Verdict: 6/10 Sharpener Pro does have its good points. Its output sharpening tools are a reminder that images need to be optimised to look their best on different printers, and at different sizes. That aside, though, its ‘capture sharpening’ tools, designed to counteract camera and lens softness, feel like they’re just a little too late in the workflow, when most of us would … [Read more...] about Nik Sharpener Pro 3 review
Reviews
Nik Dfine 2 review
Verdict: 5/10 Dfine feels like an old-fashioned solution to a problem that has changed. Digital cameras and RAW processors now have noise reduction processes way ahead of those in Dfine. There are now many ways of controlling noise earlier in the photo capture workflow either in-camera or in RAW sofware, and the real issue these days is not just finding a tool that can do it … [Read more...] about Nik Dfine 2 review
Viveza review
Verdict: 7/10 Viveza is a great tool for making fast and effective adjustments to colour images, but it now feels a bit redundant. The Nik Collection’s other creative plug-ins come with equally powerful control point corrections of their own, as does DxO PhotoLab Essential, the Nik Collection’s new ‘host’ program. What is it? Viveza is a bit of an odd plug-in in that … [Read more...] about Viveza review
HDR Efex Pro review
Verdict: 7/10 HDR Efex Pro 2 manages to make HDR relatively easy, and it produces 'good' HDR which is dynamic, rich and exciting rather than overprocessed and cheesy. It still wraps it up in a bit too much jargon (some of it specific to this particular software), but it does produce a good variety of ready-made HDR presets so that you don’t have to get caught up in the … [Read more...] about HDR Efex Pro review
Lightroom CC vs Lightroom Classic CC
The name is the same, but despite the apparent similarities, these are two very different programs. So if you have to decide between Lightroom CC vs Classic, which do you choose? This comparison will help you decide! Adobe's decision to split Lightroom into two different products has made it more difficult for photographers to choose the right photo cataloguing tool. … [Read more...] about Lightroom CC vs Lightroom Classic CC
Color Efex Pro review
Verdict: 9/10 Colour Efex Pro initially looks a little dated, with some good filters but a whole lot more filters you think you might never find a use for. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll find its best filters are very useful indeed and the ability to combine filters into Recipes dramatically expands its potential. AND you get control point adjustments too. Color Efex Pro is … [Read more...] about Color Efex Pro review
DxO PhotoLab 2.3 review
Verdict: 8/10 PhotoLab 2.3 is a terrific standalone photo browser, RAW processor and photo-editing tool, producing superb picture quality and with rather good local adjustment tools. But which version should you get? PhotoLab Essential is cheapest, the DxO Nik Collection (which includes it) is best value, and it makes PhotoLab Elite (which doesn't have the Nik plug-ins) look … [Read more...] about DxO PhotoLab 2.3 review
Silver Efex Pro 2 review
Verdict: 10/10 For fans of black and white photography, Silver Efex Pro is just superb. It recreates the depth, intensity and ’soul’ of black and white in a way few other tools approach, and its controls are geared firmly towards creative photographic processes and visualisation rather than pixels and technicalities. What is Silver Efex Pro? Silver Efex Pro is a … [Read more...] about Silver Efex Pro 2 review
Analog Efex Pro 2 review
Verdict: 10/10 Analog Efex Pro2 goes way beyond most analog photography filters, offering not just film styles, grain effects and borders, but creative vignetting, bokeh, lens blur, lens distortion, double-exposures, motion blur and more to simulate a huge variety of ‘old camera’ looks. There are other good vintage/analog tools out there, but none that go as far as Analog … [Read more...] about Analog Efex Pro 2 review
DxO Nik Collection 2 review
Verdict: 9/10 The Nik Collection is a brilliant set of creative photo-editing plug-ins that’s as good now as it ever was, but apart from 42 new “En Vogue” presets, the plug-ins themselves are unchanged from the previous version. The big difference is that that DxO PhotoLab 2.3 is now included as standard – whether you want it or not. The Nik Collection 2 is too good not to … [Read more...] about DxO Nik Collection 2 review
