When Google announced that they were no longer supporting the photo editing tools in the Nik Collection, we were just waiting for the day when they would officially shut down the entire thing. But fortunately for those who liked using these PC-based tools, someone has bought them and maybe will even resurrect them soon. French company DxO, which runs camera and photography news website DxOMark. They have not exactly said what they will do with the collection, but at least we now know it’s not going away. Hopefully.
What DxO did say is that they will continue the development of the Nik Collection but a new version will be launched sometime mid-2018. The current version will continue to be available through a dedicated website that DxO has put up. Google actually acquired it five years ago together with mobile app Snapseed. It received a price cut in 2013 and then became completely free just last year.
In case you didn’t know it yet, the Nik Collection has seven desktop plugins for the Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop that will enable you to make powerful edits to your images. You have the Analog Efex Pro that brings back film-era camera, lens, and film. You also have the Color Efex Pro which brings a lot of filters for color correction, retouching, and creative effects. The other apps include Dfine, HDR Efex Pro, Sharpener Pro, Silver Efex Pro, and Viveza.
For now, you will still be able to download the plug-ins for when you’re editing your images on your desktop or laptop. Let’s go back to this new item mid next year when they unveil a new version.
SOURCE: DxO
