Reviews, tutorials and news on photo & video technology
In the final week of October, DxO Labs released its newest version of Photolab. The app has been improved overall but the main features worth a closer look are ClearView Plus, advanced colour management, spot weighted corrections, U-Point functionality and PhotoLibrary.
Loupedeck+ 2.4.3 didn’t recognise Aurora HDR 2019, despite it being the latest version and the Illuminati Light meter iOS app hasn’t been updated since its first release. It has erratic flash colour metering and could be improved in various areas. The forum seems dead as well. What went wrong?
It’s been a while since I reviewed Alien Skin’s Exposure app, so I took it upon me to give Exposure X4 a good look and what I found was an app that combines strong MAM features with an attractive feature set for adjusting and creatively editing images.
Skylum’s Aurora HDR app has quickly gained recognition as one of the most powerful and efficient HDR application available. Initially, this was due in part to Trey Ratcliffe’s active collaboration with development but two versions later the app’s high standards and ease-of-use have made it the HDR image editor of choice. The 2019 version has just seen some major improvements.
Apple fills up their iMacs with far too little memory to be useful, so the first thing you want to do when you buy a new machine is think about installing additional memory. Apple’s memory isn’t cheap and iMacs – apart from the iMac Pro – can easily be upgraded after having purchased one with the standard 8GB installed. The question is how much you need to buy, given that even third-party RAM like that of Crucial isn’t for free. It all depends on what you plan out to do with your new iMac.
Sometimes you come across a product that you didn’t know you needed until you see it, try it and are amazed you never thought of it before. ScreenFloat is such a utility, available for macOS only. It’s compatible with High Sierra and you get a 15-day trial period without the watermark nonsense some other vendors insist on.
Quark only just announced the upcoming availability of QuarkXPress 2018, the next new full version of Quark’s graphic design and page layout software. Coming on 16 May 2018, QuarkXPress 2018 will bring creative professionals new typography, and print and digital publishing features necessary to meet daily creative and productivity demands. The new features and functionality …
Luminar 2018 has new correction filters powered by artificial intelligence, it's faster than the previous version, it has a dedicated RAW development module and in 2018 Macphun (soon to be renamed to Skylum Software) plans to release a full-blown digital asset management (DAM) platform. Of course, there are also new features, such as the intelligent …
DxO acquired Nik Software's assets, including U Point technology, integrated it with DxO Optics Pro, added a new repair tool for good measure, and renamed its flagship RAW editor to [DxO Photolab](http://www.dxo.com/us/photography/photo-software/dxo-photolab). The result is an editor that's closer to Adobe Lightroom or Phase One's Capture One Pro in terms of features than its predecessor.
DxO, the well known French developer of DxO Optics Pro and the force behind DxOMark, plans to continue development of the Nik Collection, with the current version to remain available for free on DxO’s dedicated website, while a new version is planned for mid-2018. The first results of the acquisition are the inclusion of Nik’s U Point local adjustments solution, in addition to a new Repair tool and improved DxO Lens Sharpness technology. As a result, DxO Optics Pro also gets a new name — DxO PhotoLab — and is expected to be setting a new standard in RAW processing for pro and enthusiast photographers.
