Nik Software by DXO

The past few weeks I have been getting a pop up notification when I launch Nik Software. The notification says there is an update available. There is a button to "Update Now". When I click it, it takes me to DXO website and looks like it is an update for DXO Photolab. Doesn't even mention the Nik plugins. 

Has anyone updated their Nik plugins in the last few weeks? Is there actually an update to the Nik plugins or just Photolab? Or something else. It really isn't clear what you would be updating. 

Since DXO acquired the Nik software seems they have been pushing Photolab onto previous Nik users. The last actual Nik Software update really didn't have anything new in it at all but current users still had to pay for the update. Needless to say, I have not become a fan of DXO in general.

Thanks for any feedback.

A better way to get the upgrade (note this is not a free upgrade unlike past ones from DXO) is to log into your DXO account from their website, buy the upgrade and download it. And yes, I too hate the constant pushing of DXO Photolab. One of the upgrades even installed a stripped down version without giving the user the option to no install it.

Personally, for me, this new version gives me nothing that I don't already need so I have decided to skip this update.

bradmangas wrote:The past few weeks I have been getting a pop up notification when I launch Nik Software. The notification says there is an update available. There is a button to "Update Now". When I click it, it takes me to DXO website and looks like it is an update for DXO Photolab. Doesn't even mention the Nik plugins. 

Has anyone updated their Nik plugins in the last few weeks? Is there actually an update to the Nik plugins or just Photolab? Or something else. It really isn't clear what you would be updating. 

Since DXO acquired the Nik software seems they have been pushing Photolab onto previous Nik users. The last actual Nik Software update really didn't have anything new in it at all but current users still had to pay for the update. Needless to say, I have not become a fan of DXO in general.

Thanks for any feedback.

Which version of Nik are you using?

I have not updated my Nik plugins in the last few weeks. I have received no notification asking me to update Nik (checked today) even though I am not using the latest version (the last update was a paid update if I remember correctly but it had nothing I need). You don't need DxO PhotoLab to run Nik. I don't think you'll be asked to update PhotoLab if you don't have it.

You can always just click "yes" to update and see what you're getting. That's the only way to find out for sure

E.J. Peiker wrote: [snip]One of the upgrades even installed a stripped down version without giving the user the option to no install it.[snip]

They charged you the same amount with or without the PhotoLab. I told them I already had the pro version and they said it came with Nik like it or not (of course I did not install it...or may be I deleted it afterwards).

I'm still using the original free suite from Google. Do you think I am missing improvements worth dealing with DOX which I consider to be a PIA? Are there any unbiased reviews of the reworked software to be had? Thanks for any info or links.

richard bledsoe wrote:I'm still using the original free suite from Google. Do you think I am missing improvements worth dealing with DOX which I consider to be a PIA? Are there any unbiased reviews of the reworked software to be had? Thanks for any info or links.

The biggest thing is that it now scales properly with 4K monitors and also works with other imaging programs like Affinity Photo Pro.  The latest upgrade, which is a paid upgrade for those that already paid DXO for the version up to but not including this latest new version, adds some new functionality.  It is also MUCH more stable since DXO took it over and no longer has crashes and hardware compatibility issues which the Google version was having more and more with new hardware and new OS versions.

NIK Collection 3 is the latest version as far as I know. It added Perspective Efex as a plug in, and it added non destructive editing to most of the plug ins which could be a benefit if you want to revisit a plug in like Color Efex Pro and tweak your last set of changes without having to start all over from scratch. The NIK plug ins can be accessed from DXO Photo Lab, Lightroom or Photoshop. They can also be used as stand alone applications.

I access them from Photo Lab Elite edition as I do not use PS or LR. Or i use them as stand alone applications. I started in Dec 2019. I think I found out about NIK Collection 3 when I used a Nik Plug in and it alerted me to the new upgraded version. I do not recall getting any notice from DXO or a message when I accessed Photo Lab. If I wanted to get it I had to initiate the download.

There are some good webinars on DXO website about the new features. I suggest you check them out. When i was on one live webinar, there were over 1000 people on it.