I currently have DXO Photolab Elite 6 and the NIK Collection, but I do not have Filmpack or Viewpoint. Pretty much the only feature I use in the NIK Collection is Color Efex Pro. I would prefer not to have to do some edits in Photolab, then convert the raw file to a TIFF in order to do some edits in Color Efex Pro - it’s just another step, an extra file, and applying some edits in Color Efex Pro can introduce more noise, as the DXO Noise reduction is done prior to doing any editing in Color Efex Pro. My question is, if I got DXO Filmpack, could I do pretty much everything there that I currently do in Color Efex Pro? The items I use most in Color Efex Pro are Tonal Contrast, Detail Extractor, Pro Contrast, Darken/Lighten Center, Warmth/Brilliance, Classical Soft Focus, Glamour Glow, along with a few others.
In a word, yes.
Thank you Joanna. I will probably try the 30-day free trial of FilmPack and try to intergrate that in my workflow instead of NIK Collection.
To my mind CEP5 is a quite different thing than Filmpack. The best is to try it yourself. 
I suggest you download the 30-day trial versions of FimPack 6 Elite and Viewpoint 4 and try them yourself. Each comes with a separate standalone version and also unhides all the built-in Viewpoint and Filmpack features already in PhotoLab.
I believe that many, if not most of us, who use PhotolLab as our primary raw processor tend to uninstall the standalone versions and just use the unhidden embedded features in PhotoLab. The standalone versions are mostly useful for those also using post processing software other then PhotoLab.
Also note that the standalone version of the Viewpoint 3 was identical to Perspective Efex in the Nik Collection. The only difference was that the Nik Collection version did not unlock the hidden features in PhotoLab. Also note that while the current version, Viewpoint 4 has some new features, the current version of PhotoLab now has some of the perspective features available to all users without the need for a Viewpoint license.
Personally, I have licenses for all of DxO’s software. although I only use the Nik Collection occasionally. When i do use the Nik Collection, of the nine Nik modules I only use four of them. Of those, I use Silver Efex Pro the most and sometimes also use Color Efex Pro, Analog Efex Pro and Viveza,
Mark
Apart from being a collection of apps that can’t handle raw files, the Niks do things that are difficult to emulate in PhotoLab and FilmPack. If you’re after a few effects only, you might get close, but trying to emulate the load of effects that come with CEP seems nonsensical to me.
The main question is, whether you need CEP’s effects or can do with other expressions you could get in DPL. You might not even need FP for the latter.
Thank you for all your replies. I downloaded the 30-day trial version of FilmPack 6, but now have all kinds of issues. It appears that FilmPack 6 was installed as a separate application from my DxO Photolab 6 Elite - this does me no good. Also, I now have all kinds of keywords in my Photolab Elite 6 which I never created. This has created quite a mess. I don’t want to trial FilmPack 6 if it is a standalone version and not integrated into my DxO Photolab Elite 6.
You don’t have to install the standalone version. Just register the serial number on the PhotoLab menu to activate as part of PL.
If PL is setup to automatically read metadata, it will scan all files in the current scope and add any keywords it finds to the database. It is a “convenience” feature.
Did you not read the entirety of my earlier post?. FilmPack installs a separate standalone application as well as unhiding the features from within PhotoLab 6. You may have to select the option from the Help menu to set up the the license from within Photolab if it is not already set up. As I indicated earlier you should consider uninstalling the standalone version if you have no need for it.
Keep in mind that all the FilmPack features are not in one spot. We can help you breakdown where everything is.
Mark
Mark,
I did see your response, and I do see that on my version of Photolab Elite there are some extra options that I didn’t have before. My only option upon opening FilmPack was to either purchase or to try out the trial version, no serial number to register.
@bphillips, you can start trials of FP and VP from DPL’s menu. No need to download and install anything. Take care to use your trial time wisely, trials cannot be renewed.
Thanks @platypus. I uninstalled the standalone version of FilmPack, and have the integrated version on my DPL 6. I did have to manually delete 40 or so added keywords, which I did not want. I will test it out for the 30 days and see if I can recreate the things I used in Color Efex Pro. I do wish that DxO had more tutorials and videos on their products. When I first purchased DxO Photolab, they seemed to be more customer oriented. It seems that has changed, which is a shame.
you might find a few things on youtube, search for dxo or photo joseph. I like Robin Whalley’s videos about DxO products. Maybe you’ll find the things you want. DxO user guides are also usable, there’s plenty of information in those too.
Nevertheless, Nik is different from PhotoLab and FilmPack…but it’s still worth the try to recreate some Nik effects without having to use Nik. Remember: Comparing can spoil one’s happiness.