DxO has released the new Nik Collection 3 since the beginning June 2020. There are many reviews of the new Nik Collection 3 that is easy to find them on the internet. My writing is not a review of Nik Collection 3. I’m the current user of Nik Collection 2. The question is whether the upgrade is worth for those who are already using Nik Collection 2.
Normally, Nik Collection includes 7 plugins: Color Efex Pro, Viveza, Silver Efex Pro, Define 2, Sharpener Pro, Analog Efex Pro and HDR Efex Pro. So I won’t elaborate on the details of Nik Collection. The users of Nik Collection 2 already know well about Nik Collection.
Normally, the price for the upgrade is $79. With the launch offer until June 30,2020, the price comes down to $59.99.
There are 3 main new features of Nik Collection 3.
1. The revised Nik Selective Tool is intended for using inside Adobe Photoshop. This new NiK Selective Tool includes icons of each new Nik plugin. It also lets you recall your last filter presets or your last edit. This will facilitate the way to use Nik Collection from inside Photoshop.
2. The new non-destructive workflow when working inside Adobe Lightroom Classic by using the method called Multipage TIFF file workflow. You can export the image as TIFF files from Lightroom Classic and adjust the files in Nik Collection as many times as you want while keeping your adjustments safe and a reversible editing process instead of starting all over from scratch as before. The only downside is your multipage TIFF file will be larger than the normal TIFF file. For Lightroom Classic users, the non-destructive workflow may be more meaningful than the file sizes.
3. The new 8th plugin of Nik Collection 3 is called ‘Perspective Efex’. It is the plugin that can correct geometric distortion of your images especially the architecture images including the lens distortion. It also includes the miniature effect tool which allows you to simulate tilt-shift effects.
There is no more bundle DxO PhotoLab 2 Essential Edition with Nik Collection 3. I think it’s a better solution in getting the Perspective Efex than having PhotoLab Essential which isn’t as useful without the features of the Elite Edition.
The 1st and 2nd new features are useful for the those who use Photoshop and Lightroom Classic. This will facilitate the workflow with more efficient and save time consuming of your edit process.
The 3rd one, the Perspective Efex, it’s like the old whiskey in new bottles because it’s exactly the same as DxO ViewPoint 3. ViewPoint 3 has been released from DxO since 2016. ViewPoint 3 can be used as a stand alone or plugin in Photoshop, Lightroom, and Photoshop Elements. It’s also fully integrated within DxO PhotoLab 3 Elite. ViewPoint’s price is normally $79 but at the time of this writing, the promotion price is $49.99.
After manually correcting the perspective in ViewPoint 3, the fixed building is shown in the picture below.
I do like DxO ViewPoint 3. The other image editors may have feature like this but ViewPoint 3 is the best. If you don’t have ViewPoint 3 before, this is a good time to get this kind of application in a new name with Nik Collection 3.
To sum up, if you are those who are using Photoshop and Lightroom Classic and you don’t have ViewPoint 3, it’s worth to upgrade your Nik Collection to version 3. Even you already have ViewPoint 3, it’s still very useful to use new Nik Collection 3 with Photoshop and Lightroom as plugins. If you can’t make your mind up, you’d better download the trial version and try it yourself.
For me, it’s a different case, neither Photoshop nor Lightroom is no longer my image editing software. Apart from that, I already have ViewPoint 3. So I see no reason to upgrade my Nik Collection 2.
The picture below is before DXO Viewpoint 3 correction. You can see the interface and features of ViewPoint 3 are not different from those of Perspective Efex.
