I have reverted to the old NIK in the most up to date Photo Lab on a brand new Mac Pro and I have rediscovered my productivity and equilibrium… but since I like to give things a chance… I have the same Photolab installed with new NIK on my order Mac Book Proevery now and then I try to replicate the workflow on both and without any shadow of doubt the New NIK without the sliders on the upoint SUCKS… no matter what other benefits maybe present they are of LTTLE use if you can get the thing to be user friendly… jumping around to find the sliders then waiting for an eternity to see the adjustments and repeating this a dozen times is almost a health hazard. I have now idea why anyone would think this is better…
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I tried a similar test. I have the latest version of Photolab on two machines with the Nik Collection 3 on one of them and the Nik Collection 4 on the other. I used the same image for both tests in Silver Efex Pro. .I made a number of similar U-Point adjustments in both Nik 3 and Nik 4. I was able to accomplish what I wanted to do just as quickly with the sliders on the side as on the screen. I felt like I had greater control over the granularity of those adjustments in the new version. and liked not have the distraction of the controls on top of the image. However, I understand how passionately you and many others feel about this change. Therefore I would support the implementation of an option to also display the on screen U-Point sliders for those who want to use them.
Mark
Hi, it’s difficult to compare workflows from person to person so I can’t comment. I do mainly B&W work and I may import as many as 30 cropped shots from PhotoLab to SE. Once I get the global preset worked out I will spend 3-4 min per frame dodge and burn depending on the shot, sometimes 10 or so upoints. I complete this work in 2-3 hours. I find it inconceivable that this is possible with no sliders where the adjustments need to be. It is not beyond the wit of man to have the sliders on and off at preferences. The method of application is irrelevant to the new technology introduced, as for the argument about congested screens once again the hovering pointer can reveal the upoint in use whilst the rest are blind. All of this exists in a plethora of applications and if it means they feel obligated to push out a super elite version with usability customisation then I am happy to pay for a truly professional tool. At the moment the new version is just aspiring to be trendy at the expense of functionality
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Not only does the local adjustment sliders make the right palette even more confusing and cluttered, is the separation of the sliders from the control points a crazy idea. Nikon’s Capture NX2 (RIP), Capture NX-D and PhotoLab - all have the sliders directly connected to the control points. Only the new SEP and Viveza break ranks without improving anything - as if you couldn’t work perfectly and quickly with SEP in the past!
In addition, the response speed of SEP is still a disaster, despite the latest updates.
It’s a nightmare.
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indeed it is !
just here to say i am quite disappointed. The main reason i bought Nik collection from DXO was that i once owned the old original version of silver efex which was a great software for creating bw.
But the silver efex pro 3 version is quite the opposite. At least on a Mac is the worst software i have on my mashine. Extremly slow, not even the scrolling works properly ( dragging scroller with mouse results moving in wrong direction) and often it crashes when you want to export the result.
so @DXO: When do we get an update or a new version of this plugin?
And btw.: the other plugins seem to do what they are supposed to do, so no problem with these.
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Hello,
im not a experienced Mac user but I can work on my MBAir M1 8GB without any performance problems with PL4 and Nikcollection 3. The only thing I don’t like is the bad contrast of inactive palettes not configurable by color settings like Image background color.
The sliders work as expected and moving them brings direct result into the picture.
Yesterday I’ve exported 5 pictures and have had no problems. My files are .orf files from a EM5 Mark II.
best regards
Guenter
Hello artinkl,
I am working on an iMac Late 2012 - so definitely not the latest machine - and I do not see the problems with SF that you see. Maybe you should get in touch with support.
Sigi
I have to say that the last update of the Nik Collection has improved a lot. Only the horrible contrast and the poor readability, as @Guenterm already mentioned, is a disaster (regarding Silver Efex).
Not sure how you can do that since a new install uninstalls the current installation.
Please help me, what are you referring to?
There is a ‘Repair’ option
I have all the performance issues other users reported. And then some.
I have reported these issues in the other forum but to no avail. DxO has definitely been aware of these issues some of us are experiencing for a long time. From really early on.
I very recently sent a support request again; Again with no answer. Not even when I responded with a question on the status.
For me and a number of others, SEP 3 is simply unusable.
This is the same for the other program that was updated in Nik 4. Also reported very early on.
Nothing has been done either.
Clearly the framework of the new interface is incompatible with a number of systems.
DxO needs to identify the common factors that cause this and solve it.
In Nik 4 there are now already two programs that are unusable to a group of the Nik user base.
What to expect from the next version? Two more that are made unusable? All of them?
The time for DxO for dealing with this is definitely running out.
Ignoring the support requests on these issues is most certainly not helping either.
Even a simple acknowledgement that they are aware of the situation but aren’t any closer in coming up with a solution would relieve some of the frustration some of these users are feeling.
The releasing of SEP 3 has been a classic example for coming up with an answer to a question that didn’t exist.
How do you accomplish this, Manfred?
As far as I see, the installation program always begins with uninstalling when Nik is already present.
Hi Bart,
yes, you are right - the existing version will be uninstalled. But, as with almost all programs, there will always be some leftovers. Even if the program has its own uninstaller. On a Mac especially in the paths /Library/… and /System/… . But often also in the ~/Library/… .
Possibly these remnants, when overwritten by the new version, caused this effect. Just as it sometimes helps to install the operating system again, over the existing one, in case of problems on the Mac. I just tried everything. I really have no idea what it is exactly.
I would like to mention that I was running macOS Mojave on a 15" MacBook Pro 2015 at the time. Meanwhile it is a 16" MacBook Pro M1 2021 with Monterey 12.1 and on top of that the Nik Collection got some updates. This also makes SEP run more smoothly. However, there are other problems (with Dfine, Sharpener Pro), but that’s another story…
Thanks for the feedback, Manfred.
Unfortunately, this didn’t solve it for me.
Nik 4.3 on late 2013 MacPro, OSX 11.6.2.
Hello Bart,
yes, there are some users who have performance problems with the Nik Collection, at least with Silver Efex. Troubleshooting and diagnosis is not easy because every hardware and software configuration used is different. Personally, I can’t complain about the support and have had only good experiences so far (here in Austria). It’s a pity that you had to make others.
Just a thought: Maybe it can help if you rebuild your Mac using a clean install? If that doesn’t help, you can always restore from a TimeMachine backup or a previously made clone and you only spent time on a new installation.
Maybe an updated Mac can also be helpful - keyword M1 Chip.
Yes, upgrading to the new iMac 27 will be in my future but not yet.
Silver Efex 3 is the only app that I’m experiencing issues with at the moment.
This issue has already survived the upgrade from OSX 11.5 to 11.6.
(I typically upgrade the OS shortly before the next version comes out - given that there has been nothing of interest to me in all the last versions)
Today I received a response from DxO support and we are moving forward again.
[quote=“Bart, post:59, topic:19767”]
I typically upgrade the OS shortly before the next version comes out…
[/quote]And on top of that, a new OS version is usually only halfway bug-free after .3…
Glad to hear you are back in touch with support. I hope they take care of the matter! Let us know how it’s going.
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Great, buy a new computer to use a photo editor. Wonderful recommendation. Perhaps if DxO should be polite enough to allow its users to use their computers and get out of the Apple sales business. Ludicrous situation.