I just found out about this on facebook, and was about to post here too, but you beat me to it! I have wanted silver efex pro for a while, but never wanted to pay for it. So happy with this announcement! If you bought it in 2016 you will get a refund, I hope no one bought it towards the end of last year.
So, in checking out the announcement, I note that some folks are concerned that Google hasn't done any updates in a while and that this step towards "free," means that there may not be meaningful updates in the future for this stellar collections of editing software. The announcement says, "As we continue to focus our long-term investments in building incredible photo editing tools for mobile, including Google Photos and Snapseed, we’ve decided to make the Nik Collection desktop suite available for free, so that now anyone can use it." Still, it is great software. I just wanted to put this observation out there, for full information. I am going to pick up some freebies anyway. :)
wow - free - that's amazing. I bought Silver Efex back in 2008 long before Nik sold out to Google - I think back then that Silver Efex alone (none of the other plug ins) cost almost £200.
@jantan@ukandie1
Thanks for the posting. I bought HDR EFX Pro from NIK, way back when.
After Google bought NIK, they sent a link for me to download the full suite. I've used Silver EFX Pro quite a bit, and HDR a few times. I have only used Viviza once or twice, and haven't used the others at all. I'm very happy with Silver EFX, and hope it will remain compatible with updates to Windows and other software.
Thank you so much for posting this, have been wanting to buy for ages but kept holding off as there is always another bit of software to get. Glad I did now. Just downloading!
Whilst I'm not sure all of my colleagues in my team share my concerns (probably basking in some freebies to be fair), so I am only speaking for myself, I do think this is the beginning of the end for the Nik Collection, which will be a real shame.
I bought it about three years ago mainly for Silver Efex, which is very good, whilst the rest of the tools are average at best, especially compared to the competition such as Topaz.
I can't remember the last time they added any features to any of the tools, and whilst they presently keeping them up to date to allow them to work with the fast moving Adobe tools, I suspect its only a matter of time before Google stop supporting it altogether.
It's seems to be the view that Google bought the Collection for Snapseed - the fear is they're not really interested in desktop tools, and it'll go the same way as Picasa - dropped.... @snaggy
@pasttheirprime Thanks for your input. I tried the trial version a few years ago and really loved Silver Efex but could not quite justify the cost of it given that I already use several packages and don't do much b&w. So, I am quite pleased to be able to give it another go for free.
But, from what I have seen on different forums (fora?) it does look like the beginning of the end for the Nik Collection, which is a shame.
Snapseed is no longer available for desktop users. It seems like the Nik software collection is heading in the same direction. It is a great shame as I use this software on a daily basis as Lightroom plugins on my widescreen laptop.
This is top quality photo editing software. Surely most serious photographers want to do their processing on a large screen rather than a tiny phone screen. I think Google are making a huge mistake going down this route.
Awesome software, I've been using the Color Efex 3.0 for quite a while. Unfortunately every time Google acquires something great, they let it die a slow death, they wreck it some how, or they just plain kill it off :(
Write a Reply
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
Thanks for the posting. I bought HDR EFX Pro from NIK, way back when.
After Google bought NIK, they sent a link for me to download the full suite. I've used Silver EFX Pro quite a bit, and HDR a few times. I have only used Viviza once or twice, and haven't used the others at all. I'm very happy with Silver EFX, and hope it will remain compatible with updates to Windows and other software.
I bought it about three years ago mainly for Silver Efex, which is very good, whilst the rest of the tools are average at best, especially compared to the competition such as Topaz.
I can't remember the last time they added any features to any of the tools, and whilst they presently keeping them up to date to allow them to work with the fast moving Adobe tools, I suspect its only a matter of time before Google stop supporting it altogether.
It's seems to be the view that Google bought the Collection for Snapseed - the fear is they're not really interested in desktop tools, and it'll go the same way as Picasa - dropped....
@snaggy
But, from what I have seen on different forums (fora?) it does look like the beginning of the end for the Nik Collection, which is a shame.
This is top quality photo editing software. Surely most serious photographers want to do their processing on a large screen rather than a tiny phone screen. I think Google are making a huge mistake going down this route.