I am planning to purchase the Nik collection, partly because it will get me PL5 essentials free. All of that is good and I understand the limitations (I will probably upgrade to PL Elite the next time there is an offer).
I was thinking of also getting FilmPack and will probably trial within PL5 Essentials when I have unlocked it. But that will activate the Elite trial I guess.
I can’t tell whether I will actually get any useful features in PL5 Essentials if I purchase only FilmPack Essentials? Will that give me some of the color rendering options (extra films etc) when I am processing RAW files (which I don’t think will otherwise be available in PL5 Essentials). Or so I need either or both Elite versions to be able to apply film styles to my RAW workflow?
Do you realise that Nik Collection only works with non-RAW files?
Yes, you could get the free PL Essentials but there are so many features missing compared with PL Elite…
You would need to use PL Essentials as a RAW converter in order to use the Nik Collection tools, but the Essentials de-noising tool, which is run on the RAW file, does not include DeepPRìME and Nik DFine is nowhere near as good.
Then you need tot look at just how little you get with FilmPack Essentials compared to the Elite version. Look at the comparison on this page…
If you download the 30 day free trial of both PhotoLab and FilmPack, you will get to see everything that is in the Elite versions. You could end up being very disappointed if you subsequently purchase the full version of Essentials, only to discover things you found in the free trial are not available.
Furthermore, there is very little that the Nik Collection can add to PL Elite as most tools are included in the “one stop shop” of the Elite version.
Beware:Trial versions come as Elite editions. If you test the trials and buy Essential editions afterwards, you’ll most likely be disappointed.
I’d recommend you get PhotoLab Elite and FilmPack Elite now and buy the Nik Collection later, if you’ll still want or need it in a year or three. Why? The Nic Collection has had minor updates only over the last few years and I suppose that DxO is taking another few years until the complete Collection has been updated.
Yes. I understand the limitations of the Essentials versions. I’ve been running Nik and PL5 Elite on the trail. It’s actually the Nik collection that I really want (for both Silver Efex Pro and Viveza primarily) and I’m happy with the PL → tiff workflow.
I will I’m sure upgrade PL5 Essential to PL6+ Elite next time there is an offer on upgrading. But in the meantime I was thinking of trying FilmPack.
Again, the trial will be for the Elite version but my question was the specific one of whether, if I were to purchase FilmPack 6 Essentials, any of its (limited) functionality would be available to me in PL5 Essentials for my inital RAW workflow, given that color rendering is I think only in PL Elite and FP Essentials claims not to work with RAW at least in standalone. I can’t find the answer to that anywhere (maybe because everyone actually just gets the Elite versions!).
Aside from having a lot more presets in FP Elite, it’s mainly the fine contrast sliders that really add to DPL’s functionality. Fine contrast tools come as selective tools that act on high, mid and low tones.
To answer your question: Yes FP6 Essential will work with PL6 Essential but as indicated above by @Joanna and @platypus , you will not be happy with it.
Trust us: Get the Elite version of both programs. You can thank us later.
I generally agree of course. I use FilmPack 6.2 all the time from within PhotoLab while I rarely use the Nik Collection. However, I would be remiss in not pointing out got there are many PhotoLab users who feel just the opposite.
The Nik collection provides a few hundred modifiable presets that are basically ready to use. Creating similar looks in PhotoLab with FilmPack requires that you first imagine what you want the end result to look like, rather than selecting a preconfigured preset. In addition, achieving a similar “look” to many of the Nik presets may require significantly greater effort to achieve.
However, having said that, I still much prefer the creativity of doing all the work from within PhotoLab.
