Looking at Nik Silver Efex V2 - review

[keith_cooper]

After using Silver Efex Pro for some time, I've just written up some details about the latest version.

Silver Efex pro V2 review

I do like what you can do with it, and find that its ease of use makes it much more likely for me to try out variations than if I was using some of the more complex masking techniques in Photoshop alone.

Hope my observations are of interest!

[Mark D Segal]

Thanks Keith - this is a fine article. I upgraded to version 2 as it became available and I too think it is superb software, regardless of all the fine B&W work one can do with a good command of the tools in Lightroom and Photoshop.

[louoates]

Great read. I've used all the new Nik software and would hate to work without them again. The presets in Silver Efex V2 are especially helpful in prodding more thought about the possibilities of any image.

[francois]

Thanks for the review, it is very informative - at least to me!

[Robert DeCandido PhD]

Alas, NIK has not addressed the problems of PC people first raised in late February:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/985297/1#9364150

over at Fred Miranda photo fora - and even here at Luminous-Landscape.

Plug-in is sloooow! And for some on a PC, it will not run (crashes Photoshop).

Robert DeCandido PhD
NYC

[Philip Weber]

FWIW, I found SEP2 to be slower than its predecessor, running Vista 64-bit SP2. I found the additional features very worthwhile however and by slow, I mean 10-15 seconds more processing time (in CS5). A few weeks back, I purchased a new Dell Alienware laptop with 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate that really makes Photoshop scream, primarily due to 16 GB of ram, from my previous 4 GB.

However, ALL my Nik plugins (CEP3, SEP2, Viveza 2.0 and HDR Efex Pro) crashed Photoshop upon loading. The Nik tech team was very responsive, and all the plugins needed was a file download and installation. SEP2 was the lone problem and they had just determined that it was an issue with some of the new graphics processors (don't ask me what, I'm not that much of a techie!). They did go in remotely and after a few tweaks with my NVIDIA settings, have it up and running and it's now running great and FAST.

I am a photographer, not a programmer, so I cannot fault them or say this should have been anticipated before release but as an end user, I found their tech support to be excellent and SEP2 (plus the rest of my Nik plugins) to be working very well in 32 and 64-bit CS5.

I can't speak to the issues Mac users are having but it appears PC users woes may be over.

Best of luck to everyone out there with this...
Phil Weber 

[Mark D Segal]

I can't speak to the issues Mac users are having but it appears PC users woes may be over.


Phil Weber 

Works fine with this Mac user.

[john beardsworth]

They still haven't fixed the mess it makes of writing keywords http://www.nikforums.com/showthread.php?329-SEfex2-and-LR-keywording-bug.

[sniper]

I don't use the LR plug-in but it's painfully slow for me on Windows in CS5, even on a decent PC.

[john beardsworth]

I didn't find any performance issues with LR or PS on Win 7 64 bit, but I have wasted more than enough time cleaning up the mess it made of my keywords

[oolic]

I was ready to purchase Nik Silver Efex Pro next week, but after reading the Nik forum chatter, just now, I decided not to buy. Essentially, they (Nik) said that Adobe needs to meet them halfway to sort out the keyword issue.
I don't mind using it as a stand alone program, but if it is going to screw with the keywords when I import the image back into LR... forgedaboudit.

Richard
Too old to be bothered

[john beardsworth]

It's really nothing to do with Adobe, Richard. As I mentioned in the thread which I quoted, I could replicate the problem without files ever touching Adobe software. The problem is that Nik are now incorrectly writing the hierarchical keywords fields. Apparently Sfx1 could do so properly, and Nik are still trying  to fix the bug - just not quickly enough.

John

[oolic]

Hi John,
Thanks for the clarification. I understood, incorrectly, as you pointed out from the following exchange in the Nik forum. See the reply starting with "Yep" by Nik's marketing manager.



" Originally Posted by Louie 
My pleasure, Kevin. The more heads looking at a problem the easier it is to resolve. With that in mind I reread the previously mentioned discussion on the Lightroom Forums and realized that there is also a separate bug in LR that is certainly adding to the troubles being reported here.

Basically this bug can occur if you are using any kind of filter that uses keywords to view your catalog in LR and then select any external editor to do nothing more than create a new copy of the image. Even if the keywords in the image are correct, often but not always the LR catalog does not correctly update the current filter and your new image is not shown as part of the filter.

This did not happen for me since I am almost always doing my edits with a folder set as the source for my images. Because the Edit in... will always by default write the new image file back to the same folder I never experienced this LR bug.

So for everyone that said that this is a LR bug and those that said this is a SEP2 bug you all seem to be correct. ;-)

-louie
Yep. I'm guessing that's why every time I ask the engineers what's going on with this one they [essentially] say that Adobe has to meet us halfway with some fixes on their side. Best, Kevin Kevin La Rue
Marketing Manager, Nik Software "

[Peter-D]

I have the demo versions of Silver Efex Pro 2 and Viveza 2 and I have been able to replicate this keyword problem repeatedly in Lightroom. It *only* happens to the Nik plugins, and only when editing photos after doing a filter (e.g. for a specific keyword). The Nik plugins either added the parent keyword to the photo keyword list, or it added the parent keyword plus half of another equivalent level keyword that the photo had (e.g. it created a new keyword called "People Vic" from the parent "People" and the keyword "Victoria"). I doubt it's a Lightroom issue, since DXO Optics Pro 6 and Photoshop CS5 did NOT have these issues when doing the same "Edit in" function.

This keyword problem doesn't show up in the Nik software when just doing the "Edit In" from the Lightroom folder where the photo resides.