Nik Collection FOR FREE!

**jatrax** · 03-24-2016, 02:00 PM

No updates to Nik since I bought it and even then it was at a greatly reduced price. Would appear Google's pulling the plug. Great software but by abandoning it and offering for free they essentially kill Topaz.

Which would make sense if there was anything to gain but I don't see it. Unless they they want to buy Topaz and want them bankrupt first.

**BigMackCam** · 03-24-2016, 02:02 PM

Originally posted by FantasticMrFox

The question is why they'd do it. Will we see advertising? Or have they decided to cease development and there won't be any updates?

It just seems rather weird. It's a professional suite of software, why give it away for free?

Sadly, I think the product will see no further updates. That said, it does a huge amount of stuff already, and does it very well. The big gotcha with the Nik tools is that the edit history for an image isn't saved when you exit the modules, so if you want to recreate your edits at a later date, or adjust them, you need to note down exactly what you did and store those notes somewhere. Despite that, I think the whole toolset is excellent - I love it.

th1952 · 03-24-2016, 02:14 PM

I grabbed a OSX version of it and installed it on my iMac. Has anyone installed it on Windows 10? Someone on dpreview said it wasn't compatible with Win 10. I'd like to put it on my Windows box as well.

**BigMackCam** · 03-24-2016, 02:33 PM

Originally posted by th1952

I grabbed a OSX version of it and installed it on my iMac. Has anyone installed it on Windows 10? Someone on dpreview said it wasn't compatible with Win 10. I'd like to put it on my Windows box as well.

Someone on dpreview was wrong... I run Windows 10 and it works perfectly

**pepperberry farm** · 03-24-2016, 02:56 PM

are these plug-ins only or stand-alone apps? everything I've read suggest that they are plug-ins for Aperture, Photoshop, or Lightroom...

**boriscleto** · 03-24-2016, 03:10 PM

Originally posted by pepperberry farm

are these plug-ins only or stand-alone apps? everything I've read suggest that they are plug-ins for Aperture, Photoshop, or Lightroom...

They are both.

th1952 · 03-24-2016, 03:12 PM

Originally posted by BigMackCam

Someone on dpreview was wrong... I run Windows 10 and it works perfectly

Excellent. Thanks.

**pepperberry farm** · 03-24-2016, 03:15 PM

Originally posted by boriscleto

They are both.

coolness - thank you...

**jpzk** · 03-24-2016, 03:19 PM

Well, I downloaded and installed it ... looks OK in Photoshop under the "filters".

Tried a couple of runs with the denoise (dfine) option and of course I'll have to go back to geek school to learn yet another new thing !

Just in case, is there any way to remove this from Photoshop if need be once it has installed into the "filters" ??

**boriscleto** · 03-24-2016, 03:20 PM

Originally posted by jpzk

Well, I downloaded and installed it ... looks OK in Photoshop under the "filters".

Tried a couple of runs with the denoise (dfine) option and of course I'll have to go back to geek school to learn yet another new thing !

Just in case, is there any way to remove this from Photoshop if need be once it has installed into the "filters" ??

~~You should be able to remove them with the Plug-in Manager.~~ Or not. You probably have to uninstall the whole package.

mee · 03-24-2016, 04:04 PM

Originally posted by vonBaloney

The company in this case is Google, since they've owned Nik for quite a while now. So it is legit -- they never bought it to make money with anyway. Unfortunately, they didn't buy it to keep developing it either as there haven't been any real updates in forever and this is basically a signal that it has been abandoned.

It is rather sad news for the collection for that reason. I really hoped they would improve the noise reduction plugin and further enhance the others. This all but entirely shows they've abandoned the collection.

That said, this was pretty much a certainty when they acquired them from Nik years ago -- Google, like most large companies, buys the smaller companies with desirable products, technology, or staff for what works for their own products, technology, and staff needs and discards the rest. Apple is another big player that does this.. Emagic and Redmatica come to mind. Too bad.

I will keep using these plugins though because they work well in Windows 10 and they still are superior to the algorithms in Lightroom (minus maybe NR -- haven't checked on that one lately). I mostly use the Color Effex, Viveza,and the Silver Effex plugins out of the bunch.

Funny story... I came about owning the Nik Collection due to an email I received from Nik before google bought the collection (and company I suppose). The email had a header image that had alt text stating something along the lines of 'Click here to get your free HDR effex plugin!' but the header image was linked to the Nik page with no mention of any free plugin.
So I emailed their support asking where I can get the free plugin, they responded back with a serial number for it it (99 dollars per plugin back then!)

Then a month or two later Google acquired them and gave all owners of any of the Nik Plugins the whole collection 'free.' (no additional charge -- upgraded)

Back then the whole collection was around 500 USD iirc.

They are still really solid plugins and should be for years to come (sans maybe the NR one again).

LensBeginner · 03-24-2016, 04:16 PM

Originally posted by boriscleto

In other words, Google is pulling the plug on Nik. I'll download it anyway...

Yeah, I fear you got it right...
It's a pity, because the control point system is really fantastic...
Oh well, we'll just take that gift and thank them for that...

chromo · 03-24-2016, 04:31 PM

Thanks for that.
I'll be having a look at it

**BigMackCam** · 03-24-2016, 04:44 PM

Originally posted by pepperberry farm

are these plug-ins only or stand-alone apps? everything I've read suggest that they are plug-ins for Aperture, Photoshop, or Lightroom...

Dave, they are plug-ins (I use them with LR6 and PSE14) with the exception of HDR Efex Pro 2 which runs standalone.

**pepperberry farm** · 03-24-2016, 04:55 PM

Originally posted by BigMackCam

Dave, they are plug-ins (I use them with LR6 and PSE14) with the exception of HDR Efex Pro 2 which runs standalone.

thank you- the HDR module was the piece I was interested in, so I'm looking forward to that....

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03-24-2016, 02:00 PM	#16
jatrax Site Supporter Join Date: May 2010 Location: Washington Cascades Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,991	No updates to Nik since I bought it and even then it was at a greatly reduced price. Would appear Google's pulling the plug. Great software but by abandoning it and offering for free they essentially kill Topaz. Which would make sense if there was anything to gain but I don't see it. Unless they they want to buy Topaz and want them bankrupt first.

03-24-2016, 02:02 PM	#17
BigMackCam Digitiser of Film Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: North East of England Posts: 20,674	Originally posted by FantasticMrFox The question is why they'd do it. Will we see advertising? Or have they decided to cease development and there won't be any updates? It just seems rather weird. It's a professional suite of software, why give it away for free? Sadly, I think the product will see no further updates. That said, it does a huge amount of stuff already, and does it very well. The big gotcha with the Nik tools is that the edit history for an image isn't saved when you exit the modules, so if you want to recreate your edits at a later date, or adjust them, you need to note down exactly what you did and store those notes somewhere. Despite that, I think the whole toolset is excellent - I love it.

03-24-2016, 02:14 PM	#18
th1952 Pentaxian Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Berea, Ohio Posts: 446	I grabbed a OSX version of it and installed it on my iMac. Has anyone installed it on Windows 10? Someone on dpreview said it wasn't compatible with Win 10. I'd like to put it on my Windows box as well.

03-24-2016, 02:33 PM	#19
BigMackCam Digitiser of Film Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: North East of England Posts: 20,674	Originally posted by th1952 I grabbed a OSX version of it and installed it on my iMac. Has anyone installed it on Windows 10? Someone on dpreview said it wasn't compatible with Win 10. I'd like to put it on my Windows box as well. Someone on dpreview was wrong... I run Windows 10 and it works perfectly

03-24-2016, 02:56 PM	#20
pepperberry farm amateur dirt farmer Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: probably out in a field somewhere... Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 41,679	are these plug-ins only or stand-alone apps? everything I've read suggest that they are plug-ins for Aperture, Photoshop, or Lightroom...

03-24-2016, 03:10 PM	#21
boriscleto Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: North Syracuse, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,475	Originally posted by pepperberry farm are these plug-ins only or stand-alone apps? everything I've read suggest that they are plug-ins for Aperture, Photoshop, or Lightroom... They are both.

03-24-2016, 03:12 PM	#22
th1952 Pentaxian Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Berea, Ohio Posts: 446	Originally posted by BigMackCam Someone on dpreview was wrong... I run Windows 10 and it works perfectly Excellent. Thanks.

03-24-2016, 03:15 PM	#23
pepperberry farm amateur dirt farmer Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: probably out in a field somewhere... Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 41,679	Originally posted by boriscleto They are both. coolness - thank you...

03-24-2016, 03:19 PM	#24
jpzk Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Québec Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 8,251	Well, I downloaded and installed it ... looks OK in Photoshop under the "filters". Tried a couple of runs with the denoise (dfine) option and of course I'll have to go back to geek school to learn yet another new thing ! Just in case, is there any way to remove this from Photoshop if need be once it has installed into the "filters" ??

03-24-2016, 03:20 PM	#25
boriscleto Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: North Syracuse, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,475	Originally posted by jpzk Well, I downloaded and installed it ... looks OK in Photoshop under the "filters". Tried a couple of runs with the denoise (dfine) option and of course I'll have to go back to geek school to learn yet another new thing ! Just in case, is there any way to remove this from Photoshop if need be once it has installed into the "filters" ?? ~~You should be able to remove them with the Plug-in Manager.~~ Or not. You probably have to uninstall the whole package.

03-24-2016, 04:04 PM	#26
mee Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 7,403	Originally posted by vonBaloney The company in this case is Google, since they've owned Nik for quite a while now. So it is legit -- they never bought it to make money with anyway. Unfortunately, they didn't buy it to keep developing it either as there haven't been any real updates in forever and this is basically a signal that it has been abandoned. It is rather sad news for the collection for that reason. I really hoped they would improve the noise reduction plugin and further enhance the others. This all but entirely shows they've abandoned the collection. That said, this was pretty much a certainty when they acquired them from Nik years ago -- Google, like most large companies, buys the smaller companies with desirable products, technology, or staff for what works for their own products, technology, and staff needs and discards the rest. Apple is another big player that does this.. Emagic and Redmatica come to mind. Too bad. I will keep using these plugins though because they work well in Windows 10 and they still are superior to the algorithms in Lightroom (minus maybe NR -- haven't checked on that one lately). I mostly use the Color Effex, Viveza,and the Silver Effex plugins out of the bunch. Funny story... I came about owning the Nik Collection due to an email I received from Nik before google bought the collection (and company I suppose). The email had a header image that had alt text stating something along the lines of 'Click here to get your free HDR effex plugin!' but the header image was linked to the Nik page with no mention of any free plugin. So I emailed their support asking where I can get the free plugin, they responded back with a serial number for it it (99 dollars per plugin back then!) Then a month or two later Google acquired them and gave all owners of any of the Nik Plugins the whole collection 'free.' (no additional charge -- upgraded) Back then the whole collection was around 500 USD iirc. They are still really solid plugins and should be for years to come (sans maybe the NR one again).

03-24-2016, 04:16 PM	#27
LensBeginner Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Photos: Albums Posts: 4,696	Originally posted by boriscleto In other words, Google is pulling the plug on Nik. I'll download it anyway... Yeah, I fear you got it right... It's a pity, because the control point system is really fantastic... Oh well, we'll just take that gift and thank them for that...

03-24-2016, 04:31 PM	#28
chromo Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: North Coast NSW Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 581	Thanks for that. I'll be having a look at it

03-24-2016, 04:44 PM	#29
BigMackCam Digitiser of Film Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: North East of England Posts: 20,674	Originally posted by pepperberry farm are these plug-ins only or stand-alone apps? everything I've read suggest that they are plug-ins for Aperture, Photoshop, or Lightroom... Dave, they are plug-ins (I use them with LR6 and PSE14) with the exception of HDR Efex Pro 2 which runs standalone.

03-24-2016, 04:55 PM	#30
pepperberry farm amateur dirt farmer Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: probably out in a field somewhere... Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 41,679	Originally posted by BigMackCam Dave, they are plug-ins (I use them with LR6 and PSE14) with the exception of HDR Efex Pro 2 which runs standalone. thank you- the HDR module was the piece I was interested in, so I'm looking forward to that....