NIK collection FREE

[Mike Buckley]

Tim Grey used to charge for his video courses explaining how to use NIK software. He has now made them available for free. I have never heard of Tim Grey, much less used any of his courses. See this for more details.

[davidedric]

I think Tim Grey is pretty solid. I have his learning Silver Efex course, and it helped get me going. Certainly worth having a look now they are free.

Dave

[Sergio M.]

I think Tim Grey is pretty solid.

I agree. I've only seen the videos he does for B&H, but I find him to be very clear and detailed with an interesting sense of humor. Definitely worth watching and learning from.

Sergio

[tao2]

I'm hoping that folks here will have a quick look at this:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/57493481

It seems that Google acquires some sort of interest in whatever you produce and loads your computer up with spyware, some of which has nothing to do with this NIK, whatever that is.

I exaggerate a bit, to get y'alls attention but I heartily recommend a quick scan of what the detractors have to say.

I don't trust Google one bit, sorry.

Ah'm with ye on this Ted. Google's done nothing but evil for around 4/5 years now. The main reason ah bought a Windows 10 phone, recently. Google/Android now breaks yer phone if ye don't do what they want and if ye want tae switch off apps that they use, they just switch them back on. Ah always used Windows phones 'til the HTC DESIRE Hd (in the pros/cons game HTC Sense which was heavily tied tae Google was a major strike against) but a great phone which ah'll still use as a backup but had enough of Google/Android, it reduces yer ability tae fully use a phone that YOU bought.

Ah'm almost Google free, ah use Startpage, as a homepage in Firefox. Bing as a secondary browser with Bing translator.

Ah think Snapseed is a great wee photo app, unfortunately unavailable (without Google interfering) with Windows . If the Nik package is half as clever as that then it's well worth ...nothing.

AH use several photo programs which are old, discontinued, zero updates...they still work and do what they have tae. Wouldn't hesitate tae download that package, providing ye remove all the rubbish (if ye can)...and IF... yer prepared tae accept the fact that Google'll probably claim copyright of all yer images.

[Manfred M]

Ah'm with ye on this Ted. Google's done nothing but evil for around 4/5 years now. The main reason ah bought a Windows 10 phone, recently. Google/Android now breaks yer phone if ye don't do what they want and if ye want tae switch off apps that they use, they just switch them back on. Ah always used Windows phones 'til the HTC DESIRE Hd (in the pros/cons game HTC Sense which was heavily tied tae Google was a major strike against) but a great phone which ah'll still use as a backup but had enough of Google/Android, it reduces yer ability tae fully use a phone that YOU bought.

Ah'm almost Google free, ah use Startpage, as a homepage in Firefox. Bing as a secondary browser with Bing translator.

Ah think Snapseed is a great wee photo app, unfortunately unavailable (without Google interfering) with Windows . If the Nik package is half as clever as that then it's well worth ...nothing.

AH use several photo programs which are old, discontinued, zero updates...they still work and do what they have tae. Wouldn't hesitate tae download that package, providing ye remove all the rubbish (if ye can)...and IF... yer prepared tae accept the fact that Google'll probably claim copyright of all yer images.

I bought the Nik suite many years ago when the company was an independent software house. I did a fair bit of research and while the package was expensive, at the time (and to a great extent today), it is still one of the best filter packages out there. . Nikon had some money invested in Nik and this is where ViewNX and CaptureNX came from.

Google essentially bought Nik to get acquire Snapseed and the software development team. The ViewNX / CaptureNX products were not part of the purchase, but the Nik Collection filters were. I personally was a bit surprised when Google bought that part of the business too and development did continue for a few years; Analog Efex was released under Google ownership.

Spyware in the Nik Collection; that would rather surprise me as there is no commercial value to watching someone edit in Photoshop or Lightroom. As long as it keeps working, I'll be happy and the day it dies, I might need to look at Topaz for some of their goods. I've had On One, but frankly found it inferior (from what one could do with it) and less stable than Nik, so it is no longer on my machine.

[xpatUSA]

Ah'm with ye on this Ted. Google's done nothing but evil for around 4/5 years now.

Ah'm almost Google free, ah use Startpage, as a homepage in Firefox.

I use that too. To my discredit, I don't often use the proxy opener.

<>
AH use several photo programs which are old, discontinued, zero updates...they still work and do what they have tae. <>

I was Adobe-free and proud of it for a while but FlashPlayer crept back onto my machine so I can see lens widgets; and Elements 6 is useful for some kinds of image analysis. No Reader, though. FoxIt is now my weapon of choice for PDF stuff.

[Mike Buckley]

Nikon had some money invested in Nik and this is where ViewNX and CaptureNX came from.

I'm not positive, but if I had to bet large sums of money it would be that this is only where Capture NX, not View NX, came from. View NX had no control points. Earlier predecessors of Capture NX had a reputation for being an excellent converter of Nikon's raw files and I think that was before the relationship with Nik came to be.

I personally was a bit surprised when Google bought that part of the business too and development did continue for a few years; Analog Efex was released under Google ownership.

First, I think it's likely that the best deal Google could negotiate was that they would get Snapseed only if they also bought the Nik collection. It was relative pennies to a company the large size of Google to agree to it but relative big bucks to a small company the size of Nik. So, it was a win-win for both companies.

Second, whatever development costs Google spent to produce Analog Efex, keep in mind that they never charged anyone anything extra for the new product that they hadn't charged for the rest of the suite. Indeed, I wrote here at CiC a long time ago that I believed Google had abandoned the Nik Collection, as evidenced by the fact that they had never produced any enhancements after the purchase from Nik that generated a dime of revenue. Not to break my arm patting myself on the back, but I explained at the time that I was extremely concerned back then that they had already decided to abandon the Nik Collection. That's one of the few times that I was proven correct. All of the other times I've surely been correct though without lack of proof.

[Saorsa]

I too was as adobe free as possible.

Unfortunately, Nikon decided not to develop a raw converter for the D750 for Capture NX and I don't like the new Capture D or whatever. As a result, I started using Photoshop elements which brings in the Adobe raw converter for the D750 and opens the converted file with Elements. I then skip all the elements stuff except for spot removal and go right to Nik Viveza.

[george013]

I too was as adobe free as possible.

Unfortunately, Nikon decided not to develop a raw converter for the D750 for Capture NX and I don't like the new Capture D or whatever. As a result, I started using Photoshop elements which brings in the Adobe raw converter for the D750 and opens the converted file with Elements. I then skip all the elements stuff except for spot removal and go right to Nik Viveza.

You can open JPG and TIFF in CaptureNx. Some functions are not available then, maybe the U-points are. I can't check it on this pc.

George

[Manfred M]

I too was as adobe free as possible.

Unfortunately, Nikon decided not to develop a raw converter for the D750 for Capture NX and I don't like the new Capture D or whatever. As a result, I started using Photoshop elements which brings in the Adobe raw converter for the D750 and opens the converted file with Elements. I then skip all the elements stuff except for spot removal and go right to Nik Viveza.

As the ViewNX line is obsolete, I'm not surprised that Nikon did not add those features. There are a number of excellent commercial raw converters on market, not made by Adobe. DxO Optics Pro and Phase One Capture One come to mind. The Adobe Elements is definitely a lower cost alternative to both of these.

[Saorsa]

As the ViewNX line is obsolete, I'm not surprised that Nikon did not add those features. There are a number of excellent commercial raw converters on market, not made by Adobe. DxO Optics Pro and Phase One Capture One come to mind. The Adobe Elements is definitely a lower cost alternative to both of these.

Yes and I see long involved discussions of the claimed superiority of one over the other on-line.

I just want to get my images into the form I want and don't really feel like spending a lot of time and/or money making pixelpeeping comparisons of software which deals with one step of the workflow. I can use elements to open the file in the Raw Converter and go to the main program where the Nik suite offers essentially the same workflow as I was using with Capture NX.

[Manfred M]

Yes and I see long involved discussions of the claimed superiority of one over the other on-line.

I just want to get my images into the form I want and don't really feel like spending a lot of time and/or money making pixelpeeping comparisons of software which deals with one step of the workflow. I can use elements to open the file in the Raw Converter and go to the main program where the Nik suite offers essentially the same workflow as I was using with Capture NX.

I wouldn't get into the superiority of one over the other as I would tend to look more at the strengths and weaknesses of each product. People that discuss outright superiority tend to oversimplify and even specific versions can be important.

As an example, up until the time that Adobe did a major overhaul to its raw processing engine in 2012, I knew a lot of Nikon users that would not use Lightroom / Camera Raw because of poor skin tones. That was fixed, but some people still use older versions and this issue is still out there for those folks.

I used to use View NX2 a lot because of the quality issues with the older Adobe software, but no longer even have it on my computer. I use ACR a lot because of the ease of integration with the rest of the Adobe software.

I have been using DxO Optics Pro when working on images I planned to print. I found that their raw processing was superior to Adobes, especially in the lens correction side. It cleans up CA beautifully and Adobe doesn't always do a great job, but this level of processing is only something I worry about when doing large prints.

Capture One is made by the company that makes the Phase One medium format cameras and digital backs. I originally bought this, as the name implies, the software started off life as a tool for tethered capture. I find that Lightroom is unreliable and loses connectivity all the time and the cost of Nikon Capture seems too high. Now that I have Capture One, I am quite impressed with the raw processor. Phase One has taken a totally different approach and is 100% ICC compliant (which is important to Phase One camera users as the images are still very much directed at hard copy output). Integration with Photoshop is okay, but not great, but I can see myself using it more and more and dropping DxO Optics Pro.

[george013]

Nothing is for free. And the product is not the Nik software, it's YOU.

https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/
https://www.google.com/policies/terms/

It seems that exef pro is still available for CaptureNx2, when you have already a key.

George

[Black Pearl]

Nothing is for free. And the product is not the Nik software, it's YOU.

https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/
https://www.google.com/policies/terms/

It seems that exef pro is still available for CaptureNx2, when you have already a key.

George

You don't need a Google account to download and use Nik software?

[george013]

You don't need a Google account to download and use Nik software?

No, just open your doors.
And have the editor to use it.

George

[Black Pearl]

The Nik software is a stand alone piece of software you download and install without using a Google account or signing into their services. By all means wave your paranoia stick around when talking about Google themselves but this is a completely different thing.

[AllEx]

I`ve already post it on my G+ subscription.
As you can see, in me only " HDR Efex Pro 2 " is functional and working.
In the meanwile i took the oportunity to prosses (as beter as I could) with two popular programs ( HDR Efex Pro 2 and lightroom 5.7) the same RAW (in Nikon is caled NEF) photo, here are the result I took:


hebergement image


As you can see HDR Efex Pro 2 is at least a very competitive tool.

[george013]

The Nik software is a stand alone piece of software you download and install without using a Google account or signing into their services. By all means wave your paranoia stick around when talking about Google themselves but this is a completely different thing.

It's a plugin, not stand alone.
The links are from mr. Google himself. Nothing from me. When you downloaded them you have to accept them before installing. I don't know what your problem is.
As I answered you befor, you don.t need a Google account.

No, just open your doors.

From mr. Google himself.

Windows:

Windows Vista®, Windows 7, Windows 8
Adobe Photoshop CS4 through CC 2015
Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 through 13 (apart from HDR Efex Pro 2, which is not compatible with Photoshop Elements)
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 through 6/CC

George

[Saorsa]

The Nik software is a stand alone piece of software you download and install without using a Google account or signing into their services. By all means wave your paranoia stick around when talking about Google themselves but this is a completely different thing.

Google owns Nik and a whole lot of other stuff.

[Saorsa]

It's a plugin, not stand alone.
The links are from mr. Google himself. Nothing from me. When you downloaded them you have to accept them before installing. I don't know what your problem is.
As I answered you befor, you don.t need a Google account.



From mr. Google himself.



George

The Nik collection can be run as a standalone. I have the components as an 'edit with ...' from faststone.