The Nik Collection

[Ed Rooney]

While my back was turned, an outfit called DxO seem to have spirited away the Nik apps. They are no longer on PS, and they are no longer a free download that can be added to PS and LR. DxO is fooling around with these tools at the moment, and they are not available at all right now.

 

Vineza 2 is what I use in Capture NX2.

 

Edo

[Betty LaRue]

NOOOOO! 

[Doc]

I think we were aware that the Nik collection had been taken over by DxO as Google had no interest in it. Hopefully they will make them available again soon!!

 

Kumar (the Doc one)

[hdh]

Actually this is one of the reasons that I use open source software. 

It is close to impossible (wanted to say impossible) that free open source software (FOSS) taken off the market. 

 

Companies do sometimes buy competing products, having them disappear in the lowest drawer, all to promote their own products.  

The reason being that it is not financially attractive to support two products, keeping two separate development and support teams. 

Eventually though, some of the good functionality of such retired products may find its way into future versions of their own product. 

FOSS, in contrary, is sometimes developing into several diverse products that serve different audiences.

Also FOSS products do regularily benefit from development in other FOSS products.

Integrating a new functionality from another product is easier than an entire new development.

 

Albeit the Nik collection was free, it was not open source, if it were I am almost certain that there would have been developers out there, taking it over.

Still hoping with you that it will be made available again.

 

(Sorry for promoting free and open source software again, I know it is a controversial topic here  )

[Archaeo]

I think the old NIK collection is still available for free on the DxO site: https://nikcollection.dxo.com/ 

In the long run it may be a good thing that DxO will be continuing development, their other software is very good.

 

 

[Ed Rooney]

4 hours ago, Archaeo said:

I think the old NIK collection is still available for free on the DxO site: https://nikcollection.dxo.com/ 

In the long run it may be a good thing that DxO will be continuing development, their other software is very good.

 

 

 

I tried downloading Nik again, but it didn't activate. As Doc said, DxO is working on their apps, and Nik should be available again soon. Or maybe "soon". Will it be free or what will DxO charge? Those things are unknown at the moment. 

 

hdh, your views are always welcome. Personally, I think Adobe's price for CC is more than fair, and I'm not a techie and not interested learning a new workflow. 

[Archaeo]

2 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

I tried downloading Nik again, but it didn't activate. As Doc said, DxO is working on their apps, and Nik should be available again soon. Or maybe "soon". Will it be free or what will DxO charge? Those things are unknown at the moment. 

 

hdh, your views are always welcome. Personally, I think Adobe's price for CC is more than fair, and I'm not a techie and not interested learning a new workflow. 

 

That's odd, I downloaded it & installed on Saturday with no problems - just gave them my e-mail address & they sent a link for the download. The collection appears to be exactly the same as the version google made available.

 

[Ed Rooney]

Hmm. Could be a glitch or a USA thing I'm suffering from, Martyn.  Maybe I'll try to download the collection again later. I'm not desperate for these Nik apps. As I've said, I use the same tool they call Vineza 2 in Capture NX2.

 

Edo

[Duncan_Andison]

You need to go to the download page, enter your email to be updated about the new paid for app. Once you do this you will get an email with a link to download the free version.

[Ed Rooney]

Ah so. Paid for . . . like they want money, Duncan?  Hmm.  I think I'll stick with with the same tools in my Capture NX2, which is still functioning, thank God.

[Duncan_Andison]

1 hour ago, Ed Rooney said:

Ah so. Paid for . . . like they want money, Duncan?  Hmm.  I think I'll stick with with the same tools in my Capture NX2, which is still functioning, thank God.

 

I think you've misunderstood. You register an interest in the paid version and they send you a link for the free one in an email. No money exchanges hand at all 

[Ed Rooney]

Ahhh, thanks, Duncan.

 

Your snaps of those lovely young lambs makes me want to be a vegetarian.  I eat meat these days only about 2 days a week.  But  I want to remain an omnivore, in case the world turns upside down. 

 

Edo

[Duncan_Andison]

1 hour ago, Ed Rooney said:

Ahhh, thanks, Duncan.

 

Your snaps of those lovely young lambs makes me want to be a vegetarian.  I eat meat these days only about 2 days a week.  But  I want to remain an omnivore, in case the world turns upside down. 

 

Edo

 

Cheers... yeah, we don't eat much meat.... red meat virtually never. About once or twice a year..... chicken, turkey and fish aren't quite so lucky though :-) 

[Julie Edwards]

Well - I hope my current Silver EFex Continues to run for a while because I wont be going the DXO route... Not because I don’t want to pay - I do and am happy to pay for software that enhances my business... I wont go there because DXO do not (and according to statements) will not support the Fuji X-Trans sensor array.. 

[Cofiant]

It seems DXO labs have gone into receivership.

http://www.canonrumors.com/industry-news-dxo-labs-goes-into-receivership/

[Colin Woods]

That's a shame. DxO is an integral part of my workflow. I hope they can get their finances in order and carry on. 

[Stephen Lloyd]

You can still download, for free, the Nik collection from DXO - and they're developing it. I've put it on my main Pc and Laptop this week as both had to be wiped - one crashed and the other needed refreshing as Win 10 upgrades had effectively done an Apple on it in terms of slow it down.

 

 

[John Mitchell]

On 4/13/2018 at 13:19, Ed Rooney said:

Ahhh, thanks, Duncan.

 

Your snaps of those lovely young lambs makes me want to be a vegetarian.  I eat meat these days only about 2 days a week.  But  I want to remain an omnivore, in case the world turns upside down. 

 

Edo

 

The world already is upside down -- Or is it downside up? -- and it ain't the fault of the lambs. They deserve a break IMO. I couldn't imagine killing one.

[John Mitchell]

On 4/23/2018 at 09:12, Colin Woods said:

That's a shame. DxO is an integral part of my workflow. I hope they can get their finances in order and carry on. 

 

Yes, I hope they hang in there. I don't want to have to start paying for access to the Adobe clouds.

[Colin Woods]

For me its not about avoiding paying for the CC package, its just that DxO's RAW conversions are so good. Instant eradication of CA, fringing, distortions, etc. 

[MDM]

8 hours ago, Colin Woods said:

For me its not about avoiding paying for the CC package, its just that DxO's RAW conversions are so good. Instant eradication of CA, fringing, distortions, etc. 

 

Lightroom has had all that for years now. The instant CA removal in LR/ACR has been around since 2014 and works very well. There are various auto transform and distortion control options as well.

[Ed Rooney]

I use all that in LR, Michael. But Vineza 2 (in Nik) is the function I use in Capture NX2, where you can control small details. We don't have that in LR.

[MDM]

2 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

I use all that in LR, Michael. But Vineza 2 (in Nik) is the function I use in Capture NX2, where you can control small details. We don't have that in LR.

 

I have to say I've not used the Nik collection so can't directly compare but there are some very advanced local adjustment tools now in Lightroom. I used to use Photoshop for a lot of my local adjustments but I now do most of my local adjustment work in Lightroom as it means I am working mostly on the raw files with some final stuff in Photoshop if necessary. I must check out the Nik collection at some point but too busy right now (which is good).

[Stephen Lloyd]

The Nik collection overall is superior to what Light room offers in most of it's equivalent functions, but s ever not all. Try it. It's one of those things people cannot have an valid opinion on unless they've used both!

[MDM]

5 hours ago, Stephen Lloyd said:

The Nik collection overall is superior to what Light room offers in most of it's equivalent functions, but s ever not all. Try it. It's one of those things people cannot have an valid opinion on unless they've used both!

 

Time is the problem with that for me I'm afraid. I'm too busy to start trying out something new when what I'm using is certainly more than adequate for what I do, moreover testing a set of tools that haven't been updated for some time and may be at the end of the road (perhaps Adobe will buy them). For me the integeration between Lightroom and Photoshop (which I have been using for more than 20 years) trumps just about everything and there is no other single package that has a combined DAM and top quality raw converter as well as a whole lot of other functions (such as Lightroom's print and soft proofing).

 

I'm certainly aware that a lot of photographers swear by the Nik collection so it must be good. The only reason I interjected here was to point out that Lightroom has a lot of new and excellent functionality in the last four years or so that maybe some Nik or DxO users are unaware of. I wasn't offering an opinion on it or a direct comparison with Lightroom.