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Is NIK software dead? (Silver Efex Pro) {MERGED}


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Wow didn't realize this thread would devolve so quickly into a mac vs windows fight. How about film is better than digital?

 

You may want to adjust your SOH filter settings.

 

But I'm curious: what does Google offer that Nik was competition to? And if it doesn't have a competitor of its own, why not just sell it on?

Edited by LocalHero1953
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I haven't had one for a decade or so :) . (Maybe I should complain).

OTOH it doesn't brick my software every few years unless I upgrade the OS.

 

We use MAC in out studio over almost 20 years now and these computers run about 10 hours a day without problems.

I myself switched to OSX about 4 years ago after my upgrade from vista to win8 where I couldnt use my filmscanner

for more than 6 month waiting for the right drivers - when I got them windows didnt allow me to install them even with

admit permit and the help of a IT support guy !

Bought a used iMac on Ebay and plugged in the scanner......and it was ready to use !  ;)

Edited by SilentShutter
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Isn't it what big companies do, buy up any perceived opposition and kill it? Giving it a helping hand by selling it on seems to be anathema  :o

Well, yes, but what does Nik oppose in Google's portfolio of offerings? If there's nothing, then why not make some money by selling it?

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Anyway, to get back to at least something vaguely related to the thread topic: another reason Google made the software free was to destroy all competition in this area. One ray of hope in the fact that the software is effectively dead from next year, is that it might open the market again to new developers.

 

I'm a long term user of Alienskin Exposure. I tried the Nik software when Google made it free, to be honest I didn't get on with it - though that was probably because I was used to a different package.

Edited by stunsworth
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But I'm curious: what does Google offer that Nik was competition to? And if it doesn't have a competitor of its own, why not just sell it on?

Not sure how interesting this is for LUF members, but anyway - when Facebook bought Instagram, Google felt they needed an image platform to compete. They bought Nik to get hold of Snapseed - the mobile editing app that was developed by the same company as the Nik Suite - and some technology from that application has been rolled into Google Photos (which has something like 500 million users now).

Google have kept Snapseed alive (as they want to keep a hold on what they see as the growing mobile imaging market) but they're not interested in the desktop applications.

As I said, by giving them away free, they enlisted a massive band of supporters whose attitude to the applications is 'easy-come, easy-go', and who are very vocal in supporting Google whenever the apps are discussed.

They also managed to destroy the market for any competing applications that might have been developing at the time: it's difficult to make a living when you need to compete with free.

Incidentally, the software suite has some really amazing technology: many people use SilverEfex, but my favorite is Viveza2, which I use to make really complex masking adjustments which would take hours for each image without the application, but only seconds using the app's amazing control point technology.

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I agree with plastic man, Control Points provide an easier way to achieve complex masking. A great time-saver.

 

Incidentally for anyone still keen to try Nik software, try to find Matt K's book on Nik. It helped me up the learning curve.

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... try to find Matt K's book on Nik. It helped me up the learning curve.

I've been using Nik software for more than a decade but I'd like to read Matt K's book; would you very kindly quote the title of the book you've referred to please. David?

 

Pete. 

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I've been using Nik software for more than a decade but I'd like to read Matt K's book; would you very kindly quote the title of the book you've referred to please. David?

 

Pete. 

Pete, my humble apologies both for my lateness in replying and also for quoting the wrong author. My book is 'PLUG IN with NIK' is by John Batdorff which I discover is out of print and advertised on Amazon for very silly prices. (Over £100 in one case) Starting afresh, I would look at one of the titles by Robin Whalley which are available on Kindle. I am surprised at the range of current offerings, which reflect the lingering interest in the Nik collection. I think they are fantastic once you have mastered the full control possible with Control Points. My book by Matt K. is on Layers.

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Scott Kelby recommends Luminar by MacPhun.

 

Very close to NIK ... as many of the programmers at Nik moved to MacPhun when Google purchased 

NIK.

 

I have used it and it is very much like Color Efex 4 and Silver Efex.

 

It is compatible with with MacOS Sierra 10.12.5 and Adobe PS and LR CC. Also runs as a standalone.

 

$69 USD ...

 

Bob

Edited by docmoore
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If I'm remembering correctly, and please correct me if I'm not, for the first year or two after its introduction, Tonality did not recognize the prophotoRGB space, nor did it recognize files from the Monochrom. They were very slow to update. They seemed more intent on bringing out other applications. That said, I have Luminar and it seems like a good application. As does, Alienskin Exposure 2.

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Pete, my humble apologies both for my lateness in replying and also for quoting the wrong author. My book is 'PLUG IN with NIK' is by John Batdorff which I discover is out of print and advertised on Amazon for very silly prices. (Over £100 in one case) Starting afresh, I would look at one of the titles by Robin Whalley which are available on Kindle. I am surprised at the range of current offerings, which reflect the lingering interest in the Nik collection. I think they are fantastic once you have mastered the full control possible with Control Points. My book by Matt K. is on Layers.

 

Thanks, David, and it was reading Matt's book "Layers" many years ago that curried my interest on a potential book about Nik Effects by him.  I use Control Points a lot and I agree with you about them; they are very intuitive in my opinion.

 

Pete.

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Here's the link to Luminar https://macphun.com/luminar

 

 

I fully agree with Mani's take on the Nik situation (and did so back when he raised concerns at the time Google started giving away the software for free). The incompatibility has already started for me. I recently found it necessary to roll back to an earlier build of Photoshop 2017 because the version I was using had killed off the preview function in Nik Sharpener Pro 3 (I programme I use quite a lot). 

 

Off topic but those demo 'conversions' in the slider on the Luminar home page are amongst the worst examples of digital post processing I think I've ever seen. In almost every single case I prefer the original by far – the portrait one is off the scale of poor taste. :D

Edited by wattsy
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Control points seems to be the main feature separating Nik from other similar application suites.   It is handy.

 

Control points are great but, in my view, not the most important thing about Silver Efex because effective and easy masking, similar to burning and dodging in the darkroom, can be done using the Lightroom Radial Filter tool.

 

More importantly, I find that the Silver Efex Amplify Whites and Amplify Blacks sliders, as well as the Soft Contrast slider, offer a degree of control that is simply not available in any of the MacPhun software — possibly this type of gradient and contrast control can be accomplished in Photoshop but, if so, at great effort because I have not been able to achieve this despite long experience with Photoshop. Also, the Silver Efex Structure adjustments are unique and different in quality from Clarity in Lightroom. 

 

As noted above, the Nik software will not work under the next OS X version, which will run only 64-bit apps. One solution would to keep an old Mac running a  legacy OS X version that can run Nik software. A better solution for me, when I eventually have to "upgrade" from my current El Capitan OS X version, will be to keep a partition on my MacBook Pro with El Capitan and Nik Software.

_______________

Alone in Bangkok essay on BURN Magazine

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The problem with software of any kind is that you are entirely in the hands of the software manufacturers. The camera manufacturers are also involved in this because new models can cause incompatibilities with older version software. The real issue is lack of competition in the market and the fact that some of the smaller software manufacturers  are slow to catch up with new camera models. I cannot really see any improvement in this unless new aggressive competitors to the likes of Adobe enter the marketplace. As for Apple, they change what you can do on your computer or other device every few weeks and you either have to put up with it or go elsewhere.

 

William

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I bought a standalone version of CS6 for $1,000 and weeks later CC was launched at $10 per month.

When Apple included Rosetta in their upgrades I was stuck on OSX 10.5.8 for my scanner and needed to lay out for a new iMac

I paid for the Niks suite and then it became free. Now it's under attack.

 

Any wonder why I don't play the lottery!

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