Nik Lives! plus DxO PhotoLab Elite 1

Processed entirely in DxO Photolab Elite 1 which includes all the functions you expect, plus some of the best light control tools in the business as well as a subset of the Viewpoint transformation tool and the best film simulations on the market.  Shot with a Canon 1Dx II and 24-105L in crappy light.  Basic (really basic) post processing, plus the application of the Kodachrome 25 film emulation and an old style transparency frame

In case you had not heard, DxO has acquired all of the components of the Nik Collection from Google, and plans a new version in 2018.  They have also updated their product formerly known as DxO Optics to DxO PhotoLab Elite 1 and are already incorporating Nik's unique U Point technology.

When Google announced that it was killing off the Nik Collection, serious photographers the world round, felt a movement in the Force and not the good kind.  Nik had been for many years, the go to collection of photographic editing plugins, and even with excellent stuff coming out of Macphun, now called Skylum and ON1 and Topaz and others, the death of Nik brought a chorus of cries.

When Nik pieces stopped working, folks were further panicked.  Lots of scrambling and backup restores were performed to get Nik functionality back but the writing was on the wall.

This past week DxO sprayed all over the death notice with news that they had acquired the Nik Collection and were working on a new version to release in 2018.  You can read their announcement here and sign up for news releases.

After all the shouts of Wahoo! a number of idiots starting writing posts that the new version had better be free.  DxO is continuing to make the current (old) release free, but to assume a company would spend good money to buy a suite of products and then spend more good money to make them better, and then give them away for free is well beyond stupid.  I expect that the Nik Collection from DxO will have a cost.  Just like the other awesome software already available from DxO.

One of the many features that people loved in Nik is the unique U-Point technology that allowed you to pinpoint where you wanted a correction to be and offered a very simple call out system to make adjustments.  Once you have used U-Point, you wish it was everywhere. 

DxO has also updated their killer DxO Optics post processing software and renamed it DxO Photolab Elite 1, a name which I think more accurately conveys it's power.  DxO PhotoLab Elite 1 can act as a plugin from Lightroom if you would like or can operate standalone.  This new release also brings something brand new to the DxO family of products and that is U-Point technology.  So you now have the beloved Nik capability in a new, current editor.

Upgrades for existing owners are about $70USD.  New users can get the package for $149USD

Another thing that is completely unique to DxO PhotoLab is the inclusion of DxO's specific corrections not just for a lens, but for the lens on a specific camera body.  These are the best corrections out there, coming straight out of DxO Labs, the company recognized worldwide for quality and consistent testing and analysis.  If you are really hooked into processing your RAW files to the best level possible, you need to try out DxO PhotoLab.