Nik Collection 2018 DxO

[Fujidave]

Hope it is fine to put this up for any one who might want to buy the Nik collection, it is cheepish till the 1st of July. I never bought the old one but might buy this one.


Homepage - Nik Collection by DxO

 

[JonA_CT]

I’m gonna buy it. It’s a go to for me, and now that they’ve allowed the selective brush to work without me having to set up masking layers in PS, it’ll be even easier to use.

 

[tirediron]

Have they actually updated/improved any of the plug-ins themselves?

 

[Fujidave]

Have they actually updated/improved any of the plug-ins themselves?

I have not a clue on that, but maybe @JonA_CT might be able to answer that.

 

[Fujidave]

@tirediron this might explain a bit more of what is going to happen.

The Nik collection lives on with DxO Labs update — but at a cost

 

[smoke665]

Have they actually updated/improved any of the plug-ins themselves?

Unless my brain is still not functioning this morning, the article linked says no "The update doesn’t exactly add anything new to the Nik collection", the update only fixes issues of compatibility with Photoshop and Lightroom. The "selective brush" feature mentioned by @JonA_CT is in their Photo Lab 1.2 which is a separate software at additional cost of $129 -$199.

Prior to the last Adobe update this spring, I used the Nik Collection quite a bit, but now hardly ever, as the new features released in Lightroom are far superior.

 

[JonA_CT]

Have they actually updated/improved any of the plug-ins themselves?

Unless my brain is still not functioning this morning, the article linked says no "The update doesn’t exactly add anything new to the Nik collection", the update only fixes issues of compatibility with Photoshop and Lightroom. The "selective brush" feature mentioned by @JonA_CT is in their Photo Lab 1.2 which is a separate software at additional cost of $129 -$199.

Prior to the last Adobe update this spring, I used the Nik Collection quite a bit, but now hardly ever, as the new features released in Lightroom are far superior.

I'll admit I haven't played around much in Lightroom recently, but the filters I used in CFXP and in Viveza are pretty unique, and that functionality hasn't been present in LR previously (and I'd be sort of surprised if it is a seamless as it is in NIK if it is there now...Viveza especially).

As far as the selective brush, the functionality was there in NIK already -- when Google stopped updating it, and Photoshop continue to march on, it stopped working about 18ish months ago. This update has fixed all of those bugs.

$49 is small potatoes when it comes to this sort of thing, and I've used the tools quite a bit since I downloaded them for free. It's worth it to me to continue to have them updated alongside Adobe CC (for as long as that lasts for me anyways).

 

[smoke665]

It's worth it to me to continue to have them updated alongside Adobe CC (for as long as that lasts for me anyways

No argument on choice, I've used and liked it myself. I've just found less reason to of late, the AI feature in the new LR is gradually learning my style (despite my bumbling) and presenting me with options that don't require Nik.

 

[zombiesniper]

If there are no improvements then I'll continue to use the free NIK collection that I have......unless DXO sends a kill command to make previous one not work.......at which point I wouldn't buy because that would be a dick move.

In short, no improvement, not buying.

 

[ClickAddict]

I had a great workflow (that I liked) between Lightroom, Photoshop and Nik and then with one of the CC updates everything went to pot. Nik kept crashing my PS. Ended up removing the addon from PS and was using Nik via Lightroom. Didn't like the new workflow but managed. For 49$, I'll bit the bullet and see if I can get it working the way it used to. (Website Says this release has fixed crash issues with CC)

 

[Derrel]

Viveza and the so-called U-Point technology are the hidden gems here. Just sayin'...

 

[ClickAddict]

Update: So on the 7th or so I ordered the NEW Nik collection update. Uninstalled my old, installed new one ran it from PS and it crashed PS pretty much the same way it did before. Rebooted reinstalled tried a variety of things. If they "Fixed" the issues with working alongside PS, there must have been other issues. Cause my issues were not resolved. (I've been in IT for 30 years and have rebuilt countless PCs and Macs. I know it was not user error)

Contacted them via their website.

2 days went by and not even a single response. (Well there was the automated "we have received your ticket and someone will be looking into it") Sent Paypal a complaint asking for a refund

4-5 days later I get an email fro DXO saying they apologize for the delay... with the launch of Nik their help desk was overloaded. (Sounds promising) Since I had opened the Paypal complaint process there was nothing they could do.

Paypal was awaiting their response (for 20 days before doing anything)

couple of days pass and I get a "How was your customer experience with the DXO helpdesk automated email.

Answered how I had zero help from them.... (polite but obviously ticked)
day or two later, get an email from Paypal saying DXO has granted full refund.

So for those who have the free version and were thinking of upgrading for better seamless integration with PS. Dont bother. I'm back to running it via Lightroom which is not my ideal workflow but I'll deal with it. Luckily I still have the free version which I can reinstall if my paid version fails to work due to some licence lookup failure.

 

[tirediron]

Interesting; I've never had any conflicts with PS or LR, but their apparently sub-par customer support doesn't sit well with me. I think I'll stick with the Google version I have.

 

[ClickAddict]

In a ironic follow up..... I just received an email from DXO regarding the "Incredible success" of the Nik Collection launch and that I could get it at their special Introductory Price.

 

[Jeff15]

I will stick with Topaz..................