Emulate nearly 20 popular film types, add finishing adjustments like toners and borders, and tune your image to produce superior black-and-white results. Silver Efex Pro gives you control over the entire process. Viveza: Selectively adjust the color and tonality of your images without complicated masks or selections.
You can choose exactly where enhancements are applied without using complicated selections or layer masks. The changes you make automatically and naturally blend with your image, producing spectacular results. Easy-to-use sliders let you quickly adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, shadows, red, green, blue, hue, and warmth. And the unique Structure control lets you accentuate textures and details without creating unwanted artifacts or halos.
Apply color, light, and structure enhancements to your entire photo with the ability to selectively refine your adjustments later. A unique combination of one-click presets helps you start off on the right foot.
Instead of getting an image through different programs, you can take advantage of all their features in a single place. Yet plugins have their share of drawbacks. For example, not all your Photoshop plugins are Affinity Photo compatible plugins.
First of all, make sure the plugin is compatible with Affinity Photo. Also, make sure the provider offers support and maintenance. The way to install the free Nik version is also a bit different because it is an old version. The straightforward way to add plugins in Affinity Photo is to download the program and install it on your computer.
During the installation make a note of the applications folder where the program files are installed. At this moment you should see the plugins installed in Affinity Photo listed under Detected plugins. If you cannot see a plugin on the list click on the Open Default Folder button, and make sure you actually placed the software in this folder or in the added plugins search folders.
You can also add a custom Affinity Photo plugins folder. Click on the Add button to point to a custom plugins folder on your computer. They become active after you open a photo. If your project has multiple layers, make sure you select an image layer before trying to access a plugin.
Other plugins may require different settings. Most plugin providers offer support for installing their products in Affinity Photo or other editors. Affinity Photo accepts Adobe Photoshop-compatible bit plugins and you can find a wide range of those. I remember the good old days when we got a new Octa for the studio and ran the set-up tests. Take 12 pictures, either process them or drop them off to Dunns I think we need to feather it a bit more Old Cameras, you can make the images look how ever you want with Silver FX no need to open every shadow or compress anything, it's the user that controls the software.
If you sharpen like hell, if you lift shadows like crazy and lower the highlights, if you then enhance Structure - the result will be colorless, but not BW. However, I urge you to try, just once, the Tri-x simulation in SilverEffex, make some minor tweaks and print it on a good printer with a great paper Baryta, if possible and then rethink your statement…. Using the grain sliders in LR and C1 is not exactly complicated. Just slide to taste.
If you just want a classic film look, trying to emulate tri-x or delta or whatever then I would skip this. Where I do see this coming in handy is if you like the stronger effects presets like Antique Plate or Yellowed and the borders that make it look like an old photo or something. That stuff is cheesy to me but I understand it has a place and a use so if that's what you're into I guess this would a a quick way to achieve those looks without ever having to touch photoshop.
It does indeed offer very strong advantages compared to LR or C1 or nay other not dedicated BW software package - I am a long term BW shooter and since digital a long term bw converter, so to say :- I used to do it with the channel mixer in PS, trying to achieve a look that reminded me to film BW, not bad. I was super excited about Fujifilms simulation, tried it and was super disapointed - this is not what I call BW , it is more of a all grey… But with SilverEffex I really get good, sometimes even great results with very low effort.
For a true BW guy like me this is an awesome tool. While digital black and white is likely best achieved with a monochrome sensor, the improvement in conversion programs like Silver Efex Pro make color sensors closer to getting results comparable to the expensive and esoteric monochrome cameras.
Sarah McAlexander published a small trial in the Lens Rental blog in with some so-called experts and they could not distinguish black and white images which originated on a monochrome sensor Leica or a Sony color sensor. They look good, just not like film. Nope, I'm an ex-Hong Konger myself and chose those photos from my last trip back home for a bit of visual interest. Love that fine-hard grain.
Not quite sure how much better these results than what you can achieve more easily in Lightroom. And whisper it: I prefer the colour original in some cases. I am - for my photography - very sure indeed that SilverEffex has the best BW conversion hands down. Photoshop or Lightroom do not even come close. Sure, you may be able to achieve the same result in the end its all just pixels, right? Artificial grain is a noise.
If you ever looked at the film grain you should notice that grain is different on the plain surface like sky and on sharp edges text, for example. This is what makes film different, it is kind of variable "resolution" that emphasizes graphical shapes. Sometime it can go messy too. Not to mention that grain is so much more beautiful than pixels. And infinitely more beautiful than noise! Used properly, they're wonderful tools.
It's all too easy to stray into uncanny territory with them however, so I would argue they should be used cautiously. Yes, you can get there with other tools, but SEP just made it easier for me. Agreed that I don't see a real reason to upgrade, although I probably will eventually to ensure it keeps getting made. If you haven't got this collection before, I do strongly recommend it. Mmmm, I don't know. I guess, if you don't want to take the time to learn how to do the easiest thing your current editor can do, a product like this, makes some sense.
And if you are buying the NIK collection for some other reason, then having it included isn't a big deal. Exposure became an outstanding software after the change from a single plugin to a run alone program. I would buy this here if it is a stand alone program like exposure. I'm using Silver Efex Pro since 1. I just dont get that mind set. I received the original free version from Google, and this latest update is from DXO, neither of which is a small company.
The "new" version offers me nothing over the basic version except a new interface. I have to agree with jyw5. Amortised, this is indeed a token fee, especially when you are typing away on a device doubtless worth many times this amount.
Paul JM: Not when I got the program for free, still find it useful, and am not retired. Are you a lobbyist for some mega-corporation? Nor do I see myself as a perpetual welfare recipient. I love innovation in software. If you think it will continue to come without payment, then you must believe in Santa.
The whole point of Perpetual Licenses is, that you are not forced to keep paying the company if their upgrades do not have anything to offer you that's valuable to you. Yes, I like to keep companies like DxO alive because they make some great software, but they have to earn my dollars for it.
Or Euros, rather If someone like babart has been using the software for years and doesn't see anything in the new version that makes him eager for the upgrade, then DxO needs to figure out how to provide more compelling new features.
If anyone balks at someone using the free version, the fault lies with the company who made it avilable free. Of course, because cheaper is always better right? And who cares who programs the stuff, what kind of money they earn and all that - actually it is a rip- off, that cameras are still sooo expensive.
Man, these statements make me totally sick! No, it is not "cheaper is always better". It is "I don't want all the other programs, I won't use the other programs". I'll be glad to pay the price for SilverEfex Pro - but all the rest are not going to be used. As such - why not sell this as a stand alone product? Nobody here says they expect the software for free, do they?
All that was said, was that out of a collection of tools only a single one interests them so they'd be happy to pay a price for just that tool and not pay for all the others they won't use. I have an older version and it won't separate me from Black and White Projects 6 Pro, although like all these things there is a learning curve That seemed to be an issue with the DPR review.
The problem is the DLL is a bit behind the times. I usually recommend people get the latest FreeImage version and replace the one they got with the product, but it's still not up-to-date. For example see my post 1 on a free giveaway of a slightly older version Oh and FreeImage seems to contain "LibRaw 0. However as my current cameras except the phone are supported I'm not in a rush to experiment it might be simple, might be a nightmare. I've tried all the Frazis "Project" software products and found them to be incredibly well crafted algorithms locked inside an unusable user interface.
The user interface does require getting your brain around I agree that this new version is unneccesarily complex a requirement for all new imaging software. But it really works well. Instead of using your camera to generate a bunch of addtional files with various "film looks" which will mostly get deleted later, with Silver Efx you just take a color picture, and later on you can examine or apply various BW conversions, and making fine adjustments.
And like all NIK products, these are good-looking, realistic presets. No Luminar, here. It is not unnecessarily complex. If you want to use baby mode, then just shift through the presets, pick the one you like and apply it. The other sliders etc are there for those who want them.
As for "film grain", I bought Exposure X6 just for the grain tool. It is much more natural and variable. There are about 8 sliders to control how it is rendered. There are even more grain control options when you upsize and downsize, but this is something you will do after some time using the Exposure X6 grain tool. Grain samples from the Nik presentation above look too even, more like a field of noise overlayed on the image.
Not very natural or particularly appealing to me, at least. I've used Silver Efex Pro right from the beginning. I sometimes feel as though I'd be in big trouble without it. Although some of the presets that come with it are fantastic, I've made all of my own that I now use for different applications.
After a restart when you have open a picture in C1go to picture and go to "edit in Greets, reinipic. Thanks, that's always what I thought, but how does one get C1 to recognize the NIK stuff as 'allowed applications? Tip: when the different applications are not seen in C1 plugins folder - start them manually once and you will see them in the plugins! In C1, you might want to try creating an Export recipe and specifying 'Open with' as the application you want, like Silver Efex.
Much quicker and slicker than right-click 'Open with' IMHO, because the Nik apps never appear in the list, you always have to go looking for them Tamed Munkey in C1 and Windows you need to get Windows to recognise the application as being an image editor.
Navigate to the SilverEfex. The jpg opens in SilverEfex. Close the program, open C1 and SilverEfex will be in C1's plugin list under preferences. Check the box if it is not already selected to make sure it appears in the edit with list. Important note for Silver Effects and Viveza in this release: If you applied either of these to smart objects in the previous version, the adjustment layers will NOT be recognized or modifiable in this version. Nor will you be allowed to have both versions on the same machine; this version removes the previous version.
That the previous version is removed is mentioned during the installation, but not the loss of backward compatibility. As a longtime fan of Silver EFEX, I downloaded the trial version of the new software last week, but hadn't gotten around to installing it it deletes your existing version, so save that if you need it.
It certainly has more options, but this thing is ungodly slow in comparison to the free version. I don't understand how the review can't notice this. Changes that were instantaneous yesterday now take several interminable seconds to render - which is a problem when you are considering a variety of changes. Maybe this software needs an update already. Film is a little bit more than just adding digital grain in software. But then you are stuck with exactly ONE look. Unless you scan, in which case you have inferior material as a starting point than even a 2MP digital camera from 10 years ago.
Don't get me wrong, there is still a place for film and for "that look", but in my opinion it starts with Medium Format 6x6 or 6x9 or even better: Large Format view cameras. I agree Last week I attend a portrait session with a 4x5 camera, and it was something special. Those platinum prints I'm sure it's pretty cool to grab a film slr and do it as it was done originally.
Should be plenty of horsepower right? There's no way I can work with a " lag time on the control points displaying my adjustments. As I'm new to the product I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong? I've been studying tutorials on YouTube and I don't seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary Sorry but I think you MAC is grossly under powered to perform the tasks in a timely manner. Good luck. Thanks for your reply although as I said I have no problems with any other software that I run including Photoshop and Lightroom Classic.
Everything runs smoothly and quickly. Is there a recommended specification for running Nik Collection 4? Check activity monitor for swapping. Your Mac's 8 GB Ram might be a bottleneck. If so, add at least 16 GB of Ram for better performance. I checked it out using Activity Monitor and with a simple control point just adjusting brightness it's relatively quick and AM says 3GB of swap.
Using another control point but modifying 5 settings takes a lot longer to display and uses 5. All of the other plug-ins in the collection seem to be working a lot better even with the latest Nik upgrade which I installed this evening.
I'm having a hard time justifying the price of the software when one of the main components which attracted me to it is performing so poorly and added to that, I'd be upgrading every year. Decisions, decisions Sorry for the late response. The straight stick d files open up at over MB.
If you stack images or do panoramas you need the speed. The files are only going to get larger. You cant do much heavy lifting with most lap tops. I might buy the new NIK just for the silver efex. I've written to DxO but to be honest I'm not expecting a reply anytime soon judging by the number of complaints on their forums and other pages I've been reading. There are a lot of people experiencing the same problem and the general consensus of opinion seems to be to stick with SFX Pro 2 which of course I don't have with many people rolling back their upgrades to Nik Collection 3 which, according to what I was reading, doesn't have the same problem.
If they come back to me I would consider buying Nik Collection 3 with SFX Pro 2 if they'll sell it to me and then wait for a later upgrade once the issue has been resolved. I wrote to DxO about the problem and they got back to me and then I sent them a bunch of information and diagnostic files. They said they would get back to me when the development team has had a look.
That was 2 weeks ago and I've not heard anything. My trial period will expire in 12 days so it's not looking good. I also asked them about buying Nik 3 with SFX 2 and got no reply at all.
It's a real shame about this issue because SFX looks so promising and if it worked I would gladly pay for it even if I didn't use the rest of tools in the suite. Unbelievable dump. Oh dear, I have hundreds with numbers as first characters and now the user preset panel is messed up randomly.
For me this update is unusable. Damned, they are going to make this whole plugin suite unusable I fear! I use SEP for a few hours now and I'm heavily disappointed: The interface is not better than before too much contrast outside the sliders but for control points their usage is improved with placing the sliders within the sliders panel. That's all for me what's improved. Reducing the amount of specific sliders like shadows adjustment takes 10 seconds and more to take effect! You have to move the mouse to another part of the monitor.
That is, it engages all my Ansel Adamsy instincts to fight for the best shadow and highlight detail and full dynamic range. I don't miss the smell of the chemicals or the grain of the Tri-x. I bought the latest version happily just for Silver Efex Pro.
The presets are familiar and like test strips so I can get the basic look I'm after quickly. Then I can fine tune as needed. That would be game changing for real estate photographers. I have emailed DXO about this in the past and they said they don't know if it will ever work that way. Nik 4 Viveza is disappointing because the new control point settings are available only from the side panel and it's hard to correctly grab the tiny and short sliders.
It doesn't sound like you've ever used the NIK collection - it's a lot more than filters. Twice a year DxO comes with a 'much better version' of it's software while in practice not much changes. The biggest problem still exists and that is proper scaling in Photoshop menu items are way too small on high res screens, like for example in viveza.
I downloaded the free version a few years ago after google I think? Thanks a lot for the honest, balanced, and perceptive review of the latest Nik Collection, Mike. Whenever I read your name in the byline, I know that I'm in competent hands. The unevenness across the different plugins remains an issue, but where it excels the Nik Collection is still hard to beat, and I'm glad that DxO keeps evolving it. I think it's better, at least more controls.
But Topaz noise reduction is superior to both in my opinion. For Canon users, Prime Noise is like adding a stop and a half of low light capability. It's not marketing noise, but real world experience. Canon shooters should run, not walk, to buy DxO Photolab. I was hesitant to buy the product from DXO the first time they took over the development of the product. I assumed they would provide ongoing patches and updates, but that didn't happen.
You get 30 days and I guess that's it. And rather than updates the entire suite of products. They have elected to update one or two individual program, maybe patch some in the suite.
And then change the suite revision number to suggest that the entire suite was upgraded. Personally, just adding new built-in pre-defined filters is not something I view as a significant enhancement that would required a software rev change. I also noticed that they have stopped posting the individual components revision numbers on their web site. This makes it more difficult to see what components were actually revised in the new suite to justify the yearly price of an upgrade.
I did a quick technical exploration of Nik 4 and it is a mess. As far as I can see: Between version 3 and 4 Silver Efex and Viveza were totally changed from monolithic applications to a graphical "framework" called QT which was already in use but only by Perspective Efex. Silver Efex and Viveza now share the framework but not with Perspective Efex, the other modules remain monolithic.
The new "bin" folder housing Silver and Viveza contains a "tests" folder, itself containing "acceptance", "functional", "qml" and "unit" folders which are test types.
This should never be in a released version. In short, in the same software package we find development with very different technologies and maturity levels and programming debris that should not be there. It seems DxO is trying to make quick money but lack of a clear strategy for Nik, or of the resources needed to improve a product code they may not familiar with.
But I still love Photolab. Real world: it gets easier to work with Nik with each post-Google update except maybe the first which was pretty buggy. Integration is smoother, HiDPI does work in a number of the apps now. If someone uses Nik on latest OS, it's probably worth the update.
Silver Efex is the greatest BW tool for colour sensors ever built. Color Efex does some incredible film simulations but film simulation not as special a party trick as black and white emulation.
I don't really use the other tools as they have equal equivalents baked right into Photolab. But what made Nik still interesting and fun to work with is the immediacy and relevance of interacting with your settings right at the U-point.
You're looking right at what you are interacting with and you see your changes right there. Now you drop a point, it's kludgy to move and resize without another accidental point, and then you have to hunt it down over at the side so that you're glancing back and forth. I prefer them being on the side where I don't have to juggle my cursor to make sure I am properly grabbing the tiny sliders.
I suspect neither solution is end-of-the-world though. I agree, going back and forth from U-point to right side is annoying and a time waster but that's what happens when "mature" software is upgraded. Problems that didn't exist get solved, and users need to learn everything all over again.
The control points are still the fastest way to make selections, except when Photoshop's magic wand just happens to make an accurate selection. Being able to switch back and forth between the two interfaces would be the best solution in my opinion. Don't forget onlinedelivery that it can take time to become accustomed to new interfaces. That's often happened to me. Of course, sometimes new interfaces are just crap like the touch bar on the Canon EOS R for instance, copied from Apple who have since dropped the technology themselves.
It takes a bit of time to become accustomed enough to the new interface to be able to tell. Glad that they have not abandoned this project.
I'm in the same boat. Still using the free version from Google. It was "never designed to work with RAW" exact wording from the developer. I hope they move in that direction at some point. In fact, that's the way I have always used NIK. I will not say Nik 4 is disappointing but after so few changes in years this upgrade could have been more ambitious.
In my opinion DxO having used time and resources in the development of PureRaw has probably penalized the development of more core functions as Photolab and the Nik. Nik 4 is not very polished to say the least, and it seems DxO is cherry picking more that developing a strategy. Filters created previously with Silver Efex Pro 2 cannot be opened and modified with version 3.
Photoshop considers that they are two different filters, and not one being the upgrade of the other. And the upgrade uninstalls version 2. That's very bad news for those of us who like to occasionally go back and redo an edit.
That said, it would only be a matter of recreating the dynamics filters one uses once. DxO should definitely work on a way to have both versions installed. A trick I often use on Mac, on all kinds of software not just DxO is to zip old versions before an update.
The automatic Face Finish tool provides a complete face set-up, smooths the wrinkles, improves eyes, removes red-eye defects, whitens teeth and corrects redness. Smart styles are also worth noting. They automatically allow you to emulate a film or a movie, turn a photo into BW, etc. You can use smart photo styles to turn your images into works of art. With the Erase tool activated, you should choose an arbitrary brush or shape that makes it easier to select an unnecessary object.
After that, the auto photo editor will delete the object and fill the empty area with similar pixels. You can use the Save slider for important features to make sure that your cutout is perfect. You can remove hair, water droplets and small details from the background to the nearest pixel. Selective Retouch adjusts individual parts of the photo using special gradients or brushes in semi-automatic mode. You can change such settings as hues, white balance, blur, sharpness and noise reduction.
Verdict: PhotoScape X lets you set a lot of automatic adjustments in batch photo editing mode. As a result, this is an excellent choice for the first stage of image editing. You can adjust various parameters, resize, increase contrast, brightness, shadows, remove noise, add detail and sharpness, apply filters.
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