What’s New in Nik Collection 6?
It’s that time of year again! A new major version release is upon us, so without further ado, let’s hear it from the horse’s mouth – what does DxO have to say about what’s new in Nik Collection 6?
Price: The price remains the same as last year. €149 or €79 for owners of v5 or v4. I find myself defending DxO every year on pricing. The usual complaint is that v5 or 4 or whatever it is that year was bought in April and now I have to upgrade and pay!
My response is that DxO make no secret of their upgrade schedule. It is very regular and minor updates are free throughout the year. If you check the earlier article What’s New in Nik Collection 5, a detailed price comparison suggests upgrading every other year, a strategy that makes Nik Collection incredibly cheap!
Version 6 sees comprehensive upgrades to Nik Collection’s innovative U Point tool, including new Control Lines, Color Selectivity filters, inverted and diffused adjustments, and a cleaner look to the workspace. There’s also a new filter for Nik Color Efex, an updated interface for Nik Dfine, additional Smart Object functionality, and plenty more refinements to accelerate your photo editing workflow.
Nik Collection was the birthplace of U PointTM technology, the most intuitive tool for local adjustments in photo editing. Available across the suite, U Point has been upgraded to add new functionality to make selective edits more intuitive in the following ways:
- NEW Control Lines add flexibility when making broad adjustments, bringing the power of Control Points to linear gradients
- NEW Control Point diffusion features mean you can regulate the strength and style of adjustments more easily
- NEW Control Points and Control Lines can now be inverted, giving you huge flexibility when editing.
- NEW Color Selectivity sliders allow Control Point and Control Line editing to be tied to specific colors and tones in an image
- NEW Renamable Local Adjustments let you stay on top of complex edits, so you’ll never lose sight of your work
- NEW Local Adjustments can now be saved as Presets, giving you quick access to your most frequently used edits.
New to Nik Collection 6 is the ability to choose where sliders for local adjustments appear on screen. Controls can be kept in a sidebar to keep the image area clean or overlaid on top of the image in the traditional Nik Collection style.
Nik Collection 6 is easier to use than ever before. It plugs straight into DxO PhotoLab, Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom Classic, and Affinity Photo, providing extended creative features without affecting your preferred workflow. Several new workflow features make editing even better:
- NEW Presets can now be searched for by name so you can instantly find your favorite edits
- NEW HiDPI & Multiscreen support lets you work with all screen configurations
- NEW Affinity Photo is now automatically detected as part of installationIndividual app upgradesFive of the eight plugins that make up Nik Collection 6 see significant individual upgrades bringing new features and smoother functionality:
- Nik Color Efex gains a brand-new Hue/Saturation/Luminance tool, for deeper and more accurate control of color and tone
- Nik Dfine receives a complete visual overhaul bringing it into line with the other plugins, creating a more refined experience as well as improved options for saving denoising recipes and returning to them in just a few clicks
- Nik Perspective adds the powerful new ReShape Tool which allows photographers to warp and shape local areas for complete precision
- Nik Sharpener is also receiving a rebuild and interface overhaul, destined for Nik 6.2, and available as a free update
- Nik HDR Efex, the premier tool for exposure blending, also gets a fresh new interface as part of version 6.3 (arriving in August), providing a clearer, faster workflow.
What’s included in Nik Collection 6?
Nik Collection 6 includes eight powerful plugins that also function as standalone apps.
Nik Color Efex
Countless striking filters for color, tone, contrast, and more
Nik Silver Efex
Darkroom-inspired controls for the ultimate in black-and-white photo editing
Nik Analog Efex
Dive into history and discover endless analog effects to give photos a vintage feel
Nik Viveza
Shape color, manipulate tones, be bold, and inject passion
Nik Dfine
Remove digital noise exactly where required, without destroying detail
Nik Perspective
Fix perspective and distortion for geometric perfection or creative effects
Nik HDR Efex
Harmonize highlights and shadows for photos with a gorgeous dynamic range
Nik Sharpener
Enhance images with perfect sharpness, exactly where you need it.
So I’m seeing the biggest upgrade to Nik that we’ve had in years. Some real work has gone into delivering this. My view, as a photographer is that Nik Collection is essential for two reasons. Silver Efex Pro and Color Efex Pro. I use both of these regularly.
Check out my article on Color Workflow with Photoshop, Color Efex & Viveza.
Also last year’s post, What’s New in Nik Collection 5 for more relevant information about the update schedule and pricing compared to competitors.
The Nik Collection 6 update completes the update of the whole suite to the DxO platform, its been a big step forward and one that I think most people will recognise. Buy the latest version of the Nik Collection here.
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