??'Free' Nik Color Efex 3??

Elines

Elines

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Chris
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I have done a search on this thread and I can find lots of references to the EFEX software, but not the particular point I would like to raise

I am considering the possibility of getting Nik Color Efex 3.

I have had a quick look on Amazon and doesn’t seem to be available any more.

Nik Color Efex Pro 4 IS available at about £65 on Amazon and is temporarily out of stock. On Google (the owners of EFEX) it is about £88.

In any event I also came across references to Nik Color Efex Pro 4 being very slow compared with Nik Color Efex Pro 3.

I also found several sites apparently offering Nik Color Efex Pro 3 for FREE, eg:

http://color-efex-pro.en.softonic.com/download

I have learned to be wary of ‘free’ offers on the internet and so thought I would ask for advice/comments on here before getting a 'free' Nik Color Efex Pro 3.

I have also queried this on another site and one person said:

"That link you pasted appears to be a little bit iffy if you ask me. It goes to a non secure website and may contain a virus."
​
(but I don't know how you can tell if a link is to a non-secure web-site))

Does anyone have any knowledge/info on getting a 'free' Nik Color Efex 3. And are there advantages anyway in getting the 'proper' version?
 
AFAIK it isn't available free and needs to be bought from Google, but only as a complete package of the whole suite of programmes ... anything else is likely to be pirated software.
 
Be carefull downloading from anywhere other than Niks official site, whatever it is might be infected with viruses, I didn't try your link but sometimes companies do offer free versions (adobes CS2 for example) but I don't think thats the case here.
 
The Nik suite is tremendous value nowadays, £80 or so for the lot from Google, which works out about £15 each and includes Viveza and HDR Efex Pro. For what we spend on photography, it's small change that makes a big change to the end result. I use mine as plugins from Aperture.
 
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Colour Efex used to be available as a stand alone product until Google bought out Nik. Now it all comes as a complete package with all the Nik plugins. If you get offered an individual component it is highly likely to be a bit suspect.
 
Thanks for all the prompt feedback - it all seems pretty clear that it isn't worth the risk.

Chris
 
I'd be surprised if you could still get V3 (officially)... but V4 was a big improvement anyway (one BIG advantage being that you can stack effects in V4) and I never noticed a drop in performance after upgrading. Color (sic) Efex Pro 4 is good but Viveza is the star of the suite for me!
 
And if I remember right, the new filters in version 4 are some of the more useful ones - tonal contrast for one. The full package from Nik is very good. Viveza plus sharpening plus noise reduction plus their best program, for me, silver efex pro.
 
Yep just gets easier to justify it to me - not sure about Higher Management though:)
 
Elines said:
....six pieces of software....
Click to expand...

Seven actually... So just over a tenner each!

Speaking as someone who paid around £500 for the suite in the pre Google days when it was just five modules (and I thought it was a good buy even then!), that is ridiculously cheap... You'll love it!
 
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Never was any good at numbers ...

Next question please ...

.. what is the best way of finding out:

  • which bits are most use to me
  • how to actually use them
  • best way of fitting them into a work flow using PSE11
If I'm not careful I can see myself spending so much time learning how to use the software that I never have any time to take any actual pictures:)
 
The bits most usefull to you will depend on what photography you do, for example if you don't do hdr than the hdreffx is wasted. My favorite and the only one I use frequently is silver effx for black and white, to be honest I had a lot of issues getting the hdr to work at all.
EDIT Check the minimun spec for your computer, it doesn't work well without decent graphics if I remember rightly
 
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Thanks for the further comments and suggestions.

Re number of softwares downloaded ...... (as it happens) I was right - as I have PSE 11 and not 'full' photoshop I don't get the HDR bit - which doesn't bother me as HDR is not something that I have so far been interested in

As regards compatibility Google says:
​
Adobe Photoshop Elements:
9 through 12 (apart from HDR Efex Pro 2, which is not compatible with Photoshop Elements)
 
CORRECTION CORRECTION

Even with Elements you DO get the HDR bit - it is just that it is not downloaded into Elements but it is there and you can use it as a stand-alone program (not that I have tried yet:))
 
It seems onone are offering the effectx suite for free, they offer a serial number and all from their site. (should be safe)
 
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swanseamale47 said:
It seems onone are offering the effectx suite for free, they offer a serial number and all from their site. (should be safe)
Click to expand...

B*gg*r
Just checked and it is their Perfect Effects software that they are offering (and I downloaded the free version a little while ago).

It is supposed to be very good but each time I have tried to use it I get stuck.

So far I am making some sort of progress with the Nik Collection (NC).
 
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