Table of Contents
DxO has long been known for their scientific analysis of camera and lens performance. The French company‘s detailed lab tests measure factors like resolution, distortion, vignetting, and chromatic aberration to create lens correction profiles. This deep understanding of optics is at the core of their PhotoLab RAW conversion and image editing software.
Now in its fifth generation, PhotoLab sticks with that core competency while refining the experience and adding more powerful tools for local adjustments. The software comes in two varieties – Essential and Elite – both offering non-destructive RAW processing and editing but with the Elite edition providing additional features like DeepPRIME noise reduction and some more advanced adjustment tools.
I‘ve been testing PhotoLab 5 Elite for a couple months now on both Mac and PC. As someone who has used most of the major RAW processors over the years, I was curious to see if PhotoLab could sway me from my normal workflow in Adobe Lightroom Classic. At the same time, I was also evaluating it on its own merits for those looking for a Lightroom alternative.
User Interface & Workflow
PhotoLab has a clean, modern interface that will feel familiar to anyone who has used other RAW editors. The workflow moves from left to right starting with the PhotoLibrary for import and organization. The Customize tab is where you do all of your RAW processing and editing. Finally, you export your finished images in the Process tab.
The layout is quite intuitive and everything is within easy reach, although there are some small quirks here and there that betray PhotoLab‘s origins as more of a RAW processor than an organizer. The way it handles image zoom levels, in particular, can be a bit confusing coming from other software.
New Features & Improvements
While the changes from PhotoLab 4 to 5 are more evolutionary than revolutionary, there are several very welcome improvements:
-
DeepPRIME noise reduction builds on the already impressive PRIME algorithm to better preserve details at high ISO while reducing unwanted color noise and artifacts. It‘s faster than PRIME and does an even better job on both RAW files and JPEGs.
-
The new MultiView feature allows you to see up to 4 variations of your photo with different settings applied. This makes it easy to experiment and compare different creative directions.
-
Batch renaming is now available so you can quickly change filenames of multiple photos at once using customizable name templates.
-
Support for Fujifilm X-Trans files has been improved, especially when it comes to reducing wavey maze-like artifacts from demosaicing.
-
More precise selective copy and paste allows you to choose which settings carry over when syncing adjustments between photos.
There have also been a number of small interface tweaks and bug fixes that, while not particularly flashy, do make for a smoother, more polished user experience overall. It‘s clear that DxO has been listening to user feedback.
RAW Processing Quality
Of course, the real test of any RAW editor is the quality of the converted image. This is where PhotoLab shows its strengths. DxO‘s active bench-testing of camera and lens combinations feeds a huge database of correction profiles. The software automatically detects the equipment used via the image‘s metadata and compensates for the known optical flaws of that combo.
The difference this makes is immediately apparent. Vignetting and barrel distortion are corrected without introducing any wonkiness to the image. Purple and green fringing from chromatic aberration is cleaned up. As someone who frequently uses older manual focus lenses that can be… let‘s say "characterful", it‘s impressive to see modern software negate those flaws while still preserving the appealing vintage aesthetic.
Aside from the corrections, PhotoLab‘s demosaicing and color rendering are excellent. There are a number of built-in profiles and presets to choose from and all the expected global adjustments for exposure, white balance, tone curves, HSL, and sharpening. The level of control is as granular as any other RAW editor I‘ve used.
The real killer feature, though, is DeepPRIME noise reduction. I regularly shoot in low light at high ISOs and DeepPRIME allows me to salvage images that would be unusable in any other software. It‘s far better than Lightroom or Capture One‘s default NR and with more pleasing results than using a standalone product like DxO‘s own DeepNoise AI.
Local Adjustments
My biggest complaint with previous versions of PhotoLab was the limited toolset for making localized edits. While layers and masks were supported, the interface felt clunky. That‘s why I‘m happy to see big improvements to the selection tools and the U Point system in version 5.
Originally designed by Nik Software and previously implemented in Nikon‘s Capture NX-D, U Point is an intuitive way to create precise masks. You simply place a point over the area you want to adjust and PhotoLab automatically creates a mask based on the color and tone of where you clicked. You can adjust the size of the mask and add multiple points to refine it.
This works really well for things like brightening shadowed faces or enhancing a specific color without creating obvious edges to your mask. The auto-masking is very accurate and makes it easy to create complicated selections that would take a long time to draw manually. Once you have your mask, you can adjust exposure, contrast, white balance, and even apply spot sharpening or noise reduction.
The main downside is that you don‘t have quite as much manual control over your mask‘s edges and feathering as you do with Lightroom‘s brush and gradient tools. I found myself turning to Photoshop for trickier edits that needed more precise blending. Still, for most images, U Point gets you 90% of the way there with a lot less effort.
Performance
I tested PhotoLab 5 on both a PC with a modern 8-core CPU and 32GB of RAM as well as on an M1 MacBook Air. On the PC, RAW processing was very quick even when working with 45 megapixel files from a Nikon D850. Zooming and panning around high-res images was nearly instantaneous. Exporting a batch of a dozen edited images only took about 10 seconds.
DeepPRIME was still quite usable when working on individual photos, adding about 5 seconds to image loading and a few extra seconds when making exposure adjustments. For batch exporting, I found it was generally better to use the standard PRIME noise reduction, as DeepPRIME can bog things down significantly.
On the MacBook Air, performance was adequate but not as snappy as on the PC. I was still able to edit and export images without any major slowdowns, but there were a few instances of lag with large files, especially when using DeepPRIME and virtual copies. Sticking to the Essential edition without DeepPRIME would likely be a smoother experience on less powerful hardware.
DxO & Lightroom – A Match Made In Heaven?
Many photographers rely on Adobe Lightroom Classic to manage their image libraries but want to use other software for certain parts of their editing workflow. To serve this market, DxO offers a Lightroom plugin that allows you to send RAW files from Lightroom to PhotoLab for processing and then have the edited images automatically reimported as DNGs.
In theory, this gives you the best of both worlds – Lightroom‘s excellent organization and PhotoLab‘s superior lens corrections and noise reduction. And while this round-trip solution does work, there are some significant limitations.
The main issue is that each program is still using its own RAW processing engine and only passing baked-in, flattened adjustments back and forth. This means you can‘t see your PhotoLab edits in Lightroom until after you‘ve "round-tripped" the image. It also means you can‘t use PhotoLab to tweak images you‘ve already edited in Lightroom as all of those non-destructive edits are lost in translation.
There‘s also no way to sync Lightroom‘s library structure, collections, or tags to PhotoLab. Everything has to be organized separately within each program. While PhotoLab‘s PhotoLibrary has seen some improvements in this version, it still feels limited compared to Lightroom.
In practice, I found the plugin was useful for give-and-take on individual images but it was far too clunky for use in an everyday workflow, especially with large sets of images. Hardcore Lightroom users who just want to leverage DeepPRIME noise reduction are probably better off buying DxO DeepNoise AI as a standalone program and using Lightroom‘s "Edit In" roundtrip to access it.
Vs. Capture One & Exposure X
Longtime Lightroom alternatives Capture One and Exposure X both compete with PhotoLab for the attention of professional and enthusiast photographers. While they lack the deep optical corrections of PhotoLab, they have their own strengths and loyal users.
Capture One is a popular choice for studio and tethered shooting. It offers more customization of the editing interface and more precise color adjustments. However, it is quite a bit more expensive than PhotoLab and has a steeper learning curve. For most users, I think PhotoLab offers better value and easier access to its unique features.
Exposure X has an exceptional catalog-free approach to library management that‘s quite refreshing if you find Lightroom‘s structure too rigid. It also has built-in non-destructive layers for combining effects and textures with your RAW adjustments. The background automatic lens correction isn‘t as powerful as PhotoLab but the program is very affordable and includes lifetime free updates. For less technical photographers, Exposure may actually be easier to get started with than PhotoLab.
Conclusion
DxO PhotoLab 5 is a very specialized tool. Its appeal lies in the things it does better than any other software: automatic lens corrections, DeepPRIME noise reduction, and U Point local adjustments. If those features are important to you, then PhotoLab is an excellent choice.
However, the jack-of-all-trades approach of Lightroom and its competitors still offers undeniable advantages in file management and overall workflow efficiency. PhotoLab works best as a complementary tool in a larger editing ecosystem rather than an all-in-one solution.
For pixel-peeping photographers who want the absolute best RAW processing quality, the Elite edition of PhotoLab is a worthwhile investment. More casual shooters should compare the Essential edition against Exposure X in particular to determine which offers the best value for money.
No matter your photographic needs, it‘s worth downloading the free trial of PhotoLab 5 to see the impressive results for yourself. DxO deserves a lot of credit for pushing the envelope of what‘s possible with RAW conversion. I look forward to seeing this technology continue to evolve and spread to other software in the future.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Exceptional automatic lens corrections and profiles
- Best-in-class DeepPRIME noise reduction
- Easy to use U Point local adjustments
- Support for Fujifilm X-Trans RAW files
- MultiView for easy image variation comparisons
- Good value for money compared to other high-end RAW processors
Cons:
- Limited library management tools compared to Lightroom
- Inconsistent user experience between Windows and Mac versions
- Clunky Lightroom plugin workflow
- High system requirements for smooth performance
- No native support for multi-shot compositing (HDR, panoramas, focus stacking)
Pricing:
- Essential Edition: $139
- Elite Edition: $219