Thanks for the comprehensive reply, Lucas.
I wonder if teh exported DNG is viewable in other image browsers, such as Photo Mechanic. Those exported from PL3 were not.
Also, can the exported DNG be edited in another application that reads DNG files, or only PL4?
How is it for sky replacement? I’m still using PS CS6 (refused to go subscription) and about all I use it for these days is to merge stationary ground with tracked night sky). The CS6 interface text is tiny on a 4K screen, even with work-arounds. I know all the keyboard shortcuts, so it’s mostly OK, but I am on the lookout for a non-subscription replacement.
Sky replacement isn’t a feature of Affinity at the moment, but for what I do it isn’t anywhere near the top of my list.
I usually use Viveza and just alter the colours as I need instead.
I have a copy of Luminar 4 for the very few occasions I actually need to do something like sky replacement.
Affinity Photo can be used to easily replace PS CS6 unless you have any “special” plugins. Works well as a pixel editor with DXO and has pano, HDR and focus stacking features.
Take a look at this short video:
Ian
Ian,
Thanks for the link. He makes it look so straightforward that I’m inspired to give it a try. 
That’s statement may be a bit premature since you have no idea what is being planned for PhotoLab 5.
Mark
The upgrade to DeepPRIME was not a small feat. It probably took more effort than all the other enhancements in PL4 put together, and work on it probably began quite some time ago. Whether you upgrade or not next year is up to you. I suspect however that you may decide to reevaluate your decision once PL5 is released, depending on what is in it and how well it runs.
Mark
And when you don’t have Photoshop?
I never owned it, yes the poorman’s version PSE.
Didn’t liked it’s exports much.
Personaly i like the “right tool for each job” mentality.
If i have a “do it all tool” it’s mostly rubbish.
Dam, checking, culling not DxOPL at the moment.
Development til finished or nearly finished? Big yes for DxOPL
Nik and other applications just when i feel i can’t accomplish my goal in DxOPL.
I understand people who use 20%(important) of DxOPL, denoise and optical unit just to proceed in LR or Photoshop no real urch have to upgrade every time.
But then you spent that money on upgrading /maintaining the other one.
Personally, i find the i don’t upgrade because i don’t like it post’s a “who are you trying to convince? Yourself or others” scribles.
They need to be there because it’s a form of reviewing a product but the variaties of possible combinations and personal view of use can get others put on the wrong legg when they read only half the story.
That said, it’s a leap forward’s due the new deepprime engine.
Now they have free’d resources for the other stuff so i am excited to see the future feature’s next year…
Did i call you by name?
It was in general not you personal.
I NEVER spent 1500 euro for a software tool. But that’s just me
Anyone else may do what they want.
(and please lighten up don’t be so affended all the time. It’s a forum not a court. 
)
I really like the new menu layout in PL4
Makes options very accessible.
The eye dropper on HSL is a very welcome addition.
Imressive new denoising I’ve gone over a few images from 12 years ago… Wow!
Aubrey
Yeah, I paid $500 for Aperture when it first appeared, and I considered it a bargain. And $600 for Photoshop before that.
Currently, there is a holiday sale that promises up to 30% discount.
The 30% are only available for the lowest cost app (ViewPoint), all others have discounts of ± 25%.
Be sure to check prices and editions and the gear they cover before you buy.
No worries, @gregor, whatever the discounts are, they seem to differ depending on where and when you access the store and what products you look at…
Again, those who want to buy better thoroughly check available offers.
I used to pay for PS, $600 for a pixel editor. It was a different world then.
Imagine trying to sell a pixel editor for $600 today
I am just going to sit in the corner and have a little cry now
Dear @Elaine,
I moved the whole discussion to a proper section - Problems with NIK activation
Regards,
Svetlana G.
I find Deep Prime alone worth the £55 upgrade. It’s not just noise reduction, the optical corrections are somehow improved too. PL (and OP previously) were always better than LR and PS in the initial raw conversion. PL4 has gone further. With the inexpensive kit lens on my Canon EOS M5, the corners are vastly improved compared to PL3 if I use deep prime, and that improvement is even visible at 100 ISO. On my full frame cameras, the shadow and fine detail are also improved. And the processing speed has improved. So yes, I’m happy with the cost of the upgrade, probably more so than previous upgrades in fact.
It may be missing a few features from LR like HDR merge and Panorama Stitching, but I honestly have used both these features maybe twice. In fact, I’d say the HDR merge is borderline useless to me, since I don’t want to create images that look like they were computer-generated, anyway.
I’ve been using Lighroom for about 10 years, and I’ve recently bought into Capture One (12,20,21) , Luminar (3, 4, and now Luminar A.I), and I also own Dxo Photo Lab 3, and now 4.
After all the years of using all these products, I’d have to say DxO Photolab is in my top 3 as a photographer. I shoot with a very high-megapixel camera (Sony a7RIV) and the sharpening and denoise via PL4 + DeepPrime denoise is nothing short of revolutionary. Not to mention the Film Pack 5 add-on is the best film emulation I’ve seen (I own RNI 4+5 for LR, RNI 4 for Capture One, and many more similar products).
My only real issue with DxO is the lack of support for Leica’s newest cameras, which I’m deeply considering switching to.
HDR merge and Panorama Stitching are the main reasons I keep LR. It also serves as my DAM, but with my image files in a proper folder hierarchy, and with PL indexing now, I could live without this. The other thing I use it for is stripping backgrounds from studio portraits, but I could do this with a cheap pixel editor like Pixelmator. Maybe I should ditch Adobe and use the money to buy a dedicated HDR pano app…
Or consider Affinity - which has a very good pano-stitching feature, which includes auto in-paint for missing areas … and it’s reasonably priced.
John M
