The Nik Collection photo editing suite is back again, but this time the latest iteration of the popular plugin has a modest price tag.
The Nik Collection has had an interesting and somewhat troubled history. It started life as a DxO product with a professional price tag of $500. Google acquired it in 2012 and dropped the price down to $150. A few years went by without updates to the plugin, and in 2016, Google announced it would make it available for free. While this was great news for those who used and wanted to start using the software, the worry was that Google would no longer support it. Sure enough, Google abandoned Nik support last year, leaving many photographers uncertain of what their future editing workflows would look like. However, in a surprising turn of events, DxO bought the plugin suite back this past October with plans to restart development and support.
And now, Nik Collection is finally back again. The introductory price is $49.99 and is good through the end of June. Starting July 1, it will be priced at $69. I welcome this development, as it bodes well for future support and development of the program. I use the Color Efex Pro Photoshop plugin often as part of my landscape and cityscape editing workflow and am excited that as I continue to update to the latest version of Adobe CC, I'll be able to count on Nik Collection to work seamlessly.
What are your thoughts on the latest for the Nik Collection?
You can still download the old version
https://nikcollection.dxo.com/nik-collection-2012/
They are redirecting it to the new trial download
At the moment i'm using the still downloadable free version. If i see well, there is no difference between my version and this new one. Are they going to include new filters/plugins in the upcoming weeks/months?Why is it worth the purchase?
I think this rolls out support for the current CC version
DXO is claiming they've fixed the "paint effect" masking error where the program would spit out dialog errors everytime you released the mouse button while selectively brushing in the effect. An easy way around that bug is to just create the effect you want, followed by a simple layer mask. So far they haven't convinced me to drop $70. I'm guessing the updates are minimal because the improved masking is one of the only things they are marketing.
DxO Optics was excelent software, no experience with DxO Labs but the big caveat of both is the missing support for Fuji X-trans files. Most probably the Nik will be locked in the future and usable only with DxO... if the company recovers from bancrupcy.
My existing (old) still works just fine with PS
I'm wondering if, when/if they make substantial improvements, will there be a much better deal for those who bought this early release as a thank you for pumping revenue into it.
I used to use it quite a bit but have cut way back over the past couple years.
I've been a NIK customer from the get-go and I was delighted to learn that DxO was resuscitating this superb collection of filters. I immediately bought it via the DxO website and recieved a download code which didn't work to activate the plugins. I contacted tech support who responded (2 days later) with a suggestion which also didn't work to resolve the issue. When contacted again, the DxO tech team suggested I jump through numerous complicated hoops to troubleshoot their software's activation issues. It shouldn't be this much trouble to simply activate the software. With that in mind, I've thrown in the towel and have requested my money back. We'll see...
Hei Torv, are you aware that DxO is in trouble?
http://forum.dxo.com/index.php/topic,13913.msg71355.html#msg71355
Thanks for the head's up. "Now I see", said the blind man.
The old collection is 32 bit, the new one is 64 bit.
All mac apps need to be 64 bit in the near future.
The first notable difference is, loading speed etc., it is faster on my MBP 2017.
I had the free version which worked fine, but bought the new version right away. I’m excited to support a company that has invested in a beautiful photographic tool.
And for me it still crashed Photoshop so. im asking my money back :(
Well good news that the plugin was rescued but for now my legacy version still works very well with both current Lightroom Classic CC & PS CC 2018. In the meantime I've been using Topaz plugins such as Clarity over the past 2 years much more than Nik. The only caveat and one I'm watching is Silver Effects. That by far still is the one & only B&W plugin in my opinion, I use it for all B&W.
The new versions fixes a number of issues introduced by being far older than the latest versions of MacOS and Photoshop.
I bought the new version but the download from DXO is so slow that it times out before it finishes.
I still use the Google NIK collection as plug-ins for Photoshop and they still work (mostly) but today I purchased Luminar 2018 and it seems like a worthy competitor. You can get it now for $69 (try coupon code LUMIOFF10 for an additional $10 off). Cheers.
"The Nik Collection has had an interesting and somewhat troubled history. It started life as a DxO product with a professional price tag of $500."
Aneesh, that is not true! DXO didn't own Nik Filters before they were acquired by Google. Nik Software was a software development company established in 1995 and based in San Diego, California. Nik Software developed multiple image editing plug-ins and tools and Snapseed. In September 2012, Nik Software was acquired by Google for an undisclosed amount.
The Snapseed app was the reason why Googe swallowed Nik Software and let the Nik collection die, they only were interested in Snapseed. The first time DXO got in contact (and did NOT rebuy it, they bought it for their first time) was when DxO announced on October 25, 2017 the acquisition of Nik Collection.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nik_Software
Exactly Christian. I purchased the full suite from Nik Software around 2003. If I remember it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $600. But it was amazing. I purchased the "new" version from DxO a day or so after they announced it. Downloaded it and it works just fine and it works with Photoshop CC 2018 (which the older Google version did not support). I applaud DxO for rescuing Nik form its slow death at Google.
same here. Viveza was all the rage about 10 years ago. I'm going to download the new version. I hope DXO works things out. I figured they lost their footing with the iPhone camera attachment.
I could not be happier. I have never found another film emulation program that comes even close to Silver EFX. Now what about Fuji support?
I've used Nik for a few years along with LR5. I just upgraded to LightroomCC &PS. And Nik pro sharpener does not work with it. Does anybody know if this would be fixed if I upgraded? I'm willing to upgrade, but I just don't want to buy it and have it still not work with the Mac LR/PS tools. Thanks!
Fantastic news that the Nik Collection has been saved from a slow death. Pity I'm going to have to pay for the same old filters yet again - 3rd time lucky perhaps.