I haven’t posted here in a very long time. Instead of questions, I’ve just been using PhotoLab as my default image editor, trying to use if for all my photo projects. The advice I got here in this forum was priceless, and I’ve been using PL4 ever since. Take photos. Use PhotoMechanic to move my images into a folder in an appropriate location, and filter out the useless images. Edit in PL4. Export. I keep forgetting things, but almost always I find a way to get things to work.
A summary of my experience with PL4 needs to cover two issues I never really resolved. I suspect they never will be resolved, and I eigher do the best I can with PL4, or improvise using the Open Source editor, DarkTable.
Issue #1 - PL4 works with all my cameras but won’t accept ‘dng’ images from my Leica M8.2 - my work-around is to convert the images to TIFF which PL4 seems to accept.
Issue #2 - PL4 won’t accept raw images from my Fuji X100f, which has the X-TransSensor. I’ve gotten into the habit of editing those images in DarkTable. I’m about ready to give up on the raw images completely, and just shoot in JPG.
With those two exceptions, and trying to remember all the things I’ve been taught by some wonderful people in this forum, I’ve been very happy with PL4. I used to watch ever Webinar DxO hosted, but I haven’t done that for a while. Instead, I’ve been trying to get the most out of the four cameras that are most important to me - Leica M10, Nikon Df, Fuji X100f, and Leica M8.2. My other camera gear is sitting around gathering dust, and to be honest, for the past half-year I’ve mostly been using only the M10 and recently, the Fuji.
I’ll post one image below that I spent a lot of time on in PL3 (on my laptop) and then in PL4 (on my Mac Mini). As always, you’re all free to comment, re-edit, complain, or tell me how many mistakes I made, and maybe someone will simply write “it’s about time!”.
L1002943 | 2021-07-25-Walkabout.dng (29.8 MB)
L1002943 | 2021-07-25-Walkabout.dng.dop (12.4 KB)
And here’s the finished image:
Speaking of the Leica M10, I took a ten day visit to my brother’s property, and only brought my M10. I was using it every day, correcting mistakes, and getting it to do everything I wanted. I came home with a smile on my face, as it even worked for “action shots”, adjusting the camera by feel. Every day I would mail out several images to family and friends, and by the end of the week I was usually smiling.