, unless you use heavy amounts of luminosity masks, but I think that is mostly unnecessary. I hardly ever use photoshop these days.

[@stevecush100]

Thanks. Like you using Fuji GFX system and love the ability to use Fuji film simulations and can change this in LR. I can’t find a way to do this in DXO Am I missing something? Steve

[@Alister_Benn]

Yeah, in the colour section where you can chose grading options there is a drop down saying Digital Film. The film sims are in there

[@stevecush100]

Many thanks.

[@michaelmacmorran8787]

Interesting review Allister. I used DXO up through PL 5 and then switched to DXO Pure Raw as I found the functionality of DXO PL 5 to be behind Lightroom. Now that you've transitioned to DXO PL8 as your primary RAW file editor I'd love to see a video of your workflow using DXO PL 8 and Photoshop highlighting what parts of the image you prefer to use DXO PL8 for and what parts of the image you still prefer to use Photoshop. Best, Mike.

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks for that. I will do more DxO workflow videos as we move forward. LR is still great for things like panoramas, but I don't do that anymore as I shoot expan with the GFX.

[@tjsinva]

Nice rundown. Carry on. 👍🥂

[@Alister_Benn]

Will do 🙏

[@simontull7511]

Well i just had a go with some of my favourite high iso pics of a tiger in India - pretty amazing ! Maybe you could think of a future video where you show how you use DXO in a workflow with LR ? Thanks!

[@Alister_Benn]

Delighted to hear that. I rescued a few of my own I thought were unworkable

[@RScottNH]

Great video Alister. I’m worried though about the filing capabilities that Lightroom provides. Is DXO non destructive? And can you make virtual copies?

[@Alister_Benn]

Yes, PhotoLab is non destructive, it’s working purely in raw. If you have film pack as well, that also works on the raw file. It’s sweet. Yes, you can make as many virtual copies as you like

[@RScottNH]

@@Alister_Benn Thanks for that answer!

[@Alister_Benn]

You are most welcome

[@HmS1856]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on PL8. I tried DXO many years ago but didn't really get comfortable with it especially the u-point technology for local adjustments. I may be willing to give it a try again and am wondering DXO give you updates until the next version upon which youd have to pay. cheers

[@Alister_Benn]

Things have moved on a lot since then. As with all these software options, taking time to learn them pays off. It took me a while when I transitioned from LR or C1, but now it is very intuitive. Yes, there are regular updates on the versions until a major update, so you get 8.1, 8.2. 8.3 etc free and then there is a fee when they introduce 9 etc.

[@HmS1856]

Thank you for replying and greetings from the great white (soon to be) north.

[@kerrygrim7934]

Just tried DXO. Only spent a few minutes with it. I tried processing an image I previously processed in C1. The same image processed inDXO was actually a bit better than C1. Surely I could do better at C1. I will investigate DXO further and likely purchase if I continue to be impressed. Not about to give up on C1, but if forced into a subscription in the future, I will not buy into that.

[@Alister_Benn]

I found the switch from C1 to PL8 took some time to become fluid. I prefer it now.

[@John-k8m1x]

I see you're using NEF files as examples, which I think are Nikon. You mention you use a GFX is it compatible with Fuji Raw (XT5 user here)?

[@Alister_Benn]

Yes, these files are old D850 files, but DxO is compatible with most camera raw files and certainly the XT5

[@chepo1956]

Hi Alister, Jose from Puerto Rico and new subscriber. I'm an amateur on a fixed income and I use Photoshop a lot in conjunction with a plugin called TK9 from Tony Kuyper for producing luminosity masks. I have Photo Lab version 6. I'm on the fence on whether to upgrade to version 8. I've been using DXO for years because their noise reduction technology is second to none. I have an Olympus OM-1 first edition and this technology does away with my fear of shooting at high ISO's. Do you think version 8 would be an adequate upgrade?

[@Alister_Benn]

I hear you. Thank you for the message. I am like this with iPhone! I used to buy even number updates: 2,4, 6 etc. Now I only change every 3 or 4 years. How good does a phone need to be? I would say that if PL6 still meets your needs then use your money on more important things. Photography is my job, so obviously I have to prioritise that sometimes. Only you can really know your own financial status and decide on whether to upgrade.

[@kerrygrim7934]

Thanks for the good demo. I've gotten bored watching the other videos. I will definitely give DXO a trial as a possible supplement to Capture One.I am an amateur, retired on a fixed income and have no desire to go onto a subscription service. C1 subscriptions are way too high for an amateur by myself and it seems very few people can even understand their pricing policies.

[@Alister_Benn]

I agree. PhotoLab is a one off purchase with discounted upgrades periodically. I struggled with capture one, I loved the files, but it won’t integrate well with anything.

[@TimvanderLeeuw]

I agree that the subscription costs of C1 are pretty high. I recommend giving DxO a trial -- see if it works for you and your images. How well it will work for you will perhaps depend somewhat on what you shoot and how you usually edit in C1. So far until DxO 6 at least, I've found a few select areas where DxO is inferior to C1. However, in other areas it is superior to C1 (and hence I use both tools).

[@danielspenner3683]

Looks very appealing to me. Could you by any chance Look Up, If their camera/lens correction is supporting Pentax systems? Secondly, can you create presets or anything similar to it? Last, but Not least, is DXO lab using a non destructive workflow? Would be great to have your answers and opinions to those questions. Thank you fir your continuous terriffic work.

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks for the comment. All the supported cameras and lenses can be found here: www.dxo.com/supported-cameras/ It looks like many Pentax cameras are included. Yes, you can save your own presets, and yes, it is a completely non-destructive workflow. Hope that helps. Download the 30 day free trial and have a look at the options.

[@R0dan]

LOVE DXO❤❤

[@Alister_Benn]

Me too :-)

[@dominiclester3232]

What a great and reasonable review, thanks! Sadly I already bought it, so no 15% off for me 😂

[@Alister_Benn]

Oh no! Such is life 🤦 at least it wasn’t a new car

[@hillelbrandes6283]

I know (or I think I do) that DxO doesn't have Fuji lenses in their lens database (at least not viewable on their website). How does this work for the GFX system (or X system)? Do the lens correction algorithms in PL8 not use data from their database?

[@Alister_Benn]

They do, they have most of the GFX lenses. I was checking them all today. They are updating constantly.

[@hillelbrandes6283]

@@Alister_Benn Thanks! 'Appreciate your channel! I've used the LR plug-in as well, thus far.

[@erichstocker8358]

I assume you are reviewing the elite version and not the essential version?? Do you still use Lightroom/photoshop? If so why, if DxO Photolab is better?

[@Alister_Benn]

Yes, apologies for not mentioning that.

[@RWROW]

Thanks for the demo. When you make chanves to an image with PL8, where are those change inatructions stored if you don't or do export? Are they added to the photo file or is there a side file or are fhey even saved so you'd have to redo them if you opened fhat raw file again? Sorry for such a dumb question but I have not hear this explained before.

[@Alister_Benn]

There are no dumb questions ❤️ the edits are stored in DxO PL8 and can be accessed in future

[@RWROW]

@@Alister_Benn Thanks.

[@SimonWardleMillar]

Hi Alister. Apologies if you have covered this before. I have PL7 and i use a mix of brands and sensor sizes. I can see that PL7 does a fantastic job of maxing out the detail on my Raw files compared to Lightroom in many cases, however i know PL lacks some LR features such as pano stitching etc but i would love to come up with a process that leverages PL and Lr to their respective strengths. Do you have a step by step process of importing images to your pc/mac, viewing/culling in PL and exporting to LR the processed raws as DNG or some other methodology?

[@popsinabox]

@@SimonWardleMillarI’m certainly not Alister. But if you want the best quality (from DxO) but use some of the features in LR, I suggest… 1. Use LR for DAM. 2. From LR use DxO PureRaw 4 as a plugin. This will get you the lens corrections, Noise handling and soft lens corrections etc and return a DNG to LR for further file handling.

[@popsinabox]

@@RWROW To add on to what Alister said, the changes ARE stored within PL8 but they are in a sidecar file the DxO call the .dop file.

[@AmorLucisPhotography]

Or... you could use Capture One with DxO PureRaw 4. :)

[@Alister_Benn]

Yes, pure raw 4 integrates well into the other alternatives. Capture One is an excellent raw converter and really wanted to love it more, but a lot of its unique features became available in other software last year. I just find myself using PL8 almost exclusively these days and am delighted with the results.

[@esanford]

Thanks Alister... Question: If I have DXO Pure Raw and the NIK 7 Collection, do I still need Photolab8? Thanks, Ed

[@Alister_Benn]

You don't "need it" no... :-)

[@craig_m_mi]

Iso400 on a GFX or D810 and it needs DeepPrime Xd ???

[@Alister_Benn]

LOL, you can never be too careful!

[@Peterogen]

❤❤

[@ronmaarschalkerweerd2104]

No Aperture was the best. Thank you Apple for stabbing nice in our back

[@Xo1ot1]

Beautiful example images. My 1 year sub of LRC is used up soon and I wasn't planning on renewing it for various reasons, so this is a welcome suggestion to look into.

[@Alister_Benn]

Awesome. Check out the free trial as it is fully featured and no limitations

[@ds89421]

This ad campaign of theirs is quite tone-deaf. They should've asked people to make genuine reviews of their software instead of asking for paid ads (and making youtubers their "global ambassadors"). Then the praise would have been much more credible. But when all of a sudden you see a bunch of paid videos on a number of youtube channels you're subscribed to, it makes the praise much harder to believe. I'm writing this not because I hate them. Quite the contrary, I want them to succeed, I really want to see viable alternatives to LRC on the market.

[@Alister_Benn]

I hear you and unfortunately this is the nature of contemporary marketing. Yes, they pay me, but I make a lot more money from other avenues and I’m certainly not going to ruin my reputation for a few bucks sponsorship. I use this software and love it, as I say as much in the video. I’m happy to recommend it, just as I recommend Fujifilm gear and they don’t pay me and I pay for it myself. Hope that helps

[@frstesiste7670]

I agree with your comment and there certainly are some sites that will say anything about anything for money or other advantages. At the same time, if you want a good demo of a complex product you have to use people who actually know the software. To me the key is to find people who seem honest, knowledgeable and produce believable content over time. Also, to me, Alister is one of those content creators that I basically trust is honest. That doesn't mean he or anyone else isn't without some bias. Everybody, no matter how hard they try is somewhat influenced by personal opinions. It's never been my main job, but I've worked some on reviews, both computer hardware and software but mostly cameras and none of the people I worked with seemed to be less than honest. I was mostly a Canon user when doing camera reviews and I of course knew Canon menus and cameras better than other brands and that had to influence to some degree. Also, some companies are easier to cooperate with which also can lead to some bias. My solution is to find some reviewers I find reliable - ambassadors or not - but preferably with some different priorities and style. Then I get more than one take on products of interest. Anyway, in spite of a positive "review" and some interesting functions in Photolab 8 I'll stick with my Adobe subscription for now. It's just too much money for me to have two that similar products.

[@ds89421]

​@@Alister_Benn I appreciate your response. My comment was directed more to DxO than to you, since ultimately it was their decision to use their funds this way. I didn't suggest that you'd agree to promote a product in which you don't believe. But a) not all people will think this way b) in general, even if they don't tell you what to say and what not to say, having a contract would probably incentivize you to be a bit nicer and more forgiving towards them. For example, I'd love to hear honest (i.e. 100% independent) feedback from people who switched from LRC to PL8, what is better, what's on par, what useful functions are missing, what they find annoying and what functions work worse by comparison. Because then, if I hear that in general it's good and the things that are worse aren't too critical for me, I'd be more likely to consider switching.

[@SimonWardleMillar]

mild compared to Topaz, it like a zombie army of tubers and FB adverts. I have PL 7 and I really love the raw processing, its just not as feature rich as LightRoom but technically i believe it pulls much more detail and dynamic range out of the raw files

[@TimvanderLeeuw]

@@SimonWardleMillar I have personally been disappointed with how much information it managed to pull out of highlights and shadows in my raw files 😳 I get all sorts of artefacts and ugly colours / banding when trying to recover deep shadow areas of my images, that I shouldn't see. (I'm talking pushing up really underexposed parts just to see what can be recovered). But then, I've never used Lightroom so I don't know how it compares! 😂

[@friendofarca6550]

image quality ? from my experience adobe noise ai and enhanced raw provides a quality level visible in prints not just pixel peeping which outperforms any deep prime version even tweaked to minimise artifacts and smearing. adobe results have better micro contrast and pixel level sharpness, zero artifacts and clear and detailed deep shadow areas compared to dxo. but this does not mean dxo is bad it just seems dxo opted for more noise removal and to do so sacrifices some detail, a bigger issue for me although is that it introduces strange fake details in smooth areas. adobe is also clearly better in reducing demosaicing artifacts. it very much seems dxo PL is now the new much praised anti-adobe software replacing capture one but dxo is not without issues but as with c1 all negative aspects are blended out by the influencer crowd to crown a new king.

[@Alister_Benn]

Each of us is going to have our own experiences with various tools. In a market where gaps are closing between providers of software, some tools will be better than others for each individual. Like you, people are free to download trials and evaluate for themselves.