Nik Collection 5... well not very happy

Nik Collection
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I am glad to see v5 has been released. However, I truly hope DxO does the honorable thing for those of us who “upgraded” to Nik Collection 4 (to find only 3 of the apps would ever actually get upgraded). We paid to upgrade the “collection” to v4 and now it turns out those who stayed on v3 can get v5 for the same price as those of us who spent money to upgrade to v4. That, to me, just seems like bad treatment of loyal customers. If I’m not mistaken, I paid $70 for the upgrade to v4, so it would seem the upgrade to v5 should be about $10 for those of us who went that route.

I love the Nik Collection (I started using it back when it was owned by Nik) but, at the moment, I can’t say I’m very happy with DxO. You have lost my trust.

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Me too – sorry to say that. I’m not really happy with way DxO is treating customers at all. Looks like they focus on selling software with minor fixes and changes as new version. Not the way to convince me from updating.

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What I hope DxO understands is they are not the only great fish in the pond anymore. There are plenty of other options out there - On1, and Skylum (even during a war), for example, are going above and beyond to develop great products while staying engaged (and fair) with their customers. DxO could truly afford to learn something from the models of their competition because, as I said, DxO is not the only great option anymore. I love their products but not enough to simply throw away money, and that is EXACTLY what DxO is expecting those of us who upgraded to v4 to do in order to get v5

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The bigger issue here is not that v3 to v5 upgraders get a good price, but that v4 upgraders got a duff upgrade which crippled Nik Collection’s availability as a plugin in Affinity Photo, various versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements and overall was not really an improvement.

The right thing to do would be to either not charge v4 owners for the upgrade or charge a symbolic upgrade price (say €10) to make up for the horror show of upgrading to v4.

Thanks to all of your detailed reports on v4, I saved myself that pain. Until Nik Collection is Apple Silicon native (perhaps v5, I haven’t checked), I’m staying on the sidelines happy with SFx v3 and not using the other tools.

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I agree with you 100%! I purchased Nik Collection 4 seven weeks ago for almost $100 now they want another $79. I am sick of the way this company treat customers.

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I fully agree with you, Alec. Never got v4 Silver Effex to work in Photoshop. I will not upgrade to v5 and PhotoLab 6 either.

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And I will do what I always do…I will test the new version and then decide if the improvements help me in my work, and if so, if the upgrade price is worth it.
And I will do the same with DXOPL6 in autumn.
That way I make a decision based on the functions, the price-performance ratio and don’t have to complain later about having spent money on something that doesn’t actually do anything for me.

But of course I hope that in autumn a version will be shown that finally takes into account all the FR’s of the last few years, at least to a large extent, in order to remain a satisfied DXO customer.

Enjoy the summer friends :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Glad to hear that’s the way you do it. However, the bigger issue, aside from the fact that v4 was never really worthy of being called a new version, is the fact that those who own v3 get the same discount as those who already invested $70 in v4 and are now being asked to pay $80 to upgrade to v5. Using the trial versions could do nothing to foresee that sort of disregard for v4 owners who paid for that upgrade and are now being expected to pay what v3 owners are paying to upgrade to v5.

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Hello,
yes, that is annoying but you have that with other companies too…you buy a product and a few weeks later there is a new version which is unfortunately fully chargeable. On the other hand, with DXO I only have the option of buying every two versions at the normal upgrade price.
It is difficult and certainly partly unfair, but…
For example, I have version 4 of NIK but will not upgrade to version 5, simply because I can’t find many new features.

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DxO Nik apps as of mid May 2022

  • Intel: AEP, CEP, nondestructive-util, Perspective, SEP, Viveza
  • Universal: Dfine, HDR, both Sharpeners
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OK, to be fair:

  1. ON1 also have some strange price policy on their updates e.g. with the latest version you have to pay extra to get the plugin versions, which where included in on1 Photo Raw before

  2. Skylum charge for their “Updates” the price for a full version while changing the name of the software instead of fixing the bugs.
    of course, you will get new funktions but in the past they just don`t care about fixing bugs. also with every “new Version” you get less licences. in the past you had 5 licences, now you get 2 and have to pay extra for every further license.

But i am also not very satisfied with the price policy for the NIK Collection as you can see here

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To quote another user: No one who purchased v4 should have to pay any more than those who can now upgrade from v3 to v5 for $79. v4 was NEVER completely upgraded IMO if only 3 plugins out of the entire collection saw version-worthy upgrades."

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Completely agree. I felt robbed at the time with only a partial upgrade when I bought v4 and I won’t repeat that mistake with v5.

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I’d like to add my vote to that too. I paid good money for the V4 upgrade and expect rather better treatment. Are we always expected to just upgrade every second release?

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Well DXO I have to say you have made one of the best Plug-ins, Nik Collection completely useless in a Smart Object/Smart Filter workflow. In the past, prior to DXO taking over the Nik Collection the ability to use the Smart Object/Smart Filter workflow was always backward compatible. I have taught workshops for years and have long included the Nik Collection in my workshops and webinars. It appears I can no longer share your plug-ins as an acceptable tool in my presentations. I’m not sure if anyone from DXO even reads these forum posts, so I may be just pissing into the wind. Take care.

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DxO’s policy on upgrades for the Nik Collection is problematic on two fronts. Certainly, it is reasonable and customary to provide free upgrades to customers who purchased the previous version within a certain timeframe. Six weeks is reasonable, though I’ve seen even longer timeframes. DxO’s current policy prioritizes short term profits over long term customer loyalty. It seems short sighted.

An even bigger issue for me is that DxO takes changes like bug fixes and compatibility updates—things that are traditionally updates—and labels them as upgrades that customers are expected to pay for. While the price of an upgrade for the Nik Collection has increased significantly, the value added for each iteration has barely changed. I couldn’t care less about a bunch of new presets. That’s not an upgrade. Duplicating features in Nik that are already available in other DxO software is not an upgrade.

I don’t know why DxO takes a different approach to the Nik Collection than they do with their other software. I don’t feel this way about PhotoLab upgrades, FilmPack upgrades, or ViewPoint upgrades. But when it comes to the Nik Collection, DxO’s goal seems to be to extract as much money from their customer base as possible, regardless of whether it is fair or whether there is real value added in each new version. And to hell with customer satisfaction.

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Wow, you are obsessed with what other people are getting or not getting. The big issue here is that DxO has put out two updates to Nik plugins neither of which should be worth an upgrade fee.

Even more disturbing is that at this pace, my copy of Nik 3 (one of which required buying a second and unnecessary license of PhotoLab, another dirty trick) will be EOL and not upgradeable.

Looks like it’s time to close the book on Nik. I’ll run SFX 3 when I need black and white as long as I can run it but otherwise I’m out.

This kind of shenanigans with Nik upgrades are what lose companies goodwill. I couldn’t imagine writing I am out for a DxO product two years ago.

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If I seemed obsessed about someone with v4 is having to pay the same amount as someone with v3, it’s because I value my money and don’t enjoy feeling I’ve been taken advantage of (especially given the fact I’ve been a loyal customer for years).

However, this incident has shown me that DxO clearly seems to value our money more than they value maintaining customer loyalty. I’m undecided about how loyal I’m going to be going forward. But I definitely will not be handing money over to DxO as quickly going forward. DxO has lost my trust in that regard.

They took advantage of my trust once. I will be much more cautious the next time… if there is a next time. Sorry, DxO. My money is as important to me as it is to you.

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I’ve been a loyal customer and went along with the updates to support both the development of the products and the company . . . but I’m done with PhotoLab, FilmPack, ViewPoint, and especially Nik Collection upgrades.

The only one I’ll consider is PureRaw because that still impresses me (not always, but often), but only if they add functionality (the last upgrade added nothing of use to me). Adding support for more cameras and fixing bugs is NOT an upgrade.

To be sure, I have nothing against the software, but — as others have mentioned — I don’t like being taken advantage of.

DxO products are OK, but they’re not what I would call essential. I could do just fine with Lightroom, Luminar AI, and the Topaz offerings (Topaz, by the way, has a subscription model that works well, and even their stand-alone purchases get a full year of (real and useful) updates).

I’m fine with PL 5 (which I don’t often use), and Nik Collection 4 (which I now seldom use) because I have other products that more than take up any slack.

Frankly, interface improvements are more of an annoyance than a benefit, at least for me.

Much like ON1 before them, DxO is on its way to being blacklisted as far as any updates. BTW, I still use ON1 Suite 10 and ON1 2018 . . . I stopped upgrading the suite precisely because they kept fiddling with the interface and their improvements resulted is a loss of functionality for my workflow.

To forestall any criticism or excuses, I have nothing against the company. What I own of theirs I’ll still use and will likely do so for years . . . but they’re going to have to really step up to get any more money from me.

If you are an enthusiastic user, vade con spaghetti monstrum volantes, but I’m outta here.

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Totally agree. I bought Niksoft Collection on 15th May 2020 and 3 weeks later the next iteration was announced - £49.99 for an upgrade! I complained very politely on the basis that they must have known that a new version was imminent but took my money anyway. DXO absolutely not interested, basically ‘tough luck’, not our problem. This is not the way to treat people.

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