Nik Collection is now free!

[Mongo]

Mongo read about this earlier today. Some of these are reasonably good.  However, downloaded the software BUT did NOT instal it yet for two reasons:

1.   if these are not stand alone software, then, as plug-ins they are not likely to work on CS5 (for Mac except one of the plug-ins) - at least that is Mongo's understanding;

2.    Not at all happy with google taking and sharing information about Mongo. Nothing is FREE it seems. Unless Mongo can turn this feature off, he will NOT be installing this so called "FREE" software.

[Jørgen Ramskov]

As long as these plugins work with one's photo-editing software of choice now, why worry about the future? They function under Windows up to Win10 so we should be well covered on the OS front (don't know about the Mac OS compatibility though).

I guess you are right, though I imagine the problem might be compatibility problems with future versions of Photoshop and Lightroom rather than the OS. I think the reason people worry is because it is tool they use and like, which now seems to enter an uncertain future.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

I guess you are right, though I imagine the problem might be compatibility problems with future versions of Photoshop and Lightroom rather than the OS. I think the reason people worry is because it is tool they use and like, which now seems to enter an uncertain future.

Nik plugins work with CS6 and that's all I care to know about.

[Jørgen Ramskov]

Mongo read about this earlier today. Some of these are reasonably good.  However, downloaded the software BUT did NOT instal it yet for two reasons:

2.    Not at all happy with google taking and sharing information about Mongo. Nothing is FREE it seems. Unless Mongo can turn this feature off, he will NOT be installing this so called "FREE" software.

What is Google taking and sharing in this case? I can see you can opt out of sending anonymous usage statistics, is that what you mean? I'm just curious.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Mongo read about this earlier today. Some of these are reasonably good.  However, downloaded the software BUT did NOT instal it yet for two reasons:

1.   if these are not stand alone software, then, as plug-ins they are not likely to work on CS5 (for Mac except one of the plug-ins) - at least that is Mongo's understanding;

2.    Not at all happy with google taking and sharing information about Mongo. Nothing is FREE it seems. Unless Mongo can turn this feature off, he will NOT be installing this so called "FREE" software.

Nik plugins work with CS2 to CS6 (tested on Windows). CS5 should be OK, unless the Mac version is something special.

Politely refuse to share user information with Google when you install the plugin package.

Most web sites these days with Google ads on them track and echo back much more information anyway. That is why having ad blocking software and firewalls are so important.

[Lars Hansen]

Mongo read about this earlier today. Some of these are reasonably good.  However, downloaded the software BUT did NOT instal it yet for two reasons:

1.   if these are not stand alone software, then, as plug-ins they are not likely to work on CS5 (for Mac except one of the plug-ins) - at least that is Mongo's understanding;

I don't have any host applications (e.g. Photoshop) and the software installation did not create any shortcuts or a program start group - I created shortcuts myself and run the executeables which are located in your program folder in a "Google\Nik Collection" folder. I use Capture One Pro and don't yet know if it integrates with the Nik software - I don't expect it to be the case.

Whether I will miss other features apart from the integration when running the software this way I have no idea.     

[Ron Scubadiver]

Obviously the Nik collection was not making money for Google.  I expect it will get minor maintenance, but no real development.

[bjornthun]

Will it be open-sourced?

[Erik Lund]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Bjørn Rørslett]

A nice touch is that these plugins install both 32- and 64-bit executables so will fit straight into any recent computing system.

You can run them as stand-alone programs, no problem. That solves issues with a lack of a suitable hosting application, at the expense of a slightly more convoluted work flow.

[Fanie]

I still use CS2, but that cannot work with D800 files.

Will the Nik standalone run NEF files, or only Jpg's?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Nikon provides free converters (ViewNX and Capture NXD)  to deal with D800 NEFs. The Nik Collection handles 16-bit TIFs or (8-bit) jpgs, but one should not expect too much if an 8-bit jpg is the starting point. Keep to the TIFs.

[Fanie]

Nikon provides free converters (ViewNX and Capture NXD)  to deal with D800 NEFs. The Nik Collection handles 16-bit TIFs or (8-bit) jpgs, but one should not expect too much if an 8-bit jpg is the starting point. Keep to the TIFs.

Thanks Bjorn, got spoiled with Capture NX that edits directly with the RAW file, but will try it for sure.

[bjornthun]

Thanks Bjorn, got spoiled with Capture NX that edits directly with the RAW file, but will try it for sure.

Adobe's DNG converter will convert nefs from e.g. Nikon D800 to Adobe DNG format. You may be able to ingest these DNG files into PS CS2.

The Adobe DNG converter is a free download AFAIK.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

I fail to see the value of going through intermediary DNGs to do 'raw' processing in CS2 instead of dealing directly with the NEFs in suitable RAW converters. Finish the processing of the NEFs there using the power of RAW files, then if required, do any final polishing using Nik standalones or CS2 on output 16-bit TIFs.