DxO PhotoLab 8 Elite verdict
Summary
PhotoLab 8 is the latest update to DxO’s flagship photo organizing, image enhancement and editing software. The changes in this version are incremental but still very useful. If you’re upgrading from a previous version you might want to look closely at what’s new before you take the plunge. But if you’re new to PhotoLab then here’s the low-down. If you want to get the best possible quality from your RAW files and you’re prepared to put in a little time and effort, PhotoLab 8 is quite simply in a class of its own.
Pros
+ Spectacularly good denoising and detail retention
+ Transforms image/lens performance for older/cheaper camera gear
+ Practically every camera/lens combo supported by custom profiles
+ Efficient import-free PhotoLibrary organizer
+ Quirky but brilliant local adjustment tools
Cons
– Pretty expensive, especially with annual updates
– Essential edition is cheaper but loses too many key features
– Somewhat daunting for new users, despite tool layout changes
What is DxO PhotoLab 8 Elite?
DxO PhotoLab 8 is an image organizing and editing tool that combines these two jobs in a similar way to Capture One and Lightroom Classic. The difference is that PhotoLab’s image organizing tools are fairly light and it’s focused much more heavily on image editing and, in particular, getting the best possible image quality from cameras, lenses and RAW files.
At the heart of this image enhancement process is DxO’s huge and growing list of camera/lens correction profiles. These fix lens distortion, corner shading and chromatic aberration – the three key lens defects tackled by other RAW processing software. But DxO’s correction profiles go further, correcting the progressive edge softness towards the edge of the frame that all lenses show to some degree.
DxO has also become famous for its DeepPRIME noise reduction and detail enhancement process. This corrects image noise right at source, at the same point as the RGB color data direct from the sensor is ‘demosaiced’ into a full color image.
PhotoLab also has a set of very powerful and very different local adjustment masking tools. These are based on the clever U-point adjustments that originally came with the Nik Collection plug-in suite when DxO acquired that product, and have since been developed further. These U-point tools selectively mask image areas based on similar tones and colors, and they allow very fast and intuitive adjustments that also blend naturally with surrounding areas.
This is a review of DxO PhotoLab 8 Elite, the flagship product. There is also a cheaper DxO PhotoLab Essential edition, but this lacks many of the more powerful tools in the full version and I wouldn’t really recommend it.
DxO PhotoLab is sold only as a ‘perpetual’ license, not on subscription, though it is updated annually and if you do upgrade to the latest version, this means paying an upgrade fee which makes the ongoing cost of ownership not so very different to subscription software. Here’s the pricing:
DxO PhotoLab 8 Elite full version: $229 / £209
DxO PhotoLab 8 Elite upgrade: $109 / £99T
DxO PhotoLab 8 Essential: $139 / £129
DxO PhotoLab 8 Essential upgrade: $75 / £65
DxO PhotoLab 8 Essential ‘uplevel’ to Elite version: $99 / £89.
There is also a 30-day free trial which I strongly recommend to anyone who hasn’t used PhotoLab before.
What’s new in DxO PhotoLab 8 Elite?
If you use PhotoLab already you’re going to want to know what’s new in this version, and while it’s not a long list of upgrades, these are significant.
First, there’s an evolution of the DeepPRIME XD2 denoising process, now called DeepPRIME XD2s. DxO says this delivers improved performance and, at the same time, says it’s improved the edge softness correction algorithms for better edge sharpness without artefacts. I can’t say I saw an obvious difference in results between this and DeepPRIME XD2, but of all the hundreds of images I checked, a number did seem to show slightly improved edge detail. You would have to look pretty closely to see this, though.
Good as it is, DxO’s DeepPRIME process is not instantaneous. It typically takes several seconds or longer to export a processed image, and this processing time means it’s not possible to display the DeepPRIME effect ‘live’ as you edit an image.
But DxO has got round this with a new preview window/loupe that can be moved around to examine different areas of the image and updates quickly enough to act as a live preview. This makes a huge difference, and is way better than the tiny window in the Denoise panel which was previously the only way to preview the DeepPRIME effect.
There is disappointing news for Fujifilm users, though. The Fujifilm X-Trans color filter array poses technical challenges for the DeepPRIME process which means that with these cameras you’ll be restricted to the original DeepPRIME XD process. It’s a shame, but it’s not a huge issue because the results aren’t so very far behind the latest version anyway.
Outside of the DeepPRIME process, DxO has also upgraded the Tone Curve panel in PhotoLab 8. Previously, this offered regular RGB curve adjustments and, as many photographers will know, these change color saturation, not just tonal contrast. The new Tone Curve panel, however, adds a Luma curve adjustment which affects only lightness values. Capture One offers Luma curves too, but Lightroom does not.
The new Tone Curve panel also has a very handy Tone Picker gadget that works just like the click-and-drag targeted adjustment tool in Lightroom. There’s more. The panel now displays a histogram in the background and it’s possible to enter input and output values for tone curve points directly.
The final major addition in PhotoLab 8 is a new Hue Mask tool in the local adjustments panel. This uses an eyedropper to select specific color ranges in the image, and while any adjustments would normally affect those hues across the whole image, you can use the Eraser tool to restrict the Hue Mask to specific objects or areas. It’s a useful addition to an already comprehensive set of local adjustment tools.
There is one notable omission. DxO introduced elliptical control points and polygonal selection tools to its Nik Collection 7 release, but these have not been incorporated into PhotoLab 8. Maybe we’ll see these in a future version.
DxO PhotoLab 8 Elite design and usability
PhotoLab 8 has two main operating windows: the PhotoLibrary window and the Customize window. The PhotoLibrary window is where you browse, organize and search your images, so let’s take a look at that first.
The good news is that the PhotoLibrary can be used as a simple file browser. You don’t have to import images into a central database, as you do with Lightroom, and it displays folders and their contents ‘live’, so you don’t need to re-synchronize or re-import folders if you add or remove images outside of PhotoLab. Capture One’s Session mode works in this way, as does ON1 Photo RAW’s basic browsing panel, and it is a simpler if less powerful approach.
The PhotoLibrary may still be plenty powerful enough for many users, though. You can filter images by flag, process status, star rating and color label. You can also add keywords via the right sidebar via a simple ‘flat’ keyword list or a more advanced hierarchical keyword structure.
At the top of the left sidebar is a search field, where PhotoLab will immediately start matching image properties as you type. These can include shooting settings such as ISO or aperture, file and folder names and keywords.
Down at the bottom of the left sidebar is Projects panel. Here you can add custom Projects, or albums in other words, and Project Sets for organizing these more efficiently.
There is one limitation to PhotoLab’s import-free organizing system – the search results and Projects are fed by an internal indexing system that doesn’t update automatically if files are moved around outside of PhotoLab. You can often be presented with missing image thumbnails where you have to manually re-locate files that have been moved.
That’s the PhotoLibrary window. It’s the Customize window where you do all the serious editing work. This shows a Histogram, Navigator, History and Presets in the left sidebar, and editing tools in the right sidebar.
You won’t necessarily need these. When it displays an image, PhotoLab applies an image correction profile automatically, or prompts you to download one if it doesn’t have it already. It will also apply a small DxO ‘Smart Lighting’ correction to even up shadow and highlight detail.
These corrections may be all you need for many of your images, and they happen automatically. And, if you want a more creative look, you can apply one of PhotoLab’s ready-made presets – though the choice is fairly limited and a long way short of what you get in Lightroom.
When you do get into detailed manual editing, you’ll find the tools organized into tabs in the right sidebar. There are tabs for Light, Color, Detail, Geometry, Effects, with an additional tab for local adjustments. If you can’t remember which tab houses a particular tool you’re looking for, you can use a neat little search box at the top and PhotoLab will find it for you. There’s also a toggle to display only those tools you’ve already used on the image.
The local adjustments include: Control Point, Control Line, Graduated Filter, Hue Mask (new), Auto Mask, Brush, Eraser. There’s a Luminosity Mask option which is one of a small number of tools which only become available if you’ve installed DxO’s separate FilmPack or ViewPoint tools. It’s not ideal to have greyed out tools that remind you of what you don’t have, but maybe it’s intended as an incentive to get them.
All adjustments in PhotoLab 8 are non-destructive, so you do need to export a processed version for sharing with others. The advantage is that you can go back at any time to change or add to your adjustments – and you can also create Virtual Copies to try out different treatments without having to create duplicate files. Interestingly, you can export a Linear DNG with lens and denoising corrections applied for use as a RAW file in other programs. This is what DxO PureRAW 4 does.
DxO PhotoLab 8 Elite results
PhotoLab 8 does have a few quirks and limitations, but its results are spectacular. The lens corrections are excellent and clearly improve edge definition in a way that regular lens corrections in other programs don’t attempt (with the exception of Capture One’s bespoke correction profiles).
Interestingly, one side effect of PhotoLab’s lens corrections is that it can recover extra image areas after distortion correction to reveal a wider angle of view from some lenses.
PhotoLab’s basic RAW processing already yields class-leading detail, but the DeepPRIME XD2s process raises this to another level. The noise removal and detail rendering in high ISO images has to be seen to be believed, and are genuinely game-changing – especially if you have a camera with a smaller or older sensor, and you shoot at higher ISOs.
In fact, the more ‘ordinary’ your camera gear, the more PhotoLab improves it. If you’re using the latest full frame sensor and the best pro lenses, the gains may be pretty modest, but with cheaper or older camera gear, the gain in image quality is huge. It really can change your mind about obsolescence and ‘old’ sensors.
The local adjustment tools are excellent too, and while you do have to adapt to DxO’s unique U-point technology, you may soon start to wonder if you need AI object selection at all. The Control Line tool is relatively new and especially useful, though the name doesn’t really describe how it works. Think of a graduated filter with a selective color range eyedropper to restrict its effect to selected tones, and you can see how this will make sky adjustments so much subtler if they are confined to the sky itself and don’t affect tall buildings or trees.
PhotoLab 8 can be technical and even fiddly at times, but if you have the time and technical understanding, it delivers the best results you can get from RAW files.
DxO PhotoLab 8 Elite verdict
The improvements in DxO PhotoLab 8 might be evolutionary rather than revolutionary, but this shouldn’t detract from a program which combines powerful local adjustments with peerless image quality.
The no-import PhotoLibrary mode has become quite powerful and effective for image organization, and while its search and Project tools will lose track of images moved or deleted outside the program, in general it’s a quicker and more intuitive way to work for those with straightforward folder-based filing systems.
In the Customize view, the multitude of adjustment tools can be pretty daunting for beginners and might put off new users before they’ve discovered what this software can do, so a wider selection of presets might help. It would mean that users might not have to go straight into manual adjustments.
The lens corrections and denoising are perhaps a key selling point for DxO PhotoLab 8, and they are excellent. I haven’t used another Denoising technology that can approach the results from DeepPRIME XD. This is still the best software there is for painstaking RAW perfectionists, though high-volume bulk shooters or one-click style fans will find Lightroom or Capture one quicker.
