Google Nik Collection is Now Free

[Pebbles]

The key point here is that you should probably avoid using Nik in any files that you might need to re-edit later on. From their statement is sounds like Google are not going to update Nik to support new OS versions, so sooner or later any files that use it will have issues. If you are baking it in as a separate layer then I suppose that is safe, but if you are using Smart Objects with Nik as a filter, sooner of later you are probably going to get burned. I would also question why anyone would want to invest time and effort in learning a piece of software that will soon be unusable.

 

[Maiaibing]

Did anyone else here take a break to listen to "Word Crimes"? 8)

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

3) If you are angry that an old product is now being released for free, maybe some fresh air and sunshine wouldn't hurt.

More like people are angry that a great product is being disappeared and won't be updated for hi DPI screens or other new tech and won't be updated if newer OS and whatnot make it fail.

If Google had no use for it, why did they have to buy the company? They have billions, but they just had to raid this tiny little company? Couldn't find anyone else to hire? Couldn't stand to lose 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% of budget to competition in a field they don't even do much in?

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

2) I don't believe it has had any major updates in a couple years. It's getting a bit long in the tooth when compared to plug-in suites that have brushes and layers. Still very useful, and for those who don't like to learn new software, keeps on working.

3) If you are angry that an old product is now being released for free, maybe some fresh air and sunshine wouldn't hurt.

You can use any of the plugins as Smart Objects, which is arguably better than layers, as not only do you get layers, but you can reverse everything exactly as you created them. Also the entire workflow is based around color matching (and to a lesser extent spheres of influence) which is an alternate way of doing brush work. Putting brushes in completely defeats the purpose of the plugins, which is to get away from brushes. Or at least that was the original intent during the 1.0 and 2.0 releases. Who knows what it is now that engineers have basically been sucked off the project.

And no one's angry that it's been release for free; there's some very minor natural disappointment that something you paid for is now free, but more importantly it's the MEANING behind being releases for free means – namely that this is mostly like the end of the line for some damn good software that doesn't really have much in terms of equal (specifically Silver Efex Pro).

exactly and exactly

 

[Jack Douglas]

Did anyone else here take a break to listen to "Word Crimes"? 8)

Weird Al? Just did - not bad. In Quebec, Canada there really are true word crimes and punishment, but that's written language not verbal and it's not for grammar. ;D

Jack

 

[curby]

If Google had no use for it, why did they have to buy the company? They have billions, but they just had to raid this tiny little company? Couldn't find anyone else to hire? Couldn't stand to lose 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% of budget to competition in a field they don't even do much in?

Welcome to capitalism. They saw something they thought would make them more profitable, so they bought it. Why did they buy the whole company rather than the single product they really cared about? Maybe it worked out better legally. Maybe they wanted all the engineers that were working at the company. Maybe they did care more about the full range of Nik products at the time. Regardless, this happens all the time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Apple
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Facebook
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Google
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Microsoft

(curious that Amazon's not on there)

Some companies do it more often than others, and companies treat their acquisitions differently, just as they treat their employees and their customers differently. If you care enough about how a company behaves, that's your cue to support them or take your money elsewhere.

EDIT: On the subject of the fates of acquired companies, this can't even be called a failure yet. Compare to:

http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/8/8910999/microsoft-job-cuts-2015-nokia-write-off
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/29/5358620/lenovo-reportedly-buying-motorola-mobility-from-google

 

[YuengLinger]

If Google had no use for it, why did they have to buy the company? They have billions, but they just had to raid this tiny little company? Couldn't find anyone else to hire? Couldn't stand to lose 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% of budget to competition in a field they don't even do much in?

Welcome to capitalism. They saw something they thought would make them more profitable, so they bought it. Why did they buy the whole company rather than the single product they really cared about? Maybe it worked out better legally. Maybe they wanted all the engineers that were working at the company. Maybe they did care more about the full range of Nik products at the time. Regardless, this happens all the time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Apple
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Facebook
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Google
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Microsoft

(curious that Amazon's not on there)

Some companies do it more often than others, and companies treat their acquisitions differently, just as they treat their employees and their customers differently. If you care enough about how a company behaves, that's your cue to support them or take your money elsewhere.

EDIT: On the subject of the fates of acquired companies, this can't even be called a failure yet. Compare to:

http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/8/8910999/microsoft-job-cuts-2015-nokia-write-off
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/29/5358620/lenovo-reportedly-buying-motorola-mobility-from-google

"Raid this tiny little company"? I'm pretty sure the previous owners saw it as a great chance to cash in on years of hard work.

Wow...From what Disney movie did you learn about business?

 

[George D.]

Before Google I was very curious about Nik software mainly for the various B&W film emulation over DSLR monochrome then I thought the $120 Google offer for the suite is a steal. Paid, then used it maybe once or twice. The idea is nice but if you want to shoot B&W buy film (as long as still around).

 

[ExodistPhotography]

Before Google I was very curious about Nik software mainly for the various B&W film emulation over DSLR monochrome then I thought the $120 Google offer for the suite is a steal. Paid, then used it maybe once or twice. The idea is nice but if you want to shoot B&W buy film (as long as still around).

Sometimes I do miss film. I just feel sometimes like it had a sharper image, but with MP count getting higher that seems less of an issues. But on the topic of BW, I use Lr with wonderful results.

I never tried the Nik software out, many talked about it and I even thought about it. But I need the option of being able to batch process my images from RAW and work my way through them looking and comparing which ones look the best. Lr just makes that easy..

 

[GuyF]

The obvious response would be that I looked up "arrogance" in the dictionary, and found a picture of you, but that's too easy. (I'll let you have the last word, if you so choose, because this frankly isn't a very challenging exchange.)

Aren't dictionaries with accompanying pictures more aimed at children? At least we've now found your level. Allow me to help - Arrogance: an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner.

I suppose we could ask CRguy to request that members declare if their first language is English or not. Those having English as a second language can become forum members automatically whereas native speakers must first submit an essay on the correlation between sensor DR and any equivalent found within language. Bonus marks for use of iambic pentameter.

Now back to the thread in hand; DFine is very good, isn't it?

 

[expatinasia]

I would love Google to announce how many people have downloaded it since they said it was free to do so.

I rarely, if ever, use filters but I have downloaded and installed it! I might even try and play around with it to see if I like it.

But I would really love to know how many millions (?) have just downloaded it because, like me, they could!

 

[GuyF]

I would love Google to announce how many people have downloaded it since they said it was free to do so.

I wonder if they did research to gauge how many people already had pirated copies.

 

[PhotoCat]

Yay! what a great news! Thank you Google! ;D ;D ;D

 

[lidocaineus]

Before Google I was very curious about Nik software mainly for the various B&W film emulation over DSLR monochrome then I thought the $120 Google offer for the suite is a steal. Paid, then used it maybe once or twice. The idea is nice but if you want to shoot B&W buy film (as long as still around).

I agree that if you want to match a certain film stock the first choice is to shoot that stock, but it's sort of ridiculous to assume that any time you want to shoot black and white you want to emulate film. There are a huge number of qualities to love about film, but that doesn't mean digital black and white is useless.

And if you're only using Silver Efex Pro to match film stock, you missed out on 90% of the rest of its abilities.

 

[Zv]

I only ever used Silver Efex before so I need to try these other ones out. I really like Silver Efex it's real easy to get a high contrast, punchy and detailed B&W in a few seconds rather than muck around for hours on Photoshop or Lightroom. I don't use the presets now as I have a particular look that I go for and know how those sliders work to help me get it. Really good for those dramatic skies and rocks.

Here's an example - https://flic.kr/p/AeB8mU

 

[rpt]

Has anyone installed this in the last couple of days?

I tried and only the HDR plugin got installed. I have LR/CC 64 bit on a Windows 10 HP laptop.

Sorry, my bad. So only the HDR appears via the Export option. All of them appear via "Edit In".
:-[

 

[George D.]

Before Google I was very curious about Nik software mainly for the various B&W film emulation over DSLR monochrome then I thought the $120 Google offer for the suite is a steal. Paid, then used it maybe once or twice. The idea is nice but if you want to shoot B&W buy film (as long as still around).

I agree that if you want to match a certain film stock the first choice is to shoot that stock, but it's sort of ridiculous to assume that any time you want to shoot black and white you want to emulate film. There are a huge number of qualities to love about film, but that doesn't mean digital black and white is useless.

And if you're only using Silver Efex Pro to match film stock, you missed out on 90% of the rest of its abilities.

Observe difference: B&W film, DSLR monochrome. Not the same thing. Former has grain, latter pixels. I love monochrome (lately) just as I love B&W.

 

[zim]

Is it possible to just install Silver Efex and nothing else?

 

[George D.]

It installs/uninstalls the full suite complete as a plug-in on host applications of your choice, however, you can also run each module externally from the installation directory (Windows Program Files/Google/Nik Collection) using respective .exe file. After full installation I suppose you can manually delete the module of your choice from the install dir.

 

[lidocaineus]

Before Google I was very curious about Nik software mainly for the various B&W film emulation over DSLR monochrome then I thought the $120 Google offer for the suite is a steal. Paid, then used it maybe once or twice. The idea is nice but if you want to shoot B&W buy film (as long as still around).

I agree that if you want to match a certain film stock the first choice is to shoot that stock, but it's sort of ridiculous to assume that any time you want to shoot black and white you want to emulate film. There are a huge number of qualities to love about film, but that doesn't mean digital black and white is useless.

And if you're only using Silver Efex Pro to match film stock, you missed out on 90% of the rest of its abilities.

Observe difference: B&W film, DSLR monochrome. Not the same thing. Former has grain, latter pixels. I love monochrome (lately) just as I love B&W.

I've never heard anyone make the distinction that B&W only belongs to film and monochrome only belongs to digital. Please link to your references regarding this nomenclature.