Yes. I believe the purpose behind this was a marketing plan to broaden the offerings and appeal to a larger audience, especially to those disaffected Adobe users looking for a non subscription alternative. Buy the Nik Collection and get PhotoLab Essential for free. That may actually be quite appealing for a large number of people new to DXO.
Mark,.
Not me though. I have Photoshop so I don’t need the stand alone product. All I really care about is High DPI support which I thought was coming to V1, but I was wrong.
I don’t want to offend anyone who sees value in DxO’s software. But there is a reason why those who muse Adobe software aren’t DxO customers yet. And it’s probably that they don’t like DxO’s software and prefer Adobe’s. Luring them to use a software they don’t like and letting them pay for that buy disguising this offer as a Nik Collection update (which only is a fake.update as it hardly offers any new features beyond presets) isn’t exactly what I would call respectable customer policy. I am very disappointed and would really like to read a statement on this by a DxO representative.
I think you are missing the point which is to broaden the appeal of their offerings to a wider audience by including a free version of PhotoLab Essential. Even without it, THe Nik Collection 2 price is still very reasonable. Take the free version of Photolab out of the equation. Its not meant for folks like you, or even me since I’m already a PhotoLab 2 Elite owner.
Mark
I disagree. The point of an update is to extend the feature set and improve the software. And significantly so if it is a paid upgrade. I can’t see a significant in this update.
Supposedly the Nik Collection 2 now has better 4K support, So far, on my machine, performance is notably faster. I’ve also noted some interface modifications on a at least a couple of the apps. Whether most of these changes are significant improvements or not, other then the better performance I see, I can’t say yet.
Mark
Welcome to the new DxO business model. Hurry up and upgrade for almost no new features at an introductory price that will soon be even cheaper, sucker! Fool me once…
And if you are a Fuji user there is little point in having Photo Labs as it can’t process Fuji RAF files
Really? I’ve upgraded on my MBP 2018 15" to Nik Collection 2. Now when I use the photoshop plugins for it, I have to disable GPU computing or else it will freeze when using it and then applying the changes (freezes when saving back to PS).
Waste of my money if I have to disable options that I never had to in the 2018 version.
Really for users who own PhotoLab Elite Suite (with FilmPack 5+ ViewPoint 3) who recently bought into Nik plugins this upgrade should be free or at a nominal cost (say €20). We just paid for the (broken at the time) software. Finally it works with 4K monitors and we’re asked to pay almost in full for a second time.
As pcorot said “on se fout de nous”. In English this would be, they are mocking us or they are laughing at us or they treat us really poorly or they couldn’t give a damn about us. Yes, that French idiom has some nuance. Take your pick. In any case, this is not an endearing move.
I love to pay for software improvements – once. Not paying a second time to finally get some modest improvements.
Uncoy and all those who protest are right.
I have purchased all of DxO’s products and all upgrades in the last two years despite their low contribution (Nik Collection v2 included) because I wanted to support the company that was struggling and was in danger of disappearing.
But obviously DxO does not understand these support actions and must think that we are simply naive. It’s shocking!
Now no purchase of DxO product without significant improvement of the product!
Cannot agree more. This is DXOs statement on their support FAQ:
" If I own DxO PhotoLab 2 ESSENTIAL or ELITE Edition, do I get a discount on purchasing or upgrading to Nik Collection 2 by DxO?
We are sorry, we want to offer Nik Collection 2 by DxO to all customers for the same price, so we are unable to give extra discounts to users of DxO PhotoLab 2 or older versions. When purchasing Nik Collection 2 by DxO as a new buyer you will pay 149 USD / 125 GBP.
If you already own the previous version, Nik Collection 2018 by DxO, you do not have to pay the full price for Nik Collection 2 by DxO, you would only pay the upgrade price. The pricing for the upgrade to Nik Collection 2 by DxO is as follows: 79 USD / 69 GBP."
Really annoying!
Yes I would agree I bought it and am disappointed but the saying “fool me once” applies.
No more money from me especially given the lack of discount for current owners of Photolabs.
I would suggest that DxO start to look after their existing customers a little better.
Same here, I own DxO Elite and Nik1. This “upgrade”, if you can call it that, should be free for me or nominal. No money of mine is going DxO’s way this time!
To Whom it may concern, and I hope the marketing dept views this and all the above comments.
I am a Photographer in the Chilterns UK, I have since it’s inception used and instilled others of the incredible ease and flexibility that this set of effectively “Plugins” gives to Photographers that is NIK software … intuitive interface, simple actions to achieve complex results compared to PS edit, superior B&W work flow (SiverEfex) which I believe still to be the best in the industry is just one example
I Judge in the club circuit and demo editing software NIK being the most regularly requested I also believe because it’s ease of use and shallow learning curve … When DxO resurrected NIK I thought why not, If DxO can go to the trouble to pick up the batten, refix the numerous compatibility issues it developed through well no software engineers drinking coffee … the least I can do is support it with my hard earned fun tickets … I think it was £39.99 which was I thought fair.
Now less then one year later I’m asked to pay a further £49.99 (For a loyal member UPGRADE and only if I act quickly) for the exact some features, albeit a few more presets, and software that I don’t to be honest need.
So how when asked at the next demo when someone asks “Do you think it;s worth upgrading again and is it good value for money” ?
I do truly NOT know development cost and the overheads but this does seem to be generating a storm in your most important revenue base … your existing customers.
At least you don’t also own DxO PhotoLab Elite with FilmPack 5 and ViewPoint 3 like most of the rest of us, Allan. You are getting something (unwanted software) for your extra dosh. The rest of us are only getting the bug fixes which we already paid for.
They did incorporate 2 of the top 3 voted requests into the 2.0 version, so it isn’t as if the upgrade provides no value. However the only one of those top 3 requests I cared about (native Affinity support) was not included – so this time they will not be getting my money.
I switched to DxO last Fall to get away from Adobe subscriptions. I have not been disappointed, for the type of photography I do it has worked very well for me.
Yes we are charged for upgrades, but I don’t expect a free lunch. I am more interested in keeping DxO in business and creating new and improved software. With Adobe you pay every month, with DxO you pay for the occasional upgrade and you don’t have to buy the upgrade to keep using the software.
Being now able to access the NIC plugins directly with DxO is a real plus for me.
avraham, that’s what many here did with Photolab 2, buy it to keep DxO afloat. And this Nik 2 is what we get as reward!
Like many, I’m a little disappointed and frustrated that DXO doesn’t have the resources to give us more feature updates, but I’m glad that after their bankruptcy last year they are, at least, still in business and able to give us Photolab 2 and the Nik Collection 2.
I hope they are becoming more solvent and will eventually be able to increase the number of new and updated features in upcoming releases. If they are to survive, the very popular Nik Collection may be their key to it. Some of us may not be very happy with the way they are marketing Nik 2, or their upgrade pricing model, but it may be a necessity for them in order to bring in new customers and maintain sufficient cash flow to survive. For that reason they may be, unfortunately, willing to alienate some existing customers.
Mark