Nik Software

[Pete Askew]

Somehow I must have missed the announcement that DxO had bought the Nik collection from Google. The good news is that it will now continue to be developed; it was clear that Google had no interest beyond the smartphone plugin and it was doomed to fade slowly away. The slightly bad news for some will be that it is now proper commercial software again and so is no longer free - but it is a lot cheaper than the original Nik pricing and DxO have an offer on at the moment. Personally I am pleased by this move as I use the software a lot and really wanted it to both survive and continue to be developed so that it would remain functional even when Lightroom etc was upgraded. I also think that DxO are a good platform for the software and I use other products from them - the Filmpack is superb - and I have now upgraded my copies of the Nik suite. Here is a link:

https://www.dxo.com/us

 

[Pete Askew]

Here's the announcement I missed.

https://petapixel.com/2017/10/25/dxo-buys-nik-collection-google-will-resume-development/

 

[Pete Askew]

Right, and here's a tip if you do 'upgrade'. Export your recipes first! Luckily I have copies of my recipes on other machines so I can restore the ones I have just wiped out on my laptop!

 

[John Holland]

I can't tell if DXO's release has any improvements - it appears that it is just a re-brand release at this time.

 

[Pete Askew]

No, I don't see any obvious changes yet either but at least they've shown commitment.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Pete. Good to know. I thought it was a pity they stopped developing it.

 

[Brian Moore]

I downloaded the Nik Collection a while back. No idea how to use it. I should spend some time trying to figure out how to make it part of my workflow I guess.

Thanks Pete.

 

[Shaun Haselden]

I have used Silver Efex Pro and Colour Efex Pro since way back when with my very old Adobe Photoshop CS2 on a dedicated PC running XP. They still work for me perfectly and I still really enjoy using them. Combined with my FX format camera I get results now that have convinced me I did the correct thing by leaving silver halide photography behind. Although I find chlorobromide paper quality exquisite with medium format film, I find that I am now way more creative than I used to be.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

I must get into printing someday, though they do tend to be large things, and we ran out of spare space ten years ago!

 

[Shaun Haselden]

Yeah, I very rarely look back at darkroom printing with anything other than 'thank God I don't do that anymore'. Yes, I started that way as did so many others but I find that with hindsight, the level of frustration and stress is not overcome by the level of satisfaction obtained. As with other things in my life such as vinyl LP's I get way greater pleasure and satisfaction using more convenient methods. I guess in truth, my degree of dedication has simply vanished with age.

With all of that in mind though, I still insist that digital has a million miles to go before it approaches the level of depth and quality that a fine chlorobromide print produces with ease. A truly good silver halide print extends way deeper than the surface of the paper in a hugely delicate way whereas a digital print merely skims the surface. To each their own.