DxO acquires Nik Collection assets from Google, plans to continue to develop....

[pechelman]

Seeing the writing on the wall and simply disliking having to use another software package to get an image, I went through an exercise a year or so ago to try to create a LR preset that would mimic the same self created 3-preset workflow I'd do when using SEP2 with my m246 files. The ultimate realization on my end was that there are just certain things that LR cannot do that SEP2 does, specifically with regard to being able to change contrast within a certain tonal range. In Photoshop, this can probably be done, but like Willie above, I'm lazy and have almost non-existent PS skills. To me, the less time I spend behind the computer playing with a photo is a good thing, so I've never felt the urge to want to learn it more because I know it will result in more time spent where I dont want to spend it, even if I know my images will/may be better. Diminishing returns for me.

The thing I found most helpful to approach the SEP2 look I got were to do a few things;
-Keep global contrast (under the exposure) to a reasonable level, i.e. dont push it unless the image needs it.
-Use a little bit more clarity that I might normally, but still at lower levels (say below 30 and usually below 20...though m246 files are very tolerant of higher levels imo)
-Use ~+10-40 on the dehaze tool. To me, this was the biggest jump to get closer.

Of course, this also requires global adjustment to levels and the levels curve to suit your own taste. I would study what your levels and curves sliders look like in SEP2 and also study the SHAPE and overall Magnitude of the histograms from images that come out of SEP. Also of course adding grain, vignetting, and adjusting sharpening settings for the "final touches".

For me, I was able to develop my own LR preset that got to maybe ~70% of what I feel like I could do with SEP2. That last ~30% is probably just not attainable given what I feel like SEP2 is doing and the current features that LR has in place. While I may be "giving up" some ultimate image quality, I've gained a bunch more back in workflow efficiency, in terms of my working/waiting time, processing time to switch between programs/write extra files, not having to deal with obsolescence (assuming LR doenst die...), and of course disk space in not needing an intermediate file or another program (which isnt too important I know, but I still consider it). To me, that's a big win.

All of the above has been for monochrom files. For color m240 files, I work a bit differently.
Apply a preset I've developed using David Farkas' "M9 Simulation", white balance, do a quick global level adjustment as required, then apply a last preset that mimics a yellow filter. Generally, that's it and I'm happy with the results.

 

[Nowhereman]

You can use a virtual machine (such as VMWare Fusion) and don't even have to reboot. I love high structure in Silver Efex. I wish Adobe would produce similar tools with their monthly payments.

Another good suggestion. I assume that using VMWare Fusion, or other virtual machine software, would run less sluggishly than what I've experienced after booting a Mac from an external hard disk.
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Alone in Bangkok essay on BURN Magazine

 

[Timmyjoe]

I love Silver Efex, use it whenever I have a color digital image that I want to convert to B&W. But I still shoot Tri-X and Double-XX when I know ahead of time I want B&W images.

Best,
-Tim

 

[Nowhereman]

This does look remarkably like film! I feel I can see grain, just at the threshold of visibility!

The "grain" from the M10 ISO 3200 file — i.e., none added by Silver Efex in this image — would be visible in a large print.
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Alone in Bangkok essay on BURN Magazine

 

[mani]

The original discussion about the anouncement still makes interesting reading:
http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155156

As John Wolf said, Google were after Snapseed, and there was much discussion at the time that this purchase was going to rival Facebook's position with Instagram. Well... that never happened, of course.

The really sad part is that these really excellent and unique tools could have sustained a small company of developers and other employees - all of which was simply thrown on the trash-heap by Google.

I really find Viveza saves me hours of work on each image I post-process from film scans, so when I can no longer use it I'll have to fall back on time-consuming masking and selecting to achieve the same end result. Guess I'll have to keep a laptop with a legacy system installed, for as long as it lasts...

 

[Nowhereman]

...I was able to develop my own LR preset that got to maybe ~70% of what I feel like I could do with SEP2. That last ~30% is probably just not attainable given what I feel like SEP2 is doing...To me, that's a big win...

Reminds me of a Japanese friend who came to Washington for a week some years ago. I invited him to dinner and, a few days later, he invited me and said he wanted to have sushi. I told him that there were two good choices, one was a sushi bar in Virginia that had 95% of the quality at ⅓rd of the cost of the best sushi bar in DC. He said, "Let's go the the expensive one because for sushi it's the last 5% that makes the difference."

And, I feel, so it is with B&W processing and printing — it's the last 5% that counts.
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Alone in Bangkok essay on BURN Magazine

 

[pechelman]

Certainly the drive for perfection is a Japanese cultural trait. I guess I'm just a lazy American in my satisfaction of what I deem "good enough" for my purposes. Still, there is nothing to say I dont use SEP2 when I want to work on ONE image at a time, but as a tool to work through multiple files, as I just recently did coming back from a 3 week trip, not in a million years...

Good luck in your quest for that final 5% with the abandonware problem. I'm interested to see what you might come up with and will follow this discussion.

 

[maggieo]

As Mitch can attest, the two of us have been chasing the best way to bring B&W into the digital world for a long time.

Mitch, remember when we would overlay specific grain patterns in PS, to deal with noise and to increase acutance in M8 files?

Silver Efex Pro, like most digital tools, starts out decently enough with presets, and then becomes the closest thing to being in the darkroom again, once you fully understand the tools at your disposal.

I have friends in the music industry who refuse to update their computers that are running versions of ProTools that they've mastered. I reckon that SEFX may, as others have said here, lead many of us to follow suit.

I mean, just look at the images. Why let go of the tool that made them possible?


One Does Not Simply Photograph Mordor, October 05, 2016 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


The Merry-Go-Round, April 06, 2017 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Dancers, Havana, February 16, 2017 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Self Portrait, Summer, 2010 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


A Man And His Dog, Beijing, May 17, 2016 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Goose And Duck, Lambertville, NJ, May 01, 2016 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Mount Fuji, May 14, 2016 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Bonnie At The Creek, Craig, NE, 1986 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Lara, I-70, June, 1989 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Amy And Jessie, June 10, 2015 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


MCB And The Con Air Fairchild Provider, Wendover Field, Wendover, UT, July 21, 2014 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Inconsolable, Paris, September 29, 2007 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

That SEFXP loves Leica & Ricoh sensors and scanned film of all kinds, pretty much wed me for life to it.

 

[rscheffler]

johannielscom - Thanks, I am on a Mac and this seems like a good solution. It would work as long as one hasn't upgraded the Mac to future version that could not run the "old" operating system on the hard drive — and that should be still some years in the future.
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Alone in Bangkok essay on BURN Magazine

That's kind of the problem I have by insisting to maintain Adobe CS2. A while back Adobe shut down the CS2 authentication servers, meaning it was essentially a 'free' product, but without support. And for my PS needs (I do most work in a current version of LR), CS2 works fine. But it will only run on OSX 10.6.8 or older and new Apple computers as of a few or so years ago no longer support 10.6.8, so I use a circa 2010 iMac for this... But it's starting to act flaky and imagine it will only continue for so long. I could replace it with another unit of a similar vintage, but instead I'm looking at current PS alternatives such as Affinity.

I suspect you'll eventually run into this problem, too. Considering SEP still works with current OS software/hardware, my guess is you have probably ~5 years to figure out a solution.

Just keep an eye on major hardware or software changes by Apple. IIRC, the reason CS2 only runs up to 10.6.8 is Rosetta, which was required to run PowerPC software on Intel Macs. For whatever reason (probably complexity of legacy support), Apple dropped Rosetta and thus the ability to run apps written for PowerPC hardware. If Apple continues OSX development towards an eventual iOS merger, it could result in similar loss of legacy support.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Try Topaz BW Effects. I have used it for years with great results for converting color digital to black & white. Its cheap, only about $60 and its still being supported and developed.

 

[Godfrey]

"Silver Efex is 'abandonware'"

It is for reasons like this that I have always preferred to use only the basic tools provided by whatever image processing system I am using and develop my OWN techniques and look for monochrome rendering of my photographs.

To use other folks' 'black box' solutions is to give up the most important part of doing your own image processing, IMO: control of your results.

G

 

[maggieo]

To use other folks' 'black box' solutions is to give up the most important part of doing your own image processing, IMO: control of your results.

G

I think you've misunderstood the nature of SEFXP and all of Nik Software's tools. If anything, they give you greater control of your image processing.

 

[sevo]

Google states on the Nik Collection website, "We have no plans to update the Collection or add new features over time." So, Silver Efex, as part of the Nik Collection, is effectively abandonware. Eventually, Silver Efex will be unusable with new versions of operating systems and of Photoshop and Lightroom. This will be a problem for many of us

I can still run Photoshop 3.5 (from around 1995) on Win10, so the notion that the sky is falling may be a bit exaggerated...

Arguably Photoshop 3.5 has ceased to run on Macs - not for OS reasons, but because they don't emulate the M68k any more, having twice switched hardware platforms since then. If you require long time compatibility, you might have to preserve a extra computer with the last supported OS version, once it drops out of compatibility - that is what I did for all expensive computer controlled devices (like scanners or scanning LF backs) that rely on obsolete computer hardware (ISA cards, SCSI and so on).

 

[Kent]

Despite having installed (via CC) the latest version of Photoshop, I mainly use the 2014 version due to compatibility and even more performance reasons. So, the death of Silver Efex has been postponed a little on my machine.

 

[Jamie Pillers]

I've often thought about the many problems created by the planned obsolescence built into all of our digital lives. Up till now, I've always gone along with the crowd and upgraded computers and software, and when absolutely necessary, switched over (painfully) to new software. I'm currently clutching onto Aperture and Nik software, but recently bought Lightroom and am trying to teach myself how to use it (I'm terrified about the idea of possibly losing my Aperture library system!).

But I often think about the idea of dedicating a machine and software to photography... disconnected from the web. And having a separate laptop for connections to the outside world. It seems like this could extend the life of my existing system of cataloging and processing photos, at least as long as the existing hardware continues to operate.

 

[fdarnell]

It's a FREE software that you want them to spend money on labor for programming to continue to support the ongoing development of operating systems. With no revenue?

How many here would photograph a wedding for free since it will "give more exposure to your portfolio?" Or more accurately, "Take my portrait, give me a nice 11 x 14 print, every year for the rest of my life for free!"

I'm ok with abandonware, and I'll keep old systems to run it if I really want to.

 

[fdarnell]

...But I often think about the idea of dedicating a machine and software to photography... disconnected from the web. And having a separate laptop for connections to the outside world. It seems like this could extend the life of my existing system of cataloging and processing photos, at least as long as the existing hardware continues to operate.

Every time Apple introduces a new OS with the flat look, i want to go BACKWARDS a version. Before long I'll be typing on a Mac Plus using a floppy!

At least no ransom ware! And probably just as fast with the old MacWrite, which is also abandonware.

Only thing really demanding all this computing horsepower is the rendering of more and more complex web pages that have more and more secretive background tracking applications that submit more and more data to places that should not have it.

Kind of a pleasure to use the older Macs with more elegant interface, disconnect from the globalist internet.

 

[f16sunshine]

I think you've misunderstood the nature of SEFXP and all of Nik Software's tools. If anything, they give you greater control of your image processing.

I agree with Maggie on this one. SE was a set of tools just like LR or any other image processor.
This set of tools was focused on bringing monochrome to a photographers vision.
I can't think of any single occasion where I used one of the SE default filters.

 

[Larry Cloetta]

It's a FREE software that you want them to spend money on labor for programming to continue to support the ongoing development of operating systems. With no revenue?

I don't think any of those here who like the software, and can't find an equal replacement, are asking for, or expecting this. At least I didn't hear anyone asking for a this.
I would imagine that those of us who feel that way would gladly pay for enough of an update to allow the software to keep functioning as PS, LR, and operating systems change. Not really even any need to 'improve' the software as it is fine as it is. The necessary coding to do that would not be particularly time consuming, and Google has some coders over there, I think.
Besides that, as a personal aside, I paid $499 for the NIK suite well before Google had it's eye on it.
So, yes, I don't feel too unreasonable asking for a couple of moonlighters at Google to spend a couple of evenings writing patches to the code, then selling updates to the software, at a profit, to those of us who would be happy to pay for it. I also understand that isn't going to happen. C'est la vie.

 

[jsrockit]

I think you've misunderstood the nature of SEFXP and all of Nik Software's tools. If anything, they give you greater control of your image processing.

IF... you dig into the software and don't use canned results. I've known a few that rely on the presets to make up for the fact that they don't know enough (don't WANT to know enough) about post processing.