Does DXO PhotoLab include the Nik Collection?: Retouching Forum: Digital Photography Review (2024)

After years of using Capture NX-2, I'm thinking about moving to DXO PhotoLab. If I buy PhotoLab 3.2, does that include the Nik Collection? It seemed to be included as part of the trial, but for some reason I can't figure out if the collection is included with the purchased version.

Also, would it make sense to wait a little bit for V4? I read somewhere that that's coming out in October.

1

You may be able to get the original free version of the Nik Collection here -

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6809-google-nik-collection.html

KR Photo wrote:

Shoot, that’s too bad. I’ll still buy PL, though, and maybe add the Nik Collection later. I really do like the u-point feature.

PL3 has control points under local adjustments.

1

KR Photo wrote:

Shoot, that’s too bad. I’ll still buy PL, though, and maybe add the Nik Collection later. I really do like the u-point feature.

Note that the Nik Collection was designed to complement the Adobe products. It has never been integrated with the DxO products, other than by file export. DxO built the U-point technology into PhotoLab (that was what changed it from DxO Optics Pro), and that is fully integrated. But the rest of the collection is not.

I'm a long term DxO user, but have never seen any point in getting Nik. I use DxO FilmPack for those sort of effects, and that is fully integrated with PhotoLab. In fact, it is built right in, so if you have an FP licence, its tools are available directly while editing a raw image in PhotoLab. All the edits are non-destructive, too. That is not the case with Nik.

Digital Nigel wrote:

KR Photo wrote:

Shoot, that’s too bad. I’ll still buy PL, though, and maybe add the Nik Collection later. I really do like the u-point feature.

Note that the Nik Collection was designed to complement the Adobe products. It has never been integrated with the DxO products, other than by file export. DxO built the U-point technology into PhotoLab (that was what changed it from DxO Optics Pro), and that is fully integrated. But the rest of the collection is not.

I'm a long term DxO user, but have never seen any point in getting Nik. I use DxO FilmPack for those sort of effects, and that is fully integrated with PhotoLab. In fact, it is built right in, so if you have an FP licence, its tools are available directly while editing a raw image in PhotoLab. All the edits are non-destructive, too. That is not the case with Nik.

Interesting, good to know. I thought the free trial version I messed around with did have it integrated, but I didn't get as much time with it as I had hoped, plus a couple of months have passed.

KR Photo wrote:

Digital Nigel wrote:

KR Photo wrote:

Shoot, that’s too bad. I’ll still buy PL, though, and maybe add the Nik Collection later. I really do like the u-point feature.

Note that the Nik Collection was designed to complement the Adobe products. It has never been integrated with the DxO products, other than by file export. DxO built the U-point technology into PhotoLab (that was what changed it from DxO Optics Pro), and that is fully integrated. But the rest of the collection is not.

I'm a long term DxO user, but have never seen any point in getting Nik. I use DxO FilmPack for those sort of effects, and that is fully integrated with PhotoLab. In fact, it is built right in, so if you have an FP licence, its tools are available directly while editing a raw image in PhotoLab. All the edits are non-destructive, too. That is not the case with Nik.

Interesting, good to know. I thought the free trial version I messed around with did have it integrated, but I didn't get as much time with it as I had hoped, plus a couple of months have passed.

No, the only integration between them is via one-way file export.

Just curious, what Nik features interested you? Are the same or equivalent features available in FilmPack, or already part of PhotoLab?

3

You may be able to get the original free version of the Nik Collection here -

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6809-google-nik-collection.html

DxO itself still makes available, for free, the old 'Google' version of the Nik tools collection:

https://nikcollection.dxo.com/nik-collection-2012/

I cannot imagine why anyone would get it from or through some third party when you can get it, free, from DxO.

Just be careful and get the old, free version, not the new demo version.

1

I'm a long term DxO user, but have never seen any point in getting Nik. I use DxO FilmPack for those sort of effects, and that is fully integrated with PhotoLab.

I'm also a long-term DxO user, and I even have the more limited ('Essential', I think) version of DxO FilmPack 5, so I can use it from within PhotoLab, which is nice. But IMO, FilmPack is no substitute for Nik Silver Efex. The latter is more powerful / flexible, and also easier to experiment with and dial in.

1

NAwlins Contrarian wrote:

I'm a long term DxO user, but have never seen any point in getting Nik. I use DxO FilmPack for those sort of effects, and that is fully integrated with PhotoLab.

I'm also a long-term DxO user, and I even have the more limited ('Essential', I think) version of DxO FilmPack 5, so I can use it from within PhotoLab, which is nice. But IMO, FilmPack is no substitute for Nik Silver Efex. The latter is more powerful / flexible, and also easier to experiment with and dial in.

Just curious (I don't have any personal interest in B&W), but what does Nik Silver Efex Pro do that can't be achieved with FilmPack Elite integrated into PhotoLab 3 Elite? I know FilmPack has more film emulations than Silver Efex Pro, but perhaps it or PL lacks some other features?

If DxO really wanted to sell me Nik, it should have told me what extra it offered me, but it never has, so I reached the logical (but possibly incorrect) conclusion that Nik had nothing to offer someone who already had PhotoLab Elite and FilmPack Elite.

[W]hat does Nik Silver Efex Pro do that can't be achieved with FilmPack Elite integrated into PhotoLab 3 Elite? I know FilmPack has more film emulations than Silver Efex Pro, but perhaps it or PL lacks some other features?

Nik Silver Efex has more controls, and more range of control, than FilmPack 5 Essential, which is the version I have (a give-away from DxO, maybe to existing customers, a year or two ago). Maybe FilmPack 5 Elite is more powerful.

And call me unimaginative, but I find trying Silver Efex's presets often a useful way to start, a way to get ideas about what I might or might not like. Then I tweak from there. Trying FilmPack's film stocks subjectively seems to me less useful / less helpful.

On the other hand, FilmPack is fully integrated with PhotoLab, which I much prefer; when I use Silver Efex, I have to send it a rendered TIFF (or JPEG), so if I later tweak something else in the raw conversion, I have to re-do the Silver Efex.

If DxO really wanted to sell me Nik, it should ....

IMO, fully integrate Nik with PhotoLab.

NAwlins Contrarian wrote:

[W]hat does Nik Silver Efex Pro do that can't be achieved with FilmPack Elite integrated into PhotoLab 3 Elite? I know FilmPack has more film emulations than Silver Efex Pro, but perhaps it or PL lacks some other features?

Nik Silver Efex has more controls, and more range of control, than FilmPack 5 Essential, which is the version I have (a give-away from DxO, maybe to existing customers, a year or two ago). Maybe FilmPack 5 Elite is more powerful.

I don't know. This is what DxO says:
https://support.dxo.com/hc/en-us/articles/206062177-What-are-the-differences-between-the-two-new-DxO-FilmPack-5-editions-

And call me unimaginative, but I find trying Silver Efex's presets often a useful way to start, a way to get ideas about what I might or might not like. Then I tweak from there. Trying FilmPack's film stocks subjectively seems to me less useful / less helpful.

On the other hand, FilmPack is fully integrated with PhotoLab, which I much prefer; when I use Silver Efex, I have to send it a rendered TIFF (or JPEG), so if I later tweak something else in the raw conversion, I have to re-do the Silver Efex.

If DxO really wanted to sell me Nik, it should ....

IMO, fully integrate Nik with PhotoLab.

I had thought they'd have done more of that by now, but I guess the code bases are just too different. Alternatively, I had expected them to enhance FilmPack with Nik features.

Digital Nigel wrote:

KR Photo wrote:

Digital Nigel wrote:

KR Photo wrote:

Shoot, that’s too bad. I’ll still buy PL, though, and maybe add the Nik Collection later. I really do like the u-point feature.

Note that the Nik Collection was designed to complement the Adobe products. It has never been integrated with the DxO products, other than by file export. DxO built the U-point technology into PhotoLab (that was what changed it from DxO Optics Pro), and that is fully integrated. But the rest of the collection is not.

I'm a long term DxO user, but have never seen any point in getting Nik. I use DxO FilmPack for those sort of effects, and that is fully integrated with PhotoLab. In fact, it is built right in, so if you have an FP licence, its tools are available directly while editing a raw image in PhotoLab. All the edits are non-destructive, too. That is not the case with Nik.

Interesting, good to know. I thought the free trial version I messed around with did have it integrated, but I didn't get as much time with it as I had hoped, plus a couple of months have passed.

No, the only integration between them is via one-way file export.

Just curious, what Nik features interested you? Are the same or equivalent features available in FilmPack, or already part of PhotoLab?

i feel like over time some of the most impressive black and white images I’ve seen have been processed with Silver Efex Pro, so I’ve always been interested in that one in particular. I’m a longtime photographer but an absolute beginner when it comes to post processing, though, so I’m not entirely sure what I’m after.

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