NIK or Topaz Labs?

Barryboy

Barryboy

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Rob
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I am considering getting a plug ins program. These two seem to be the market leaders, both seem to be well featured and affordable. Any recommendations or suggestions?

Rob
 
I'm currently going through the same thought process as yourself, at the moment - although I'm leaning towards Nik based on the fact is less than half the price of Topaz Labs (for the full she-bang).

You can try both for free, which is what I've done - have a play and see what you like the most? I've also downloaded a trial of Macphun's plug-ins (Mac only I believe), but I'm not entirely sold on them.
 
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I use both but Nik the most :)
 
You may save a lot of money buying just the individual programs that work best for you, there are lots that I never use.

Richard's suggestion above is a good start, then purchase as you need them, having trialled them first, as each of the plug-ins has a trial period.
 
Topaz labs often have offers on individual programs, good savings can be made that way and only buying the ones you will use.
 
Colour Effex is pretty good for general use - can be very subtle using opacity sliders and combining filters.
 
Yeah, I also have them all, but only really use SEP.
 
Just remember that Nik is now a single package, you cannot buy the individual programmes ... but it's good value now.
 
I have them, I find I use them all at some point as they all have something different to add, however for black and white I only use Silver efex.
 
Another vote for Silver Efex, but have used the full Nik suite for some years now with no grumbles
 
I do quite a bit of BW work so Nik seems to be favourite at the moment. I can't really justify getting both of them so will probly go for the NIK package. Thanks to all for your advice.

Rob
 
I don't think you'll be disappointed with SE if you're into B+W.
 
at what stage in the work flow do you use noise reduction - beginning or middle or end ......... or at no particular stage?
 
I have OnOne, NIK and Topaz and of the three I find I use Topaz most often.

You don't need the full suite, which can be quite expensive.
I find I use Adjust, Detail and Clarity the most, although not on every image and certainly not all three on the same image!
Denoise is also very good when you need it.
I was buying the programs one at a time, usually when they were on special offer (which is quite often).
After I had bought about 5 programs I went to buy another and I had a message that said I was eligible to buy the whole suite at a special price, so I coughed up, although I must admit there are some progs that I've never used seriously.

One thing from NIK that I use is some of the border effects which are not available in Topaz.
I hardly ever touch OnOne, since I can find everything I need in the the other two suites.

It's worth noting that Topaz frequently run Webinars to illustrate the uses of their programs.
If you sign up for one of those they always give away a time limited discount code (between 25% & 50%) at the end for the program they have been showcasing, so you can pick up a good deal that way.
Again, if you shop around you can usually find a discount code for NIK.

Nobody ever pays list price for any of these programs.

I don't use plug-ins on every image, and most of the time I find I can get all the adjustment I need in Lightroom alone, but Topaz Adjust has the ability to add a bit of "punch" to an image that I cannot always get in Lightroom alone.
BillN_33 said:
at what stage in the work flow do you use noise reduction - beginning or middle or end ......... or at no particular stage?
Click to expand...
I tend to use Denoise at the end of processing but there is no hard and fast rule, so I guess you could say "When you need it" although you must bear in mind that ANY denoising software tends to remove fine detail.
 
I've gone off SFX but still use it sometimes. Nik dfine and the two sharpening tools are handy, Color Efex Pro has a few very useful filters - used in moderation. Viveza's automatic masking for local adjustments can save ages when it works. I wouldn't be without the Nik Collection.

I've not used Topaz much but the bits I've used - Remask & Clarity have been disappointing.
 
Nik is very good and the built in masking for effects can give very natural looking results. Bear in mind that Nik is no longer under development though, so no upgrade route down the line.
 
+1 for NIK
 
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