Digital SLR Photography - UK (2019-07)

ear Soft ware review

102 Digital SLR Photography July 2019

D

XOIS ONEOF THEmosthighly

regardednamesin softwarewhenit

comestoRawlenscorrectionsand

noisecontrol,andDxOPhotoLab2 is

thelatestRaw-processingpackagefrom

thecompany,providingdirectcompetition

withthelikesofAdobeLightroom,Capture

OneProandSkylumLuminar.Butwitheach

optionstandingoutbyofferingitsown

uniquefeaturesaboveandbeyondbasic

Rawprocessing,let’stakea lookat what

makesPhotoLab2 a worthyconsideration

foryoureditingworkflow.

WhilethenamePhotoLabmaynotbe

familiar,thesoftwareis thenaturalevolution

ofDxOOpticsProandfeaturesa numberof

upgradesthatmakeit a morewell-rounded

optionforimagecataloguingandRaw

processing.PhotoLab2 is availablein two

flavours:Essential,whichcosts£99;and

Elitethat’sa littlemoreexpensiveat £159.

TheEliteeditionincludestheDxOPrime

DenoiseandClearViewamongother

advancedfeatures,makingtheEliteversion

thebetteroptiontotakeadvantageof

everythingDxOhastooffer.Thesoftwareis

alsoa one-offpaymentwithno

subscription,whichmayappealto

photographersunhappywithAdobe’s

subscription-basedmodel.A free30-day

trialoftheEliteversionis availablewithno

restrictionsin featuressoyoucanfullytry

thesoftwarebeforecommitting.

SOFTWAREFEATURES

Whenyouopenimagesin PhotoLab2, one

of thefirstthingsyou’llnoticeis thatthe

softwarewillscanyourimagesandoffer

profiledownloadsforthecameraandlens

combinationsusedto taketheimages.Then,

whenyouopenanimagein theCustomize

tab,a numberof correctiveadjustmentsare

appliedautomaticallyandincludelens

corrections,noiseremoval,hazeremoval,

sharpeningandtonalimprovements.These

canbeleftin place,increasedorswitchedoff

withadditionalmanualcontrolsavailablefor

processingyourimages.

Thepowerhousebehindallthisis itsPrime

technology,whichmakeslightworkof

gettingimagesto looktheirbest.DxOPrime

Denoisingtechnologyreduceschromaand

luminancenoisein highISO shotsto reveal

moredetailandsharpness.DxOClearView

removeshazefromimagesandworkswell,

butlikeDehazein Lightroom,it hasto be

usedsparinglyto avoidaddingtoomuch

contrastto images.SmartLightingreveals

Withpowerfulfeaturesdesignedtospeedupworkflowandmakeimages

looktheirbest,couldDxO'sPhotoLab2 bethesoftwareyou’relookingfor?

Te s t :JAMESA B B OTT

SPECIFICATION

Price: Fro m £ 9 9

Operating system: OS X 10.12 (Sierra) and above /

Windows 7 (64-bit) with Service Pack 1 and above

Website: http://www.dxo.com/dxo-photolab

DXO PHOTOLAB 2

detailin darkandlightareasof imageswith

theabilityto adjusttheeffectmanually.

LocaladjustmentsarepossibleusingU

Pointtechnologyandarea newfeaturethat

hasbeenintegratedintothesoftwaresince

DxO’sacquisitionof theNikCollection.

Alongsidethesecontrolpointsarealsoan

adjustmentBrushandGraduatedfilter,

whichallowyouto controlthelookof

specificpartsof images.Plus,theRepairtool

intelligentlyhelpsyouto removedustspots

andsmallunwantedelements.

P ERFORMANCE AND EASE OF USE

The PhotoLab 2 interface is laid out simply

and clearly in a way that users of other Raw

editing software will be familiar with so

there will be no surprises. The software is

divided into two sections using tabs –

PhotoLibrary and Customize. PhotoLibrary

Interface: The interface is laid out exactly how you’d expect,

and with just two tabs – PhotoLibrary and Customize – it’s

impossible to get lost in a rabbit hole of software sections.