A chap I know came up with a great “swim lane” definition to distinguish applications like Lightroom from applications like Photoshop. Most people know the sorts of things Photoshop can do, so he coined a term for the Lightroom type of apps as “Darkroom” apps. I think that works really well. At least if you’re old (or curious) enough to understand the film terminology.
I do agree with you Peter, but only because my situation is a bit different. A little over a year ago, I moved from a Nikon dSLR to a Fujifilm mirrorless system with a sensor that is not supported by Photolab. This means that I hardly use PhotoLab any more. Version 4 would be very appealing to me if I could use Deep Prime, but I can’t. I still use PhotoLab for some iPhone (11 Pro Max) photos, but the main DxO product I use these days is the truly wonderful NIK collection because it is not sensor-dependent. I will therefore skip Photolab 4 and hope that at some point, DxO will support the Fujifilm sensors. Of course, it should be possible for DxO to offer superb de-noising features on cameras that have unsupported sensors, but until they either do that or support X-Trans sensors, I don’t think I’ll be updating PhotoLab. Sad, really, because I truly like the product and the company.
I couldn’t disagree more. The upgrade in processing prowess with DeepPRIME is so dramatic it’s like all of my cameras got new image sensors. DeepPRIME is worth the $70 upgrade alone, but combined with the new eye dropper functionality with the HSL wheel (thank you, DxO Labs for listening!), makes PhotoLab 4 the best RAW developer I’ve ever used!
Blown away with this update!
A very good upgrade, with a more logical user friendly workspace together with some very good improvements. Deep Prime alone is worth the price, particularly if you use high ISO. No doubt other things will come in the future at a price but very good value for a RAW EDITOR. A once only cost, not a monthly subscription and if you don’t want to pay for an upgrade then DON’T !! Simples !!
Technically speaking, Peter stated happiness with version-jump-upgrade AND new camera profiles carried over to previous versions. The former is true…the latter is not.
Without the latter, perpetuity may be limited as a practical matter.
Technically speaking, I was replying to it’s statement:
which is different from the need of a new version for new camera/lens.
So, technically speaking it’s false that DxO does not allow to skip upgrades and only charge the cost of upgrade.
You read, but you didn’t comprehend.
Re-read what Peter last wrote which could have used better grammar. The second sentence starts with AND.
What he is saying is that he would be good with:
a) ability to skip versions (which, yes, you CAN do)
AND
b) get new camera profiles (for previous versions)
So, in practical terms you can skip versions and then upgrade when you want, like you say.
EXCEPT
if you get a new camera and need a new profile. Then, as a practical matter, you are forced to upgrade just to get a new camera profile.
You are addressing (only) the former and not the latter…like I said…and like Peter said.
To the OP topic… I can understand the frustration that an update contains a few feature items and thus not appear to be worth the price of entry. I don’t begrudge DXO funding their business and providing us with regular product updates. Considering how much it costs to develop software, they are welcome and I am happy to support their new versions.
Of course we don’t always get to see the feature update we individually might want to see. Personally I want to see a big change and improvement to Projects.
But I am not going to grumble… DeepPrime is fantastic and that alone is well worth the upgrade cost (IMHO).
My 2p worth.
I personally find the upgrade to be fantastic! IMO Deep Prime, the new DNG support, and the picker for HSL alone to be well worth the $70 upgrade price. All the rest is just icing on the cake. Existing customers get the app for $70 instead of $100 and new users get it for $150 instead of $200, what could nicer? In fact i think that the price is very low for what you get. Don’t tell DXO that I said that, though. 
I’ve read and perfectly comprehend, and I confirm what I’ve written.
Bad or good, we are leaving in a world of digital distribution when all products are subscription like service. What is good with DxO, previous version is yours to use all the time (with no update though) you can still use your Lab 3 as compared to Adobe CS subscription or Office 365 - this when your subscription is over and you cannot use anymore at all these products. Paying 60+ EUR as upgrade option per year for me is ok.
I do well understand logic behind in DxO and very well agree that people need to be paid for their work.
New HSL dropper is a nice addition.
Still a lot cheaper than subscription if Adobe LR for a year.
BTW, it’s just on a year since pl3 came out.
Aubrey
Well I will buy the upgrade eventually (did purchase V3 on 28 august 2020 but that is to long ago for a free upgrade 
) but not immediately I am disappointed there is no easy way of skin retouching using the same AI as the denoise or something, I see that ON1 WILL have it in their next iteration, denoise is nice but that alone does not make me pay 69 euros just TWO MONTHS after purchasing V3 that is a bit overdone in my opinion, they should at least give free upgrades to persons who buyed it as far as three months ago, common, … but ok, I understand, difficult times and they probably need the money.
But if I have to choose how to spend wisely then it will probably be ON1 for reasons of portrait AI.
This is the same for all purchase photography software: the grace period is 1-month I believe.
Tip: all major photography software releases between September - November. This is a yearly cycle so you can set your clock to it. Buying before means you often get a good deal, but you will soon run outdated software. The best moment to buy photography software is often Black Friday.
What is new about DNGs in PL4? I find nothing about this in the What’s New info.
Hi Mick. Gregor has given you the scoop above but if you wan to read more here’s the whole thread about it.
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