Software DxO Nik Collection 7
The best photo-editing plug-in suite just got better
1 Color Efex Pro gets the most updates in Nik Collection 7 and is perhaps the most versatile and powerful tool in the suite.
2 Nik Silver Efex is the best-known black-andwhite software on the market. Version 7 gets even more advanced masking options.
3 Nik Dfine is a powerful noise reduction tool for jpeg images, but raw shooters will get better results from the latest AI raw denoising tools.
4 Nik Sharpener offers a Sharpener Output for specific displays, print sizes, print media and printer resolutions, but all seems a bit dated.
5 The Nik plug-ins follow a similar interface layout, with preset effects on the left and manual adjustments in the right sidebar.
6 Analog Efex uses different terminology, offering ‘Cameras’ rather than presets and a ‘Camera Kit’ for individual effects.
The DxO Nik Collection consists of seven different plug-ins, five of which T offer creative inspiration and effects, with two ‘corrective’ image enhancement tools. These plug-ins can be used from within Lightroom Classic, Adobe Photoshop, Capture One, DxO PhotoLab and Affinity Photo but also as standalone apps.
Nik Collection has long been one of the best photo editing software suites on the market, so what do you get? The creative plug-ins include Nik Color Efex, Silver Efex, Analog Efex, Viveza and HDR Efex, with each one aimed at a particular style or genre of photography. Color Efex is the principal photo editing tool, with its ability to apply over 50 different filter effects, combine them as presets and mask each one with DxO’s fast and effective control point adjustments.
Color Efex 7 gets the majority of updates in this version, with new preset options, ‘dynamic’ filters, improved
HSL controls, grain effects and DxO’s contrast-boosting ClearView effect. It takes three new filters from the Viveza plug-in to extend its potential. Other plug-ins benefit from new control point options, including the ability to reshape circular
