I am a big fan of DXO Software and also a longtime user for the Nik Collection, but i belive that a collection should be updatedet also as a collection and not only piece by piece, especially when you want such a hight upgrade price.
i was happy that DXO bought the plugIn suite and push them farther, but this has become a “money machine” and i belive that all the Updates in the past was not worth the money. the first dxo version i have bougth just to support the firm which had some hard times but now i will stay with the nik collection 3.
I certainly understand your point of view, but the reworked interfaces for Viveza and Silver Efex Pro were still enough of an improvement for me at the upgrade price.
I agree the interface is a great change, but they really must address the compatibility issues that they have introduced in the Silver Efx and Viveza updates in V4
There was some complaint when it went from v1 to v2 as there wasn’t much improvement to justified the asking price. Then v3 added Viewpoint and if you already had viewpoint with PL then, there was no point updating from v2 to v3. Still Dfine, analog efex and Sharpener pro haven’t been touch yet, so there’s much more to be worked on before the entire collection see a full update.
ok, for me, this does not justify the high price for the update, especially since i have been asked to pay by dxo 3 times before.
Version 4 seams to have some kind of bugs
*Nik Perspective Efex is not compatible with Affinity
still no oval U-Points
what have they done the whole year since the last version?
i`ve deinstalled the demo version already and i´m glad to try it first this time, all other dxo-software in the past i ordered right away and yes, i am a longtime user of their software.
apart from a few small optimisations, i can’t see any major differences compared to the free google version
I wish that Color Efex and HDR Efex could have been included in the upgrade, but the vast improvements to Silver Efex and Viveza justify the price for me. I’m pretty sure that CE and HDRE will be next, maybe in a point update. Fingers crossed.
Each of us looks at value depending on our individual needs. I use Silver Efex Pro more than all the other Nik programs combined and I also occasionally use Viveza. However, if I primarily used any of the other programs, like Color Efex, I would also be disappointed.
I hope by the time the Nik Collection 5 is released, all the rest of the programs will be updated. . Although software integration issues don’t affect me personally since I use the Nik Collection with PhotoLab, I hope there will be fewer issues integrating Nik program’s into third-party software.
If you take the price for the first DXO version at the time and then add the prices for the 3 updates and then put the whole thing in relation to the added functions, then the overall picture for me is rather sobering. it’s up to everyone whether they buy the update or not.
I am OK with my upgrade price for NIK 4. Given that Control Points work differently in Silver Efex and Viveza than in the other plug ins, I can see the logic is doing the upgrades in stages. Also given all the different ways you can access the plug ins, doing it in stages makes sense as it provides a way for all of the bugs to be eliminated. I know that this is not the best approach from a customer service or users standpoint, but it may be the most practical way to keep changes coming. DXO just has to make sure the price for upgrades for existing users are not that high.
The high price that has been incurred each time so far, coupled with the long period of time and what has been implemented so far, is anything but coherent.
Perspective Efex could have been dispensed with, I don’t see much difference here compared to ViewPoint. This is what i have ment witch “Money Machine”.
Prospective Efex is a useful add-in for those who only want the Nik collection and don’t use other DXO software. It mimics exactly the stand-alone version of Viewpoint 3.
Many of us who are Photolab users and own Viewpoint 3 don’t even have the stand-alone version installed and prefer to use the embedded features from within PhotoLab.
Viewpoint 3 owners, who do not also own the Nik collection, may decide to use the standalone version in conjunction with software other than Photolab.
The availability of Viewpoint as a separate stand-alone application, and ss part of The Nik collection renamed Prospective Efex, makes this functionality available to a wider audience. I see nothing wrong with that.
I wish I experienced the improvements you see, but on my Mac (Big Sur 11.4), the plugins for Viveza and Silver Efex Pro do not have the button for sending the processed file back to the host editor. DxO Support’s suggestions for reinstalling did not solve the problem either. I returned to the Nik3 version.
In general I like to support DxO, and love what their software is capable for doing. However I have to say that I still have not purchased a copy of the Nik collection for exactly that reason… yes there are changes, but my personal opinion, given my own usage patterns of these tools, is that the updates are minor and not worth switching to yet. We all have different work flows though, and although I use it regularly I don’t make extensive use of the Nik collection.
I am okay with the upgrade price as compared to other products, especially those you pay for on subscription, I believe that it’s good value for money; however, I would stay with the old version for a while until all the bugs that are usually associated with a new version of any product have been fixed.
