This gives the ability to add grain, adjustable for size and hardness, and to adjust color sensitivity, levels and curves. Lastly is the finishing adjustments tab. Image tone, edge burning and vignette are all controllable here, as is the new add borders feature. This gives access to 14 different border types, all co-ordinated with the previous settings in terms of tone and color.
The tab also has a loupe or histogram that can be toggled. The main window also offers differing viewing options including with only one tab open:.
In use, I find the Silver Efex Pro interface intuitive and relatively simple to use. It is very feature-rich and has enough control and adjustment to satisfy the most demanding of users. Alternatively, and I must admit I fall into this category, it allows for a quick and easy workflow to get great results in mono quickly. In the era of film photography, color filters were used extensively to get pleasing mono effects, and in my experience, Silver Efex Pro is currently the only package that replicates those effects.
Despite the relative ease of conversion from color to mono in the digital era, to get excellent results, a straightforward conversion is rarely satisfying. Version 2 of the software takes this level of control to another level. Selective color in particular can give a eye-catching visual effect. The interface is definitely improved with the addition of a history panel.
It is also a factor that with so many adjustments, it is likely that the user may use many of them very seldom, although, of course, when you do its effect will be dramatic. Not sure if it's really worth it. 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. Then after the update, I can go uncompress the zipped version and use the old version of an app if I want to.
Or for compatibility reasons like in this case. It hasn't been mentioned, but I'll assume that Nik 4 cannot run natively on the Mac M1 chip; which means it cannot be accessed from Photoshop on the Mac.
I have to run it in Rosetta when I launch. I'm disappointed, since there are two MacBooks, plus the iMacs and two more upcoming Pros coming out that they wouldn't have M1 compatibility on day 1.
I will say however, that running Photoshop in Rosetta mode is still pretty fast. Then , just a few years ago, I bought their whole suite. Way more flexible than an iMac and none of the compatibility issues of a Hackintosh ran those for a few years about ten years ago, as desktops in parallel with MBP's. Is it possible that you somehow have the bit version of Photoshop?
On any computer with 6. Trying to see what would the cause be. Should be easy to check: open Task Manager in Advanced View, and any app that still uses bit would have that showing between paranthesis, after the name.
It's just that CS6 doesn't work with the latest Nik Collection v4. I quote, "…trying to run the new Viveza 3 from within Photoshop C6…" Are you serious? I mean, PS CS6 was published more than 9 years ago and you are wondering why a freshly upgraded-new-piece-of-plugin doesn't work with it… It's like being surprised that your brand new 4K laser projector cannot be plugged in into your 90's Sony TV set… LOL…. Before you comment pls check first, thank you. All your reference to Sony TV is simply Hint 1 easy with your caps lock key!
It installs fine, but does have this memory issues. Anyway, buying Affinity someday. Instead of speculating, let's just go to the source It appears DXO may be giving mixed signals but I found this graphic on their site which might be helpful:. Anything prior to that including CS versions are not supported in the version 4, but were in version 3. As to why they won't support even puzzles me a little, but it is understandable why CS versions are not longer supported. Adobe stopped supporting those versions years ago and developers likely followed suit or it was up to them.
I took the plunge and upgraded to V4, however I have noted a large number of bugs, that didn't exist in V3. I have raised a support ticket with DxO to see if they will acknowledge it.
I don't think they'll fix anything, I don't think its a bug, it seems that the plugins look to see if C1 is open and then alters how it works. Apparently not: "For the moment, NikCollection 4 is not compatible with CaptureOne, but we're happy to record your case, and getting back to you when a workaround is found" Though you can see that the software is not even attempting to save, so this does seem like a really simple bug to fix and it seems churlish not to support CaptureOne. AndyMcD Churlish and extremely short-sighted.
Capture One users can become DxO users. I was initially an Aperture user, had a long stint with Iridient Developer, became frustrated, first tried Capture One and then after trying DxO Photolab found that it was much, much better for high ISO night sports and am now a DxO only user. If DxO locks photographers out, they will miss out on important markets.
Nik Tools were great. No, they were fantastic. Too bad that further development was mostly stagnant and there are simply better tools out there. I wouldn't say development is stagnant, slow is perhaps a better word, but it's come quite a way nonetheless since DXO took it over.
I've tried similar types of tools from other companies Topaz, Luminar, etc.. I think it offers a lot more available options and the ability to fine tune the results over anything else i've tried, and it's significantly faster as well. YuryVilin - You said better tools than Nik were available and I'm asking what tools. Affinity isn't a replacement for Nik in the least String Which makes me wonder - why do you think that Affinity and Nik are not comparable for image editing?
As user of both products you should be able to answer this question. The u-point technology in Viveza is unique to Nik and a tool I find to be very useful to easily and intuitively make local adjustments.
I think Google transplanted the technology to its Snapseed android app, which is one of the best photo editors that also support raw. It's just a shame that Google has abandoned it but they probably want people to use and pay for Google Photos in stead.
It is Nik Software who developed Snapseed. And Google bought them for this mobile app and probably to improve Google photo too. They were never really interested by the plugins. However it is under Google that Analog Efex was developed. It actually looked refined before, now it looks like a generic windows app. Nik performance has always been awesome, and still is from what i see in the trial. Don't get what they say about previews lagging behind a second. That being said , I'm unable to drag an image around with the mouse when zoomed in, in photoshop it keeps on creating new layers.
Even if I make the setting 'apply to current layers. Viveza even makes two! It applies its edits to my layer, creating a new one. Then it does the exact same setting to the first created layer, creating a 2nd layer which overdoes everything. So it seems to created some more bugs and makes working on images a hell lot irritating. Working on a very wide image, I can only scroll by using the navigator window. Which is like 4 pixels tall.
I had some annoying issues with the previous version of Nik Collection in Photoshop that was fixed when Adobe updated Creative Cloud. So hopefully these issues will be addressed soon. From the article Yep and you'll have to pay for it again. I would have to respectfully disagree concerning customer service. I was having a problem with a current update, and customer support was johnny on the spot. There was some back and forth dialog, and it could not have gone any better.
Very recently, I had a suggestion for a feature in PureRaw. The reply was back in a matter of hours. If you come, please leave your crappy attitude at the door. The updates are every year, not every six months. If you don't like any given Photolab or Nik update, there's no issue skipping it. The software keeps working and any given Photolab has been fully compatible with at least two versions of Nik.
This morning surprise I still waiting answer! No luck here. I went with the upgrade and DxO package. DxO downloaded and installed. Nik downloaded but the install is greyed out. Plenty of room on my computer. I contacted them and they replied they will get back. I always enjoy using the Nik collection.
As others have had some issues: support has been in contact with me asking "what language "my computers speaks". I assume they mean Java etc. Still no solution yet. Same to me, they ask how I do for uninstall, if I use Microsoft Windows 10 or I deleted it and redownloaded it. Still won't install. Hopefully, they get back to me by Tuesday I won't be home Mon. Too expensive for a set of plugin containing several outdated ones. The upgrade gives only a slight improvement related to only 2 plugins out of 8 that should have been implemented many years ago.
To still have unresizeable windows after 4 years of ownership by DXO is unacceptable. Just playing around with v. But the crown jewel has always been the U-points. They probably don't make sense to people who never worked in a darkroom, but soft-edged "selections" were the norm when burning and dodging. This approach is degrees different from the very precise but incredibly tedious selections, refined edges, masks, marching ants, etc.
No affiliation. The Film Pack grain textures are a massive step up over the previous grain algorithm - they look way more analogue. The only other plugin I use in the pack is Viveza which now has a much more usable interface. Seems a bit faster too. I'll be interested in the other tools once the UI for all of them has been updated to match Viveza and Silver Efex.
I suppose because the software is also sold as a plug-in that can be used in other software platforms. I am using it as a plug-in for Elements.
Unless you mean Nik should replace Dfine with DeepPrime in their plug-ins. I don't think it is possible to use DeepPrime with anything other than raw files so I am not sure if it would even work in another program. I add grain to my bw conversions so the point is moot a good deal of the time for me.
I only use Dfine for selective nr, but, most of the time, I don't need anything more than a touch of nr in Topaz Denoise AI if I need any at all.
Yeah, I think that is the issue. There is only so much they can do as a plug-in and they realise that is a large part of their market. With dfine you can do selectively reduce noise with the u-point.
You can use it if you find that a portion of you photo have a little bit too much noise. For me it has its place in this collection of plugins. What I think is obsolete now is the presharpening plugin.
The biggest thing on my Nik wishlist had been the ability to reshape the U-point. At least to an oval. Thom Hogan wrote about a way to change the shape of U-point selections in Capture NX2, but I could never figure out how he did it. If you want an oval, just overlap 2 U-points and group them together. Not sure why it remains just a circle. From what I understand, the shape of the selection within the circle automatically varies based on the brightness and color of where you click they call these parameters Luminance and Chrominance.
With this update, you can adjust the sensitivity of the Luminance and Chrominance within the u-point circle. So, that will adjust the size of the selection, making it larger or smaller.
The circle just gives the boundaries for where the u-point looks. For example, a strip of bright seafoam on a dark ocean. A large circle lightens too much in the dark areas and smaller, grouped circles create noticeable patterns in the dark areas An oval shape would remove this issue. Well, i still dislike the fact, even after such a long time, DxO it must being admitted - it was Google, then originally Nik Software before both the Silver Efex Pro and Viveza GUIs aren't updated, not being resize-able.
Not sure why they waste valuable work time on this. If it had been integrated in PL, so that you could work non-destructive it would have been fine. But as now the time would have been much better spent on PL. I expect there are lots of folks who prefer other RAW processors but want access to some of these tools. After downloading and importing the Antique Portrait preset from the Nik Software website, it took only one click to turn a just-okay shot of twin tulips into a romantic rendering of the same flowers.
Presets and available downloads cover a wide range of monochrome options including the aforementioned neutral gray, under and overexposed, high structure, different levels of push and pull processing, high contrast with different color filters much like using color filters with black and white film shooting , as well as various alternative processes ambrotype, cyanotype, etc.
To change the effect, you simply click on one of the thumbnails. My wish list for Nik Silver Efex version 2. A loupe window that magnifies your image is located at the bottom of the right hand panel. It follows your cursor in the main window or you can lock the magnified view onto a single point. Just below the loupe is one of the more interesting aspects of Silver Efex: a zone system scale. Numbered from 0 to 10 dark to light , you can click on one or more number to reveal what areas of the image fall within each value.
The first section offers brightness, contrast and structure adjustments that can be applied globally or to selected areas with Control Points more on Control Points in a minute. Brightness and contrast are self-explanatory.
Essentially it adjusts contrast and provides more or fewer details as the slider is adjusted up or down. What colour channels? Have been a long time user of Nik's, even before Google offered it for free. I had a few favorite presets. To use as plugin for PS makes sense.
Will be the first one to order a copy if they can figure out a way to integrate it. As such, it should be priced in a "why not? To me the presets are not a beginners tool, but a place to begin - exactly like a test strip in the darkroom.
I can begin my post visualisation process with 58 test strips already developed and dried! Usually only a few may be worth considering but I can very quickly assess the potential of the image and begin to refine it from a solid base.
And I am not too proud to be surprised by a preset that brings out possibilities in the image I had failed to appreciate. I have no interest in adding grain or burnt edges and the like because I spent too many hours wrestling with the grain limitations of Tri-X used in available light photography. I am not at all suggesting that photographers who have cut their teeth in the digital era should have my film era perspective.
I am saying that for me Silver Efex Pro continues to brilliantly extend the film darkroom experience digitally. Besides, film, developing and printing is far more rewarding and satisfying than adjusting some sliders.
I think it utterly fails to look anything like film. Gotta see into every shadow you know, shine a light into places where there is no light. Gotta compress everything so you can see it all at a glance. Created by people who absolutely hate photography. I have Silver Efex 3. I'd never go back to film. 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.
I got into photography in the digital age so didn't have that experience, but like the digital options these programs give.
Of course, any modern digital camera will offer easier to achieve and better results than an old fully manual film camera, but they are fun to use. OK, if you also own a darkroom then that is a different story. You can also have fun by setting your digital camera to all manual.
You either print those scans with an enlarger or you scan them, it is not that complicated. How do you work with RAW in Sfex 3? Is there a way to use RAW? Adobe's products do that by saving the history of the changes made to a RAW file, and if I understand the process correctly, that requires attaching an additional layer of information. That's the way they have always worked. Personally, I like that so as not to modify the original RAW data.
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