NIK Collection??

I just got LR5 and wondering if I should spend money on NIK Collection. What is your experience with them? Which one do you use most and for what type of images? Is it worth the $150 buy?

I use silver efex all the time. It was gifted to me however. If I had to pay for it now that I know what I'd be missing, I probably would.

hoffainc wrote in post #16553190
I just got LR5 and wondering if I should spend money on NIK Collection. What is your experience with them? Which one do you use most and for what type of images? Is it worth the $150 buy?

Well worth every dime as plugin set for LR or Aperture. Have used Nik for years.

If you "need" something extra to what LR provides in Raw processing, sure, check it out!! Although I personally advise getting and using Photoshop Elements first!!

hoffainc wrote in post #16553190
I just got LR5 and wondering if I should spend money on NIK Collection. What is your experience with them? Which one do you use most and for what type of images? Is it worth the $150 buy?

i bought it like a year ago when google took over and it was no longer like $500 for the set. I rarely use it and forgot I even had it until I saw this thread lol

I would be furious if I paid 500+ for it before the buyout. Not even worth the $150 imo

You just got LR5. Why not spend some time with it before investing in additional software?

Nik software is some of the best out there but again, as stated by the post above me, it depends on your skill level and how advanced you are in your PP endeavors, if you are new to digital photography then LR will probably be everything you need for quite some time and you should become familiar with its potential, but if youve been around a while then the Nik software is wonderful !!

Great advise, thank you. I will get really educated up on what I have before I invest more money in an add-on.

I agree, get to know LR5 first. Trying to learn too much at once can be counter productive.

With that said, the Nik plug-ins are amazing tools and well worth the money if you decide later that you need more then what LR5 offers.

Nik software is available as a 15 day free trial. Download it and try it... if you use it all the time then it will be worth it for you. If you just click all the presets once to see what they do and never use it again then it's not worth paying for. Personally I use it a great deal and find it to be excellent in combination with LR5 and CS6.

I wouldn't be without the NIK filter collection. I use ColorEfex, SilverEfex and Dfine all the time. No need to "get to know Lightroom" before using these easy-to-use and wonderfully creative filters. If you're serious about photography, NIK is a "must-have" IMHO.

I have not had time to work with the new Nik module for creating old film looks. That should be fun.

I use Tiffen and Topaz more than NIK.

NIK has turned Aperture into little more than a white balance and exposure RAW converter for me. I do almost everything else in NIK after I've gotten the exposure and white balance dialed during the RAW conversion process.

Love Silver Efex. Dont use the others as much, but the HDR program is nice as well.