Originally posted by rawr Just wait 6 months for PL4 to emerge (for another $99), with probably marginally less clumsy Nik integration.
DxO still disappoint me, version after version, with simple things like their lack of support for basic metadata editing. The best PL can currently do is write/modify rating, artist, & copyright in the image EXIF for you, and record rating as an XMP field, but (except for rating, perhaps) the edits are only possible *one image at a time*, no persistent edits. No IPTC editing support AT ALL either.
I guess I could understand, but DxO is not meant to be a DAM. Their focus is on the development side with enough of a library to do culling. As for edits being one image at a time, you can copy and paste edits from image to image or make a preset that you can quickly apply to a lot of images. It isn't quite like LR, but it definitely isn't as restrictive as "one at a time".
I get that LR essentially does DAM and cataloging, but the price was that once you went into that, it was difficult to get out of (especially the catalog side without having to deal with compatability to some extent). Thankfully, I had always managed my catalogs in an independent software, mostly because I was trying to tag files (IPTC and XMP) prior to having RAW capabilities. I stuck with that software because even when I did get raw, I started with the Pentax software, Silkypix Pro, and RawTherapee. Eventually, I got LR on an education license and used it until they went subscription. But for my use LR was almost strictly a developer. The catalog was only used for ratings and color labels (to track workflow).
DxO is basically a developer, and I am glad they brought in enough support to change ratings and labels, but my separate DAM still handles my XMP/IPTC tags.
I do hope they improve the NIK integration. Really, with the Elite version of PL, the NIK should just be built right in. Most of the Nik features have redundancy with features in PL, just different implementation. For example, I can create a black in white in DxO or I can export to Silver Efex, but why not just build in Silver Efex into PL (Elite). And then on the noise removal, I'm not sure I would ever export to Nik when the Prime noise reduction is so fantastic.
I don't know though. The advantage to Nik separately is that others can use it with other software, but we'll see.