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NIK Collection

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Zenon

Did you turn it off and on again?
Joined
Jan 13, 2017
Messages
2,320
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
Classic
PS CC (latest) and Classic 7.3 (soon to be 7.31). I have downloaded that from Google and the DXO website. Both times all PS does is crash and LR only opens a TIFF. Is there an explanation? I searched the web and there are suggestions about font duplicates and a few others I did bother with.
 
As far as I recall there were bugs with the none DxO Nik when running in LR Classic on Mac. The DxO version is obviously the way to go as it has a future - Google Nik is pretty much dead in the water and has no support. I use Nik rarely these days but did upgrade to DxO anyway. That said, I believe Google Nik works on Sierra in stand-alone mode. Try it and see.

Thanks for reply—I was reading above about how DxO is in bankruptcy and have yet to do any work on NIK filters. My main Love from NIK is silver effects! Topaz just doesn’t seem to do BW conv as well. I maybe just got used to SEF—Also Color efex had some filters I liked for contrast and detail enhancements.
I will be using Dell laptop workstation as my new desktop system using external Eizo minitor. Maybe Windows 10/LR Classic setup will handle my purchased set of NIK filters-I still have the old disc from yrs ago-just used google download thinking maybe a new version would have improvements—did not see any diffrerence really tho—
 
The last I read DXO is doing fine. They just restructured after breaking away from DXOMark. There was an update a few months after the announcement.
 
I went ahead and purchased DxO’s NIK collection-I can’t find out if I can have NIK collection on 2 computers—ONE MACBOOK PRO and ONE WINDOWS 10 machine??? Dxo site does not say for NIK filters!
Have u ever used Luminar??? Just curious-been reading about it!
 
Luminar does a fee trial so why not use it. There are several reasonss why I would never touch the app but that is another story.
 
Luminar does a fee trial so why not use it. There are several reasonss why I would never touch the app but that is another story.
So what are those reasons? (Start a new thread?)
 
I do not think it is right to discuss competitor products on what is an Adobe specific site. I also have no desire to talk about the software in question - I probably said too much already :)
 
I do not think it is right to discuss competitor products on what is an Adobe specific site. I also have no desire to talk about the software in question - I probably said too much already :)
Colin,

This site is a user-to-user forum, something that has been stated many times by the moderators. Review the second point on this page: Terms and rules

As long as I have been a member of this forum, I have observed that we have been free to discuss other software is either complementary to LR, or a potential replacement, without censure or restriction by the moderators. From time to time we have had vigorous and lengthy discussions about the shortcomings of Lightroom and the purported advantages of alternatives. Thus you have not "said too much already." And in the spirit of discussing alternatives, I would encourage you to "say more," if you are comfortable with that.

I am in the camp of those who are committed to Lightroom since I am a monthly subscriber to LR 7 Classic, (search out my postings), but I am still interested in keeping up with the alternatives to Lightroom. Also I am interested in understanding market dynamics as a possible clue to Adobe's thinking.

Phil Burton
 
This forum supports Lightroom, so I don't want people coming along to start threads to promote other software, but on the other hand, I have no issue with our regulars sharing their personal experiences with other software they've personally tried and what they do and don't like about it, as long as the conversation stays positive.
 
Ok :).
Luminar was originally sold as a stand-alone app and a plugin to LR, it served reasonably well as an alternative to Nik which at the time was withering on the vine. They also promised to add a DAM to the software, this was back in 2017. Come the LR subscription debacle Skylum jumped on the we hate Adobe bandwagon and started selling Luminar as an alternative to the LR and the subscription model. IMO It was and is nowhere near that in terms of basic editing functionality and of course it has no DAM. As I write this the DAM has still not materialised and even more deadlines/promises have been broken.

The basic concepts behind the software are quite good as is the user interface, with edits being treated as filters in much the same way as ON1. However with only a very basic masking functionality (no luminosity for a start), very limited transform tools, no red eye tools (not last time I looked) plus other stuff it has never reached the maturity I expected, although it does retain a following and especially so from those not prepared to get into the intricacies of LR/PS and/or who see the subscription as evil.

Initially Luminar was Mac only. However for whatever reason Skylum (formerly Macphun) saw the Windows market as an opportunity and ported the software across. It all happened far to quickly in my view and there was an uproar from Windows users because the software lacked parity with the Mac version. I think it has caught up now but there was significant bad feeling at the time. In the end I lost complete faith in the company and its ethics and demanded a refund - which to be fair they paid without issue. I will never buy their software again and in any event with Nik back on track and the recent developments to LR I now have no need for it. I certainly do not have an issue with the Adobe subscription which I view as good value.
 
Colin,

Thank you for this detailed explanation. Sorry to read of your disappointment with Slylum and Luminar.

My interpretation of what you wrote is that Skylum fell into the trap that many software companies do. Intentionally or not, they overpromise, sometimes greatly so. Perhaps they didn't appreciate just how hard it is to develop software of any complexity that works, performs well, and is free of major bugs. Add cross-platform, Windows and MacOS, and the challenges are even bigger. There is always the pressure to get customers, to get revenue, if only to fund further product development as well as to avoid short-term losses.

If you assume, for discussion's sake, that Adobe Lightroom sets the standard, it is hard for a much smaller company, to fund the development necessary to achieve feature parity with Adobe. And even if a company does achieve a rough parity, they have to give people a reason to use their product, and not Lightroom. Usually price is one of the incentives.

Thus, Lightroom enjoys the enviable position of much larger market share, and thje ability to price higher than alternatives. As time goes on, this position only gets stronger. Therefore, it is incumbent on us as customers to find ways, politely of course, to tell Adobe what we need in Lightroom. And we need to support the plug-in authors who add a lot of value to Lightroom.
 
Thanks Phil, and yes you are right. I just could not take the continuing overpromising and none delivery. The selling of Luminar as a genuine LR alternative when it was nowhere near was the last straw for me. I agree that Adobe could do with some competition and I for one wish they could have kept LR and PS separate, but at the end of the day the subscription is not much more than paying for an annual upgrade and the software does pretty much do what it says on the tin.
 
Thanks for sharing Colin. It's great to hear some real world experiences, for good or for bad.
 
So about the Nik Collection... Is it worth buying and are there any discount codes around?
The Australian Dollar has recently fallen against the US Dollar so Nik is now more expensive for me :-(
 
That's the million dollar question GingeraMan. Download a trial and see if it's worthwhile in your workflow. Silver Efex is highly regarded in B&W circles, and is probably the biggest draw for most people.
 
And are they still developing it or has generous European and French conditions sunk the company...

I am hoping it will go on sale from time to time or I can find a discount code...

They price in USD it seems, which by raising their interest rates has risen the USD against currencies such as ours...

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
 
I already used the previous free ones and I am happy to support development however it seems uncertain..

So the links look good. If it gets all too hard I may just use that.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
 
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I purchased the Nik collection from Google just before they made it free :mad:.
The only part I use is Silver Efex and that still works, as a plug-in for LR with High Sierra but I don’t know if it will work with Mojave.

John
 
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SilverFX seems to be the most popular one. I'm wondering if its even worth purchasing if its future is now uncertain. I certainly wouldn't pay full price for it right now.
 
I'm wondering if its even worth purchasing if its future is now uncertain.
No one can foretell the future. Any of these companies could go bust tomorrow. On the up side, even if they closed, you'd still have the software you want.
 
No one can foretell the future. Any of these companies could go bust tomorrow. On the up side, even if they closed, you'd still have the software you want.
Yes, but there is always the issue of future OS releases, both Windows and MacOS, that break compatibility.
 
Or more so I'm paying for what is apparently only some compatibility and bug fixes with no certainty around future development path. It's good value, sure, however it's still expensive.
 
Before I came to LR Classic / CC / Photoshop I was with Aperture and the Nik Collection (which I bought from Nik but luckily for $169 vs it's previous $500 price tag). Then as we know, Apple pulled the plug on Aperture and Google acquired Nik (I believe to plunder it for Snapspeed), only for Nik to go into the ever increasing Google Graveyard. In their drive to dumb OS X down to iOS for Mac Apple pushed Photos for Mac which I find largely useless (and a mere shadow vs Aperture) and all this pushed me, after probably too long a wait, towards Adobe. Having come over to the Photography Plan (something I wish I'd done sooner - was just too lazy to re-catalogue 60GB of images LOL, all done now and thankfully my last major project is out of the Apple ecosystem) I find the combination of the three apps extremely powerful.

Back to Nik software and the one I do miss is Color Efex. While LR and PS could likely achieve any result I need I found that Colour Efex could produce some great results easily. It's that I miss at times. I've not yet tried to see if my 'Googled' Nik will still work with LR, I'm guessing it might not, if it doesn't I'd be very reluctant to pay DXO (given the state of play) again for Nik given that they seem to have done little with it and, for all we know, DXO's Nik might be around for an ever shorter time than the Google version. This is the reason I'm now looking to Luminar as an alternative to Nik. I certainly wouldn't use it to replace LR. I still have concerns over Luminar though, the debacle that is their long running promise of DAM (that keeps getting extended) is one such concern. I think many bought into Luminar on the basis of their 'coming soon' strap line, only to still be waiting a year + later and with no idea whether their current version of Luminar will run the DAM (if/when it comes) or whether they'll need to pay again for a 2019 version. The Windows version I'm also told is pretty lame compared to the Mac version too. I've heard many folks say they want the, again 'coming soon', parity with the Mac version, not just filters that are called the same but don't do the same thing.

What would be ideal is if Adobe did a Colour Efex style add-on, at least Adobe is big enough as an enterprise to 'have legs' and not fold the app or the company a year after you've bought it. For all the bitching about the Adobe subscription model, personally I think it's tremendous value. So I'm still interested in a Colour Efex alternative, it def won't be the DXO offering and, lacking a crystal ball, I'm not totally sold on Luminar either :( Decisions, decisions.
 
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Before I came to LR Classic / CC / Photoshop I was with Aperture and the Nik Collection (which I bought from Nik but luckily for $169 vs it's previous $500 price tag). Then as we know, Apple pulled the plug on Aperture and Google acquired Nik (I believe to plunder it for Snapspeed), only for Nik to go into the ever increasing Google Graveyard. In their drive to dumb OS X down to iOS for Mac Apple pushed Photos for Mac which I find largely useless (and a mere shadow vs Aperture) and all this pushed me, after probably too long a wait, towards Adobe. Having come over to the Photography Plan (something I wish I'd done sooner - was just too lazy to re-catalogue 60GB of images LOL, all done now and thankfully my last major project is out of the Apple ecosystem) I find the combination of the three apps extremely powerful.

Back to Nik software and the one I do miss is Color Efex. While LR and PS could likely achieve any result I need I found that Colour Efex could produce some great results easily. It's that I miss at times. I've not yet tried to see if my 'Googled' Nik will still work with LR, I'm guessing it might not, if it doesn't I'd be very reluctant to pay DXO (given the state of play) again for Nik given that they seem to have done little with it and, for all we know, DXO's Nik might be around for an ever shorter time than the Google version. This is the reason I'm now looking to Luminar as an alternative to Nik. I certainly wouldn't use it to replace LR. I still have concerns over Luminar though, the debacle that is their long running promise of DAM (that keeps getting extended) is one such concern. I think many bought into Luminar on the basis of their 'coming soon' strap line, only to still be waiting a year + later and with no idea whether their current version of Luminar will run the DAM (if/when it comes) or whether they'll need to pay again for a 2019 version. The Windows version I'm also told is pretty lame compared to the Mac version too. I've heard many folks say they want the, again 'coming soon', parity with the Mac version, not just filters that are called the same but don't do the same thing.

What would be ideal is if Adobe did a Colour Efex style add-on, at least Adobe is big enough as an enterprise to 'have legs' and not fold the app or the company a year after you've bought it. For all the bitching about the Adobe subscription model, personally I think it's tremendous value. So I'm still interested in a Colour Efex alternative, it def won't be the DXO offering and, lacking a crystal ball, I'm not totally sold on Luminar either :( Decisions, decisions.
Luminar made the mistake all too many software companies do with their "coming soon" promise. That may have gotten them some sales short-term, but long term, they may have "bet the company," and lost.

If Nik Software can't emerge from bankruptcy, it's always possible that Adobe could buy the software from the bankruptcy administrator, or whatever that person is called in France. Why not go to the Adobe website and make that suggestion? :cool2: :rofl:
 
Ask far as I am aware DxO (the owner of Nik software) has emerged and there was never any real threat of them doing otherwise. They are currently working hard following a restructuring. Nik as in the software was never in any kind of enforcement so not sure what the reference to them emerging from bankruptcy is all about!
 
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