Overview
The collection is eight separate plug-ins that install together and appear inside the photo editors already on the machine. Between them they cover most of what a photograph needs after the raw conversion: black and white with real film grain structure, colour film emulation, local contrast and tonal shaping, output sharpening, noise reduction, perspective and lens correction, and a colour effect set.
What binds them together is the control point masking system, and it is the reason the collection still has a following after two decades. Instead of drawing a mask, you place a point on the part of the image you want to change and drag a radius. The point selects by colour, tone and texture within that radius, so a sky is selected by clicking the sky rather than tracing the horizon. Points can be grouped and set to subtract, and the mask can be viewed on its own.
The black and white module is the one most people install the whole set for. Real film stock emulations with their actual grain structure and spectral sensitivity, a sensitivity slider set for channel mixing, and toning controls that behave like a print process rather than a colour overlay. Applied with control points it produces conversions that hold up at print size.
Everything runs as a plug-in with the result returned to the host as a layer or a new file, so the original is never touched. Recipes save a whole configuration and apply to other images, and the collection registers against every supported host at install time so the same treatments are available in a pixel editor and a catalogue application alike.
What it does well
Control point masking
Place a point and set a radius, and the selection is made by colour, tone and texture, so complex areas are masked without tracing anything.
Black and white conversion
Film stock emulations with real grain structure and spectral response, plus channel sensitivity and print style toning.
Local contrast and tonal shaping
Structure and detail controls at multiple scales for landscape and architectural work, applied globally or through control points.
Sharpening and noise
Output sharpening matched to the delivery medium and a noise module that works before the sharpening stage.
Perspective and geometry
Lens correction, keystone and volume deformation fixes with automatic line detection for architectural frames.
Changes in this build
- Control point engine reworked, with faster preview updates on high resolution files.
- New film emulation set added to both the colour and black and white modules.
- Noise module rebuilt with better handling of high ISO chroma blotching.
- Recipes now transfer between modules where the parameters overlap.
- Host support extended to the current cycle of the major editors and catalogue applications.
What is in the package
- Nik Collection installer covering all eight plug-ins, 64-bit
- Film emulation and preset libraries
- Control point masking engine
- Sample recipes for landscape, portrait and architectural work
- Multilingual interface files, 6 languages
System requirements
| Processor | Intel or AMD 64-bit, quad core recommended |
| Memory | 8 GB minimum, 16 GB for large files |
| Graphics | GPU with 2 GB VRAM |
| Storage | 5 GB free |
| Display | 1920 x 1080, calibrated panel recommended |
| System | Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit, with a supported host installed |
Installation
- Install and launch each host application once before running setup.
- Close every host application.
- Run the installer and select which of the eight plug-ins to register.
- Apply the included licence step before opening a host.
- Open an image, run one module, and let the preset thumbnails build.
Before you start
Work on a duplicate layer so the returned result can be masked or reduced afterwards.
The plug-ins are separate, so registering only the ones you use keeps the host menus tidy.
Preview updates are slow the first time a very large file is loaded, this is expected.
Questions about this title
How many plug-ins is it?
Eight, covering black and white, colour effects, film emulation, local contrast, sharpening, noise, perspective and geometry.
Does it work with a catalogue application?
Yes, it registers as an external editor and the result returns into the same catalogue.
Are the originals modified?
No, results return as a layer or a new file depending on the host.
Do recipes transfer between images?
Yes, a saved recipe applies to any other image in the same module.
About this listing
This entry was checked on a clean install of Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) before it was published, and it is rechecked whenever the package is rebuilt. The figures on this page come from the site index rather than from the publisher, so the download count is what people here have actually pulled.
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