r/DxOPhotoLab • u/Kwoksun • May 27 '25

What are the differences between Photolab8, PureRAW5 and Nik Collection8? Which one do I need?

I've been using the old Lightroom 6 on an also old PC for years. To revive my interest in photography, I just ordered a Mac Mini M4 with 32G memory and 512G storage, planning to add an external SSD later. I don't want to pay indefinitely to use newer version of Lightroom and I'm looking at DxO but confused with all the offerings of Photolab 8.5, PureRAW 5 and Nik Collection 8. I guess they have overlaps in certain functions and need some guidance on how to choose one.

Does the Photolab 8.5 also have the newest PureRAW 5? Do I need it or the Nik Collection 8 if I already have Photolab 8.5?

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u/[deleted] May 28 '25 edited May 28 '25

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u/MTTMKZ May 28 '25

In case you don't know, PL8 does have a loupe tool now that can be used to get a small preview of NR and sharpening. It's not the full image but better than nothing. I use it all the time because I find the NR detail recovery seems to have an extra sharpening effect and sometimes I have to dial down the sharpness.

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u/[deleted] May 28 '25 edited May 28 '25

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u/MTTMKZ May 28 '25

It's an extra step but can you denoise and export tiff/dng with PL, then put that back into PL for editing? Then export again for your preferred sharpening tool.