DxO PhotoLab is your complete file management and RAW editing solution.
This blog post is part of the DxO series of posts using DxO PureRAW, DxO PhotoLab, and Nik Collection. Read my separate posts for each of these applications:
[ DxO Workflow | DxO PureRAW | DxO PhotoLab | Nik Collection ]
Disclaimer
The DxO Labs applications were provided for review purposes, but all opinions are my own.
You can use my name “TAKU” at checkout (without quote marks) for 15% off any of their products from their website.
DxO PureRAW and DxO PhotoLab both use the same DeepPRIME noise reduction and Lens Optimization engines, therefore you will only need either one of these. If you already have and use Lightroom, consider just DxO PureRAW to take advantage of its noise reduction and lens optimization settings. Otherwise, consider DxO PhotoLab, which provides more colour editing and file management tools.
I haven’t done extensive testing on how the DeepPRIME noise reduction fairs with Adobe Lightroom’s noise reduction or Topaz Denoise, so I will leave that for another day.
DxO PhotoLab 9
DxO PhotoLab is your complete program that includes file management, noise reduction, editing, and export features. Some things to note for this application:
- Importing folders and images are not necessary as the application sees your computer’s folder structure
- The application stores all editing instructions in its own proprietary sidecar file .dop
- The application has a central database file (.db) to store all file and folder information
While the complete feature-set isn’t as robust as that of Adobe Lightroom (Photo Merge, HDR, etc.), it is still capable of handling the majority of your editing tasks.
The user interface is a little more straightforward than Adobe Lightroom with fewer panels, but I find the menu icons—especially in the Customize tab—to be less straightforward and at times a little confusing.
The PhotoLibrary Tab
The PhotoLibrary window of PhotoLab is where you manage your files. Simply go to the folder as if you are looking at it in Finder or Windows Explorer. There’s no need to import any files or folders in PhotoLab. This is similar to Adobe Lightroom’s Library panel.
Once you select an image inside the folder, you can see its metadata on the right panel.
Projects
The Projects section serves as a collection area of photos based on a set of criteria. You can use it to organize images for a working project, collect images shot with a specific lens, or at a specific ISO for example. It sort of works the same way as Adobe Lightroom’s Collections.
The Customize Tab
If you want to edit a selected file, switch to the Customize window.
The Menu of editing options contains the following: Light, Color, Detail, Geometry, Watermark and Effects, and Local Adjustments. Using these options you have full control over how and where to edit your images. What can be a little confusing is some of these options, like the crop tool, are also initiated by the very top menu bar.
Once you are done with editing, you can easily export the image to a Nik Collection plugin to continue creatively editing the file, or simply export the image as a .TIF or .jpg using the Export button.
Final Thoughts
DxO PhotoLab provides an all-in-one solution to file management and editing your photos. Its search and organization features are helpful, while the editing tabs are clearly laid out sequentially in the order that most people would use them in.
The difference in this workflow from that of Adobe Lightroom is that you need to export the image into a Nik Collection plugin to continue editing creatively. This means you’ll need to purchase both DxO PhotoLab and Nik Collection to edit your RAW file and creatively edit your images. If you don’t need to creatively edit your images, then all you need is DxO PhotoLab.
I do, however, like the tight integration between PhotoLab and Nik Collection. It makes opening files in Nik fairly straight forward.
Apart from the odd layout of menu buttons, I find the user interface to be slightly simpler than that of Adobe Lightroom. Having said this, since I’m new to DxO applications, there was a little bit of a learning curve as to where everything was located.
Do you use DxO PhotoLab? Let me know in the comments!
Use my name TAKU for 15% off any of their products on their website: