Review of Nik software collection.

[torro]

Nik software is now offered as a bundle for $149 and software is available for a trial period. Has anyone experience with the bundled software? Do you think it's worth buying as I already have Lightroom and Photoshop. Would it make post processing of images easier/better?

[ricktas]

this bundle has been on offer for ages. Nik make good filters. Whether it will make your processing easier, depends on what you do. You can download a 30 day trial and see.

[nimrodisease]

It is a great software package, but as Rick said... it really depends on what you want to do. If you're happy with your current setup, then adding another process to your system probably only makes things less efficient. But if you're looking for something else or something new, then by all means, take the trial version for a spin. You've got nothing to lose...

By the by, Nik software is not associated with Nikon.

[bowjac]

I use the Nik software suite constantly, mainly for BW conversion and noise reduction.
I also have Photoshop, which I rarely use now due to the combined power and convenience of Aperture and the Nik software.

Photoshop will do everything that the Nik software does (and more), but the Nik software dramatically reduces your time spent on each photo.
Secondly, I find the inbuilt presets within the Nik software enhances the creative process.

[AnneM]

I have become a Nik Software fanatic. I think it's a great package and it's just been upgraded to include analog effects. It is so much easier and faster than creating multiple layers in CS6. Nik creates the layers automatically. You can create your own 'recipes' for applying various filters. The only downside would be the difficulty in selective editing which I struggle with at times.

When I first bought it in February (just prior to Google taking over) it cost me around $500 for 4 of the filter packages. Now it's $149 for all the packages. I ended up buying a new desktop as my old laptop struggled with memory problems but now it's a breeze.

I learnt of Nik whilst on a photographic tour of Yellowstone in winter - all the others were using it. Highly recommended.

[Tannin]

Yep, it's good stuff. I've been using Viveza for several years and - to my delight! - when Google bought the company they emailed me and said "you paid full price for Viveza back when it cost quite a lot, so now that we have dropped our prices, we are going to give you all the other components in the package free of charge". Can't argue with that!

Some I use a lot (Viveza, Colour Fx), some a fair bit (Silver Fx), some never (HDR Fx 'coz I dislike HDR), and a couple (Sharpener and Dfine) I tinker with every now and then but give up 'coz they don't seem to operate in any sensible way I can get my mind around in the first five minutes and I already know how to get things sharp with Photoshop and noise-free with Neat Image. Dfine in particular is weird. Maybe one day I'll sit down with it for long enough to figure out what it can do. Or maybe I'll just spend that time processing things with Neat Image 'coz it's quicker and easier.

Viveza is an out and out winner. How on earth did we manage before we had this post-processing gem? It's more reliable than it used to be too, hardly ever crashes now. My only complaint is that it tends to be horribly slow - and this is on an i7 with 16GB of DDR3. Worth the wait though.

Silver Fx and Colour Fx are the surprise packages. I though these would be almost useless to me - I'm a pretty strict minimalist when it comes to post-processing, and try hard to keep things looking natural - but they are extraordinarily useful in all sorts of surprising ways, particularly if you apply them with restraint and don't go overboard.

Dfine and Sharpener are probably very good too, I just haven't had any need for them as I already use other products.

Summary: Nik software isn't perfect but it's very good indeed, and well worth the asking price. Recommended.

[Glenda]

I bought the whole package when google first took it over and find it excellent. They also have heaps of tutorial videos on their site which helps you to learn how to use it.

[CarlR]

I purchased it post Google acquisition at a discounted price during a special introductory offer.

I use all of the modules in Lightroom (generally), as the control points are a means to quickly and easily selectively apply any effect.