Nik Collection 5

The Nik Collection has been in existence for 25 years. It started with a company called Nik Software (hence the name) and continued with brief ownership by Google. In 2018 DxO acquired the collection and had since pushed forward the Nik Collection with some excellent developments. DxO has just updated the suite to a new version which I’ve had a play around with for a few days.

What’s new in Nik Collection 5

Twelve months ago, the Nik Collection 4 launched new technology for two of the programs in the suite. Silver Efex Pro and Viveza had a total re-write. The re-design responded to customer feedback and included the next level of Nik’s U-Point technology. A year later, version 5 of Nik Collection delivers the same look and feel and u-Point update to two more elements of the suite, Color Efex and Analog Efex.

Color Efex

Color Efex is the most popular program in the Nik Collection, with over 18 million exports in 2021. The tool is designed to help enhance the colours of photographs and has 55 different filters to start you on your way. These filters are combined to produce 39 recipes from professional photographers.

A cleaner interface can help your images ‘pop’ with just a few mouse clicks. The download process integrates the Nik Collection into Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, so switching from your editing program into Color Efex and back to achieve super-quality results is simple.

The inclusion of ClearView technology into Color Efex from the DxO Photolab allows the removal of atmospheric haze from your photos. As a result, it enhances the contrast of scenes that, at first, may seem flat and lifeless.

Analog Efex

The final tool to receive the upgrade to the cleaner look and feel of the suite is Analog Efex. The tool allows you to relive the old film days by applying filters to recreate some classic film types. Included in the latest version are 29 new, authentic colour film grains. Again, the entire interface has been redesigned to look and feel the same as the Nik Collection suite.

In addition to the update to Color and Analog Efex, DxO has also included support for twenty new cameras and 40 lenses to Perspective Efex. This is particularly useful for Fuji X-Trans cameras such as the X-T3. However, there is more – when you buy Nik Collection 5, you’ll also receive a gift of DxO PhotoLab 5, essential edition.

When is it out?

You can download the Nik Collection suite from today at https://nikcollection.dxo.com/. Upgrade will cost £69, and the full version will cost £135. This leads me to the issue I have with pricing models. During the demo, DxO confirmed that they would never move to a subscription model. In this latest launch of the Nik Collection, we see some new functionality to part of the suite, but it is essentially finishing the job that started last year when Silver Efex and Viveza were improved. If I were paying £6 a month, I would welcome the improvements, but having to pay £69 to finish the upgrade of the suite feels a bit pricey – it’s all perception, but for a hefty price ticket, I would like to see more development across the entire suite.

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About the author

As well as running Edinburgh Photography Workshop, Rich Dyson is a professional photographer. His photographs are regularly used in newspapers such as The Times, Guardian and Daily Telegraph. He also had two solo exhibitions and was featured in a members-sponsored exhibition in the Scottish Parliament. You can see and buy his photography at richdysonphotography.com.