DxO announces landmark moment for Nik Collection with version 6.3

It is a big day for Nik Collection. Today’s release of the world’s favorite set of photo-editing plugins for Photoshop and Lightroom Classic marks the culmination of a six-year project to entirely rebuild the software inherited from Google in 2017.

Available now, version 6.3 is faster and more reliable than ever before, and features comprehensive updates to Nik Sharpener and Nik HDR Efex.

Paris (France): DxO Labs, creator of pioneering photo-editing software for over 20 years, is proud to present its first fully authored release of Nik Collection, bringing greater stability, speed, and a refined editing experience. Version 6.3 also features significant updates to two of the suite’s eight premium plugins.

Nik Collection completely redesigned by DxO Labs

In May 2017 Google announced it would no longer be supporting or developing the collection of plugins that were acquired from Nik Software in 2012. Justifiably, the world of photography was troubled; photographers expressed their dismay and more than 15,000 people from around the globe signed a petition calling on Google to keep Nik Collection alive.

Happily, in October 2017, Google decided to entrust Nik Collection to one of the most innovative software companies in consumer imaging: DxO Labs. Consequently, DxO was faced with a major challenge: making sense of millions of lines of code without any clear documentation. Nonetheless, having made a commitment to the photographic community to ensure the future of Nik Collection, the hard work began!

Six years later, the release of Nik Collection 6.3 marks the end of that journey. The huge task of reauthoring is complete, with every line of code rewritten for the latest technology. The suite is now fully compatible with Windows, MacOS, and Apple Silicon, it works harmoniously within Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic and Affinity Photo, it is faster and more reliable than ever before.

CEO of DxO Labs, Jérôme Ménière, looks forward to where Nik Collection will go next. “We are hugely proud of this achievement. With this work complete, we can now focus solely on adding exciting new features and technology. Our talented engineers are committed to making Nik Collection the indispensable creative companion to every passionate photographer’s workflow.”

New for 6.3: Improved Sharpener and HDR Efex

The new editions of Nik Sharpener and Nik HDR Efex include a host of updates making them more powerful and easier to use. Both feature a new interface with a clearer, cleaner look that matches the other Nik Collection plugins. Also, you can now choose where sliders for local adjustments appear on-screen: controls can be either kept in a sidebar to tidy the image area, or overlaid in traditional style.

And as with Nik Collection 6.3’s other plugins, the U Point™ technology now features:

• NEW Control Lines add flexibility when making broad adjustments, letting you harness the power of Control Points when sharpening across linear gradients
• NEW Control Point diffusion lets you regulate the strength and style of sharpening adjustments more easily
• NEW Control Points and Control Lines can now be inverted, giving you huge flexibility when sharpening specific areas of an image
• NEW Color Selectivity sliders allow Control Point and Control Line editing to be tied to specific colors and tones in an image
• NEW Renamable Local Adjustments let you stay on top of complex edits, and local adjustments can now be saved as Presets, giving you quick access to frequently used sharpening recipes.

Nik Collection 6.3 makes editing easy

Thanks to all of its new and improved features, Nik Collection 6.3 is easier to use than ever before. It plugs straight into Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom Classic, DxO PhotoLab, and Affinity Photo, providing unprecedented creative control without affecting your preferred workflow.

Several new workflow features make editing even easier:

• NEW Turn your edits into a Smart Object at any stage from within the plugin, giving you fully non-destructive editing in Photoshop
• NEW Call on any of your last 15 Nik Collection edits and apply them with a single click
• NEW Presets can now be searched for by name, so you can instantly find your favorite edits
• NEW HiDPI & Multiscreen support lets you work with all screen configurations
• NEW Affinity Photo is now automatically detected as part of installation.

All about Nik Collection 6.3

Nik Collection 6.3 includes eight powerful plugins that can also function as standalone applications. They cover everything you need as a photographer to improve your images, both creatively and technically.

Nik Collection 6.3: Price and availability

Nik Collection 6.3 is available now as a free upgrade for existing Nik Collection 6 users.

New customers can download Windows and macOS versions exclusively from the DxO website (https://shop.dxo.com/en) at the prices listed below, while a 30-day free trial is also available.

● Nik Collection 6: £135.00

Owners of Nik Collection 4 or 5 can take advantage of a special upgrade price:

● Nik Collection 6 upgrade price: £65.00

To upgrade, customers should log into their customer account at https://shop.dxo.com/login_upgrade.php/en. Nik Collection 6 does not require a subscription and can be installed on up to three computers.

Members of The Societies of Photographers receive 20% discount on all new licences for DxO products. Explore the details and claim your discount here.