If you just want the discount code: "EwenBell15"
dxo.com/dxo-photolab
OK, now here's the story!
I don't like subscription pricing. One of the reasons I was a fan of Capture One for so long was they had stayed away from subscriptions, and backed their licenses with major upgrades and software patches. Those days are over, and while you can still buy a "perpetual license" from Capture One, if there's a bug in the software or you want to open files from a new camera you will have to buy a new license.
DxO are doing things a little bit different, which is why I named them in my YouTube as an alternative to Lightroom and Capture One. I bought a license for DxO PhotoLab some years ago, because at the time Capture One were not playing nice with new Lumix cameras. Which also highlights one of the vagrancies of their subscription model, which can see you paying every month even if they won't open files from your new camera.
DxO is different to LR and C1, in that they have skipped the "Library" or "Catalogue". There is no database of your files, just a great editing tool that does all the usual things with minimum fuss. It's much lighter to run than Lightroom as well.
I don't want to get dragged into debates over which tool has better de-noise algorithms or the most AI features. I don't really care to be part of a tribe. All of these tools do what I need and their noise clean up is good regardless. I especially have no interest in AI tools, let alone from a company like Adobe that has been training their Gen AI on my photos without my permission. No thanks.
What I do care about is the joy of opening my very old version of PhotoLab and finding it will play nicely with my brand new camera that didn't exist four years ago... and getting full support for that camera. PhotoLab is big on lens profiles too. That is their thing. I get the impression they think they know better than the lens manufacturers. They are a team of geeky and obsessive engineers who ended up making a really good RAW file editor.
The user interface for DxO Photolab is not as polished as Capture One. The window setups are a little clunky and dated in some ways. But it works, and it works in far more situations that Capture One has over the years. They don't play politics over which cameras they enable, or not. It just works. So I was happy when DxO reached out to me to chat about their software, and offer a special deal for my readers.
– Ewen
Checkout my guide to working the tone curve for editing photos, recorded with my old version of DxO PhotoLab 6. The new one is even better!
If you haven't seen my video about why Adobe and Capture One make me angry, then have a look:
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