I’m also receiving the announcements from the German subsidiary marketing dpt. and it is as ambiguous (or even more) as the other announcements :
*U-POINT™-KOMPATIBILITÄT MIT RAW *
Noch mehr Vielseitigkeit und kreative Möglichkeiten: Sie können U-Point, die exklusive Technologie für lokale Korrekturen, nun auf RAW-Dateien anwenden.
The end of the sentence clearly says : can now be used on RAW files.
Time to fix this, DxO. Otherwise, you’ll get a lot of flack.
Hello Pat,
but this is correct - isn’t it - in Local Corrections you use U-points on Raw files
Sigi
You can use U-Point to add PL corrections but you can’t use U-Point to add Nik corrections when in PL
U-Point now appears as a selection mechanism both in PL & Nik to apply their own native corrections
Simples!
Corrrect - so it does exactly what it says" you can apply u-point exclusive adjustment technology to raw files" and in german they have even added “for local corrections”
So for me it is pretty clear what I can do and what I can not do.
But working in communication I know that this is the hardest thing to do because every person “reads” things differently and from their perspective
DxO cannot write that in a Nik ressource documentation.
It’s voluntarily confusing.
No, it’s not. You cannot use U-Points on RAW files in the Nik plugins since they are unable to load a RAW file.
I am not talking about NIk - I am talking about DPL. The ad clearly says: “with DXO Photo Lab 2.3 …”
Exactly.
Talking about RAW files in a Nik Collection related announcement is just nonsense. Actually, the Nik plugins never ever work on RAW files as I already explained. When used from a host like DPL or Lightroom, they act on a TIFF or a JPEG file created by the host. When used as filters (*.8bf) from Photoshop or Affinity Photo, they act on an in-memory raster image created by PS (Camera RAW) or AP.
So again, this announcement is confusing, to say the least. The word RAW should not appear anywhere in documents and advertisements related to the Nik Collection (or only to mention that they can’t do anything with them). Period.
I‘ve re-read the announcement mail and checked out the nikcollection website. Both are not as clear as the one statement (see screenshot above) shown a few posts earlier.
While the screenshot statement is clear, the mail I got and the website are misleading and could lead to even legal actions against the labs. In the mail I got, DPL is mentioned only after the price and there is no reference between this mention and the statement that reads „nik can do raw“…
I hope that DxO will find a way to communicate more precisely in a very near future.
Agree, however they are now marketing PhotoLab Essential as an integral part of the Nik Collection. Since you can apply U Point to raw files in PhotoLab, the statement that you can apply U point to raw images in the Nik Collection, although very misleading, is technically correct. However, any users familiar with the Nik Collection, and expecting that all the apps will allow edits directly to raw files. will rightly feel deceived. It was a poor marketing approach in my opinion, but perhaps was a desperate measure on their part to market both PhotoLab and the Nik Collection to a wider audience. They are not out of the woods from their bankruptcy experience yet .
Mark
What is confusing and needs understanding is that NIK V2 is a new product with the same name as the old one. Incorporating DPL Essential means that NIK V2 does work with raw files and also now does not need other software, like PS, to work. You now have a very good raw converter, with local U-Point editing and a set of filter based editing plugins.
The value to me is limited as I have DPL Elite but to a new customer it is a respectable deal.This does beg the question as to where the NIK plugins/DPL Essential goes next? NIK V2 provides a nice upgrade path to DPL Elite but what of the future? The plugins still need work but Viveza seems to be redundant as you can do most of its functionality in DPL Essential. Dfine is still useful for RGB image noise reduction but the sharpen plugins need to be consolidated into DPL.
The strategy would appear to be to increase the perceived value of NIK V2 and then encourage upgrade to DPL Elite.
Silver EfexPro would seem to make Film Pack redundant and that should be folded into DPL Elite, improving its value, and Film Pack retired as a separate product.
Interesting times 
Ian
? ? ? Could you please elaborate because this statement is beyond my understanding.
I am pretty sure that he means that since PhotoLab Essential is now being considered a permanent and integral part of the Nik Collection by DXO, the Collection technically allows edits to raw images. It is a stretch of course and very misleading to those familiar with the Nik collection. While it may seem like a deceptive marketing approach, it is not, strictly speaking, a lie.
Mark
I think that “permanent” is seldom a property of software quality and -licensing 
Checking the DxO shop, I find that DxO is rearranging things quite a bit. We might have to wait a while for things to settle. Let’s hope that offerings will be clearer after a while. Still some questions remains: How can one get DPL Elite with NIK? Or will Essential and Elite merge? Do we have to pay twice?
NIK V2 is a new product it is not NIK V1.
Saying NIK V2 doesn’t work with raw files is like saying Photoshop doesn’t work with raw files. While PS cannot work with raw files ACR can, and as ACR is part of PS??? We don’t question PS’s ability to work with raw files.
NIK V2 has a browser, a very competent raw editor with U-Point local adjustments and filter based editing via the NIK plugins. A very different proposition from NIK V1.
This may be one of the reasons that Viveza has not been upgraded to work with 4K monitors. Does NIK V2 really need it, when you have U-Points in DPL Essential?
Does NIK Define 2 have a future? Rolling this functionality into DPL would seem to be an obvious move. Improving the performance of DPL Essential and Elite for rgb images.
It is obvious that DXO have a forward plan and it turns out to look rather more radical than many of us thought.
[quote=“IanS, post:25, topic:8117”]
Saying NIK V2 doesn’t work with raw files is like saying Photoshop doesn’t work with raw files. While PS cannot work with raw files ACR can, and as ACR is part of PS???[/quote]
Actually, ACR is just a plugin added to the PS package “after the fact”. Any developer could write a similar plugin allowing PS to “work” with a completely new image format. This wouldn’t make PS aware of that file type. The translation to the raster format would still be necessary.
[quote=“IanS, post:25, topic:8117”]
NIK V2 has a browser, a very competent raw editor with U-Point local adjustments and filter based editing via the NIK plugins.[/quote]
Bundling 2 products doesn’t make them integrated or even aware of each other. DPL sends raster files built from the original RAWs the same way it sends the same files to other external editors. There’s nothing new here (beside a specialized button), contrary to what the NIK v2 advertisement implies.
Anyway, the problem is that this advertisement lets the naive reader believe that the Nik Collection can work on RAW files without breaking the RAW workflow (which is what we actually expect through the integration of the Nik stuff in DPL). This must be clarified. Otherwise, there’s not much to say about this announcement.
Pat, I’m as annoyed (or more) by the pricing and marketing nonsense around the Nik v2 launch as you. In this case, though adding PhotoLab as a core part of Nik (which is what DxO did) does:
PhotoLab is slow. Nik is even slower. PhotoLab 2.3 is slower than earlier versions of PhotoLab (I can’t quantify it but the difference is perceptible). DxO has forced my hand to buy a second copy of PhotoLab to be able to upgrade Nik.
I’m not interested in slow technology in the least. Over speed, there may be a divorce between me and DxO soon. Right after DxO have made a desperate grab for another €100 from me and added in-app advertising. I’m not happy with DxO at all at this point.
Regardless, DxO advertising for RAW capabilities within Nik are as accurate as Adobe’s advertising for RAW capabilities in Photoshop (via ACR).
I’m still confused. I received this NIK 2 email in the past few days it says
“With Nik Collection 2, you can apply local settings directly to your high-quality RAW files before converting them into JPEGs.”
This only mentions direct RAW editing within the NIK plugins/apps.
It’s misleading. Photolab Essential is now part of the Nik Collection and you can edit a raw image there before exporting it as Tiff or Jpeg image to the Nik applications.
Mark
