Is there an updated review of Oloneo photoengine please?

[russellsnr]

Hi, I have searched for an up to date review on  Oloneo photoengine without success so far.
I cannot make up my mind between  Oloneo photoengine and Photomatix pro 4.
All the reviews/tests seem to be towards the year old mark and a lot I believe has happened to both softwares in that time.
Although the price difference is quite wide on the two products with Photomatix still offering discount codes to 15% and  Oloneo photoengine developers only offering discount on the HDRengine, think this is down to the mentality of us Europeans thinking "get as much as you can for the item and sell 10 instead of give a discount, sell 30 and still make a profit"
Anyways does anyone have or can provide an upto date review of these two products side by side please?
Thank You
Russ

[kencameron]

Hi, I have searched for an up to date review on  Oloneo photoengine without success so far.

I don't believe there has been much action on Oloneo in the last year. The developer has concentrated on putting out a cheaper and simpler version of the software, without the multiple light source and noise reduction modules. I have, and use, both products. Both are excellent. Oloneo is quicker but less flexible. I use it more often. I suggest you do your own testing, because your specific needs and workflow will be determinative of which suits you best.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Hi, I have searched for an up to date review on  Oloneo photoengine without success so far.
I cannot make up my mind between  Oloneo photoengine and Photomatix pro 4.

Hi Russ,

To add to the possible choices, have you considered SNS-HDR? I know it's an application for the Windows OS platform, but it reportedly also runs under Parallels or Fusion on a Mac, in case that is what you use.

I've been following the developments in HDR and exposure fusion for many years already, and SNS-HDR is IMHO hard to beat in its natural (and halo free) tonemapping of huge dynamic range images. It even gets better with each update, just when you think that it is hard to improve any further. Recommended, and relatively affordable.

Cheers,
Bart

[leuallen]

2nd the choice of SNS-HDR Pro. I have most of the HDR programs (including Oloneo) or have at least tried them and I prefer SNS.

Larry

[kencameron]

2nd the choice of SNS-HDR Pro.
Larry

Bart and Larry, as an incorrigible software junkie I would be interested to hear more about the reasons for your preference.

Ken

[leuallen]

Sorry for the late reply. I prefer SNS because it gives the most natural results. It is also one of the easiest to understand and use. The sliders have understandable names for what they do and the workflow is very simple (unlike Photomatix). It also has a masking feature which I like. The masks have a smart selection feature which works very well and I wish Photoshop had similar. The masks are very powerful and let you control local features. I can get more done in SNS before I go to PS to finish than with any of the other programs. Color and saturation control is very good and it includes curves for all color channels.

There are drawbacks. The program is written by a small software company in Poland and probably has limited resources for development so some features are lacking. The features are on the drawing board but it takes time to implement them. Lacking  is an undo. The brush for masking is a fixed size-to get a varied size effect you must zoom in/out. There is no integration with LR although you can go directly from SNS to PS. As I said the author said these were coming. There are frequent updates which keep improving the output. There are very few halos for example.

Larry

[Alan Smallbone]

I agree with Larry's write up. I too prefer SNS for a natural looking output, it is nice that he keeps adding things and updates.  There is a lightroom export plugin in now from a third party. All in all I think it is a good program and well worth it, I hardly use Oloneo any more.

Alan

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Bart and Larry, as an incorrigible software junkie I would be interested to hear more about the reasons for your preference.

Hi Ken,

Sorry I missed your question, hence my belated answer.

The reasons are:
1. Very natural looking tonality of results.
2. Virtually no halos.
3. Instant visual feedback on adjustments, making the whole process more creative.
4. Interface layout is user adjustable, and has some innovative/efficient ways of operation and thus fast workflow.

Cheers,
Bart