Nik Collection Bundle for $126.65

[lopicma]

Thanks for this post.  I took advantage of it last night, and bought the set.

[cayenne]

So, how much is this stuff normally?

I just found the site and it says the bundle (without the code) is like $149. 

A savings of about $23US.....nice, but nothing spectacular...?

Not sure what I'm missing here?

$149 here:
http://www.niksoftware.com/nikcollection/usa/index.php?view=intro%2Fmain.shtml

[lopicma]

I think it used to be $299...  or $99 per application separately.  Put the coupon code in for 126.65 pricing.

[cayenne]

I think it used to be $299...  or $99 per application separately.  Put the coupon code in for 126.65 pricing.

Well, I just bought photomatix bundle a week or so ago....can anyone give comment between Photomatix Pro (bundle), and the HDR EFX Pro 2 plug in?

I just watched a nice (long) talk and demo of it on YT.
I'm looking at videos now, for the other plug ins.

Can anyone here that used the other plug ins comment on them? How well they work? How they compare to other companies' counterpart products?

I use Apeture 3 on the mac for my stills and video.....

Thanks in advance,

cayenne

[Area256]

Hope they're of use for people just exploring what you can do with them - the current price is an absolute bargain, even if I am still wary of Google's motives ;-)

I'm also wary of what Google plans to do with the software.  I got the full version (having owned one of the plug-ins), and it seems to have very few, if any, DRMs attached to the binary.  Which suggests they either want to work on the honour system, something I totally agree with, or they don't care much about making money off the software - which is the worrying side of it.  Hopefully they do keep up development of the product, some of the filters are really nice.

[Brand B]

So, how much is this stuff normally?

I just found the site and it says the bundle (without the code) is like $149. 

A savings of about $23US.....nice, but nothing spectacular...?

Not sure what I'm missing here?

$149 here:
http://www.niksoftware.com/nikcollection/usa/index.php?view=intro%2Fmain.shtml

It was $299 for the LR/Aperture version and $499 for the PS version when I bought it On Feb 9.     The version you can now get for $125/$149 is the full PS version at that price.

So I am attempting to look at it as having gotten an upgrade to the PS version for free instead of having blown an extra $150 to have it 2 weeks earlier.

[Rienzphotoz]

It was $299 for the LR/Aperture version and $499 for the PS version when I bought it On Feb 9.     The version you can now get for $125/$149 is the full PS version at that price.

So I am attempting to look at it as having gotten an upgrade to the PS version for free instead of having blown an extra $150 to have it 2 weeks earlier.
[/quote]
Ouch, for your $499
Just bought the full version yesterday at the reduced price, couldn't be happier.

[cayenne]

I'm hunting down and looking into the individual plugins...their functionality, etc.
Can some of the many of you, who have bought this now or in the past comment how each of these plug-ins have fit into your workflow....

How do you use these over and above the tools already at your disposal with what you have (Apeture, PS, Lightroom).

For example the Black and White plugin (Silver EFX?).....you can do B&W's all day in Aperture, Lightroom, etc.

How does this plug in excel over the built in tools you already have and how does it fit into your work flow?

What about the other color ones? Noise one? Etc?

Thanks in advance,

cayenne

[VirtualRain]

For those wondering where the power in NIK lies, in my opinion, its in Vivezas u-point tonal mask adjustments. If you've ever heard about luminosity masks in Photoshop, they are a powerful tool for applying adjustments naturally to select tones or regions of an image. They are much more natural than painting with brushes as they feather naturally with the change in selected tone. NIK has made this complicated and time consuming task a point and click exercise. Once you've used it, you will realize the folly of applying global adjustments to your entire image. That's barbaric in comparison to what you could be doing

[Random Orbits]

I'm hunting down and looking into the individual plugins...their functionality, etc.
Can some of the many of you, who have bought this now or in the past comment how each of these plug-ins have fit into your workflow....

How do you use these over and above the tools already at your disposal with what you have (Apeture, PS, Lightroom).

For example the Black and White plugin (Silver EFX?).....you can do B&W's all day in Aperture, Lightroom, etc.

How does this plug in excel over the built in tools you already have and how does it fit into your work flow?

What about the other color ones? Noise one? Etc?

Thanks in advance,

cayenne

Did you download the free trial and play with it?  That's what I'm doing.  I don't do B&W conversions, but I tried it last night using LR4 and Silver EFX just to try the software.  The nice thing about the Nik is that it has a number of filter effects applied to the same image.  Pick the one that is closest to the effect you want and adjust away.  I tried to get the same look in LR4, and it would have taken a lot longer with a lot of adjustments.  Color EFX seems like Instagram on steriods (although I've never used Instagram either).  Would I use it much... probably not.  Would I use it enough to make it worth 130?  Maybe...

[cayenne]

Hmm.
Well, watching the videos, looks interesting for sure.

ONe thing Im not sure of, is if all the plugins work non-destructively, with the RAW image (with the exception of the HDR one which can't really work that way with 32bit), or if after you apply each one of these, is it resulting in a TIFF file back to your main application?

Most of the examples I see are using PS...with smart objects I'm guessing, and I can't tell....

I use Aperture and I've not found how these plugins work within a larger workflow.....

Can anyone comment if these are non-destructive RAW processes?  (Am I using the correct terminology?)

Thanks,

C

[Hector1970]

I use Nik quite a lot in my workflow. It's great for adding a little punch to a photo. It integrates very well into CS6 and Lightroom. Silver Efex Pro and Viveza are the ones I use the most. Usually for messing with the Sky. The u-point makes it very easy to make local adjustments without complicated work with Layers. I'd say its a bargain . The downside is lots more people will use it which makes the effects less special and more common. What was a hidden secret (especially Silver Efex Pro) will now be commonly used
www.flickr.com/fergalocallaghan

[cayenne]

I use Nik quite a lot in my workflow. It's great for adding a little punch to a photo. It integrates very well into CS6 and Lightroom. Silver Efex Pro and Viveza are the ones I use the most. Usually for messing with the Sky. The u-point makes it very easy to make local adjustments without complicated work with Layers. I'd say its a bargain . The downside is lots more people will use it which makes the effects less special and more common. What was a hidden secret (especially Silver Efex Pro) will now be commonly used
www.flickr.com/fergalocallaghan

Hi, since you use it, maybe you can answer my question I had just before your post.
Working with these NIK plugins....are you doing this to RAW files non-destructively...or does using each one of these plug ins (not the HDR one)...output like a TIFF file....

Just wondering if these fit into workwith with RAW all the way through, and then outputting TIFF or Jpeg at the end...or if these plugins put out TIFF/jpeg, and you should only use them at the end of the workflow?

Thanks,

C

[Random Orbits]

I use Nik quite a lot in my workflow. It's great for adding a little punch to a photo. It integrates very well into CS6 and Lightroom. Silver Efex Pro and Viveza are the ones I use the most. Usually for messing with the Sky. The u-point makes it very easy to make local adjustments without complicated work with Layers. I'd say its a bargain . The downside is lots more people will use it which makes the effects less special and more common. What was a hidden secret (especially Silver Efex Pro) will now be commonly used
www.flickr.com/fergalocallaghan

Hi, since you use it, maybe you can answer my question I had just before your post.
Working with these NIK plugins....are you doing this to RAW files non-destructively...or does using each one of these plug ins (not the HDR one)...output like a TIFF file....

Just wondering if these fit into workwith with RAW all the way through, and then outputting TIFF or Jpeg at the end...or if these plugins put out TIFF/jpeg, and you should only use them at the end of the workflow?

Thanks,

C

Works OK with LR work flow.  When you open a file to edit with Nik products, it produces a virtual copy (tiff) that you can edit to your heart's content.  The original RAW is preserved as its own file.

[cayenne]

I use Nik quite a lot in my workflow. It's great for adding a little punch to a photo. It integrates very well into CS6 and Lightroom. Silver Efex Pro and Viveza are the ones I use the most. Usually for messing with the Sky. The u-point makes it very easy to make local adjustments without complicated work with Layers. I'd say its a bargain . The downside is lots more people will use it which makes the effects less special and more common. What was a hidden secret (especially Silver Efex Pro) will now be commonly used
www.flickr.com/fergalocallaghan

Hi, since you use it, maybe you can answer my question I had just before your post.
Working with these NIK plugins....are you doing this to RAW files non-destructively...or does using each one of these plug ins (not the HDR one)...output like a TIFF file....

Just wondering if these fit into workwith with RAW all the way through, and then outputting TIFF or Jpeg at the end...or if these plugins put out TIFF/jpeg, and you should only use them at the end of the workflow?

Thanks,

C

Works OK with LR work flow.  When you open a file to edit with Nik products, it produces a virtual copy (tiff) that you can edit to your heart's content.  The original RAW is preserved as its own file.

Hmm..ok, that's what I was afraid of....I'm using Aperture. I like that it, much like Lightroom, allows you to make all the adjustments to the RAW file (well, technically just keeping track of what all to apply to it)...but you don't actually move to jpeg or tiff till you're finished.

These plugins, would be best used at the very END of your workflow, after you've done everything you want with LR or Aperture....and do these as final steps before outputting the images.

That kinda blows, but seems the nature of the beast with plugins to our 'development' software....was hoping these weren't that way.

Thoughts?

C