Topaz Adjust Vs. Nik Color Efex: Which Do You Prefer?

Recently I started using Topaz Adjust 4 and have been really happy with the effects. Takes some tweaking of course, but with a little work I'm able to get my images looking how I want them and in a fraction of the time it would take me on my own in Photoshop.

Couple days ago I downloaded the trial version of Nik's Color Efex 3 and that too has some great presets. I find myself using Topaz Adjust more because the workflow is a little simpler for me at this point and the presets work for the type of processing I'm after, but I can see how Nik would be a great tool as well.

My question: does anyone have or have you had both Topaz Adjust and Nik Color Efex, and if so, is do you have a strong preference of one over the other, are they very different, or does it just depend on the style you are going for? Would like to avoid purchasing another program that I'm not going to get much use out of, and I'm not sure I'll be able to make up my mind by the time my Nik trial period runs out.

Thanks

I have both and I like Nik Color Efex better. I think it's easier to use and has an easier to use interface.

prefer the Nik products to Topaz, Photmatrix..etc. I run the Nik suite from LR.

I have both. No contest whatsoever. Nik, by far.

Also, NIK has the control points which help for tighter control of the processing. I have not used Topaz, so I cannot compare.


One thing I have noticed when using the NIK program. I feel stress from using a mouse. I think it will be time to go with a pen/tablet as I am performing more processing than in the past.

Alright seems like there is a stronger preference for Nik over Topaz so far. I haven't really used the control points much but now that you mention it that is indeed a great tool for local adjustments, I'll have to dabble with that more.

Looks like this is going to come down to a decision of whether I can afford to shell out more for Color Efex. With v 4.0 coming out in a couple weeks I think that's going to be tough to resist.

Thanks again for the feedback and by all means keep it coming if anyone has any other preferences for one program over the other.

Thanks again to those who responded. I ended up purchasing Color Efex 3.0 to see for myself if it was worth it. Now that I've used it a bit, I find that I rarely use Topaz Adjust unless there are specific looks I'm going for. What I like about TA is that you can get some pretty wild and interesting effects, particularly where you want to add strong detail and local contrast adjustments. It does more than that of course, but this is where it really stands out to me. For what it costs, it's a fantastic set of presets.

Color Efex has many more presets, and costs much more too. Granted I probably won't use even half of them, but the ones I do use save me an incredible amount of time and I'd say those alone are worth the cost of this plug-in if you do a lot of editing.

Overall, very different plug-ins with very different effects. Can't say one is better than the other (depends what you're going for), but I do find I use Nik's a lot more at least for my preferred style.

You're aware that there's the newer Color Efex Pro 4 now right? Where did you purchase Color Efex 3?
I'm sure you could probably get an upgrade for free if it's a legit copy from an authorized dealer?

http://www.niksoftware​.com …=intro/cep4_upg​rade.shtml

"NOTE: If you purchase Color Efex Pro 3.0 or the Complete Collection on or after August 7, 2011 you are eligible for a free upgrade to Color Efex Pro 4"

I downloaded the free trial of 4.0 and it was very slow on my computer (probably my hardware not up to speed), and noticed that I preferred some of the presets in 3.0 anyway. Like you say, can probably upgrade to the newer version for free later, but even if I can't I'm pretty happy with 3.0 so far.

I used both and for me it all depends on the look I'm trying to achieve.