U-Point upgrade
The flagship U-Point technology, which selects areas based on colour and luminosity, gets an upgrade as well, adding the ability to create elliptical masks and also control brush options, allowing the end user to refine their targeted areas for local adjustments. Previously you could only work with circular or linear masks, so this is adding more versatility within a tool that was already a firm favourite.
AI powered dust removal is another useful and time-saving tool that automatically detects and removes any sensor dust or imperfections at the click of a button. On larger batches this would potentially, as expected, be quite a lengthy task, but if you’re working on individual images then it’s a speedy process, and way quicker than doing things manually.
Integrated with Affinity Photo, PhotoLab 10 works in conjunction with this highly capable image editing software at the click of a button, so you can move your photos between the two packages as necessary. Any editing done in Affinity is saved and sent back to PhotoLab to stack with the original. It’s a great option for those wanting to do more photo manipulation or layered editing.
Verdict
Overall PhotoLab 10 is offering an impressive bunch of new features, with the new Depth Mask feature stealing the show for me. This editing suite would benefit wedding, portrait and landscape photographers in particular, thanks to the features I’ve highlighted: in particular, person specific masks and depth mask adjustments would simplify post-processing immensely, and make it way easier to achieve professional standard results.
I’ve said it before in previous reviews, and I preach it all the time to my clients, that DxO offers, in my opinion, the best RAW file processing you can find, and that fact alone might be enough to convince you to download the free trial to see the magic for yourselves. Sidenote – Fujifilm X-trans users are only supported in the Elite version of PhotoLab10.
Finally, there is also the huge benefit that it’s possible to purchase a perpetual licence with future upgrade options for this fully-featured package, something that will appeal to many who are watching their cashflow. Overall, there’s a lot to like here, and the latest PL10 is very much to be recommended.
Pricing
DxO PhotoLab 10 is available now from the DxO website for macOS and Windows computers, a perpetual license and no subscription model with a 30-day trial to have a go with what we’ve covered and more.
- New license: £229.99/$249.99/€249.99
- Upgrade from DxO PhotoLab 8 or 9: £114.99/$129.99/€129.99
- Head here for the free trial version of PhotoLab 10.
Save £34.50! Get 15% off new DxO PhotoLab 10 by using Professional Photo’s discount code! Simply input PRO15 at the check-out to save.
Estudio EA