Silver Efex Pro 2 (now here)

[ustein]

Re: Silver Efex Pro 2 soon

SEP1 was nice but SEP2 allows more control (useful control):

 

[ustein]

Re: Silver Efex Pro 2 soon

Finally get some of our Bodie shots in decent B&W:

 

[ustein]

Re: Silver Efex Pro 2 soon

 

[petetsai]

Just curious, does anyone know of any reviews that show the color before and SEP2 afters? I'm curious what control it gives as I have been doing mine by hand in cs5 which is time consuming.

 

[ustein]

>does anyone know of any reviews that show the color before and SEP2 afters?

Not sure what you want. You can manipulate the same colors in many, many ways in SEP1/SEP2. Maybe I don't understand.

 

[petetsai]

I was more curious how much latitude it gives, I've never used any SEP before. I did notice that I can download a 15 day demo so I might give that a go when I have a chance.

 

[ustein]

>I did notice that I can download a 15 day demo so I might give that a go when I have a chance.

I think this is the best way to proceed. Everybody has different requirements.

 

[Ario Arioldi]

Just curious, does anyone know of any reviews that show the color before and SEP2 afters? I'm curious what control it gives as I have been doing mine by hand in cs5 which is time consuming.

You can go to the preset download page on Nik site and you will find many before/after exemples.
http://www.niksoftware.com/addons/i.../11/0/0/page:1#/business-portrait-sep2/11/0/0
Ario

 

[Ario Arioldi]

Ario

 

[petetsai]

Ah thank you Ario, this is what I was looking for. I didn't see it when I glanced through the first link!

 

[EdK]

Just curious, does anyone know of any reviews that show the color before and SEP2 afters? I'm curious what control it gives as I have been doing mine by hand in cs5 which is time consuming.

I have a blog post that shows 40 before/after side-by-side possibilities - one for each of the SEP2 presets.

Also, here's a complete SEP2 tutorial in another blog post.

Hope this helps.

 

[woodyspedden]

Everyone

For any others who have had problems installing either Silver Efex Pro 2.0 or Viveza 2 into Lightroom, here is the solution given me by Nik Software Support. This worked and now all is well.


Dear Elwood,

Thank you for contacting Nik Software.

Occasionally, after running a Nik Software product installer, the software may not be installed correctly in Adobe Lightroom 2 or Lightroom 3. When this occurs, the filters will not appear in Lightroom and a manual installation may be necessary.

To manually install one of the Nik Software products after the installer has been run, please do the following:
While Lightroom is still open, click Edit > Preferences OR Lightroom > Preferences.
Click on the "External Edition" tab at the top of preferences (see A.).





























Midway down on the right click on the "Choose" button (see C.) and locate the Nik Software application file for your product . Typically it can can be found at either, C:\Program Files\Nik Software\Silver Efex Pro 2 OR Macintosh HD | Applications | Nik Software | Silver Efex Pro 2. For other products, replace Viveza 2 reference with the following below.

Once located, select the program or application file as indicated above and click "Choose".
Set the file format to "TIFF", Color Space to sRGB (or the one of your choice), Bit Depth to 16-bit, Resolution to 240, and Compress to None (see D.).
Under preset click the drop down selector (see B.) and choose, "Save Current Settings as New Preset" from the list (see F.)














Type in the name of the plug-in such as "Silver Efex Pro 2" and click Create.
You many add another plug-in by going back and following steps 6 - 10 again, otherwise close preferences by clicking OK. The plug-in(s) you added should now be accessible.
Close preferences by clicking OK. The product you removed should no longer be an option when click Photo > Edit in.
Please let me know if this does not resolve the issue.



If you have any further questions, please reply to this email or call our Customer Service Department toll free at 1-888-284-4085 (+1-619-725-3150 outside of the US). Our office hours are Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 5:00 pm PST.

Best Regards,
Greg
___________________
Greg Benusa
Customer Service Specialist
Nik Software, Inc. | Photography first®

7588 Metropolitan Drive | San Diego, CA 92108
Tel - 619.725.3150 | Fax - 619.725.3151
[email protected] | www.niksoftware.com

To learn more about our award winning Nik Software products, please visit www.niksoftware.com and click on the Learn tab for online Lessons and free Webinars

ref:00D8bfZy.5008EYnGD:ref
----------------------

Your question/comment:

I just upgraded to Silver Efex Pro version 2.0. The installation worked smoothly for Photoshop 5 but when I try to edit Llghtroom 3.3 with Silver Efex Pro the old version is active, not 2.0

Could you please help me get the installation correctly

Thanks

Woody Spedden

 

[TRSmith]

Uh-oh. I've been an enormous fan of Silver Efex Pro and without even doing the trial, I bought the version 2 upgrade and downloaded it last night.

I am so disappointed to be disappointed. Everything installed and launched as it should in PS CS5. But the new interface is barely legible. The typeface used in the preset categories appears so small and thin that it is broken and illegible.

I suppose I could just go with the visual and not pay attention to the name of the category but I much prefer to be able to scroll through the various effects and select them by name.

Anyone else seeing this?

 

[ustein]

>The typeface used in the preset categories appears so small and thin that it is broken and illegible.

That is true. I got over it though as I like the more control.

 

[Per Ofverbeck]

Uh-oh. I've been an enormous fan of Silver Efex Pro and without even doing the trial, I bought the version 2 upgrade and downloaded it last night.

I am so disappointed to be disappointed. Everything installed and launched as it should in PS CS5. But the new interface is barely legible. The typeface used in the preset categories appears so small and thin that it is broken and illegible.

I suppose I could just go with the visual and not pay attention to the name of the category but I much prefer to be able to scroll through the various effects and select them by name.

Anyone else seeing this?

Indeed it is small, however, I can just read it on my 30" Cinema Display. What´s even worse is that the thumbnails that illustrate the effect of the presets are so tiny that they´re practically useless.

There should be a variable width of the preset/history column, just as in Lightroom. Or even better, a menu item for preferences like in almost all Mac software (the interface is very ´un-Mac-like´ and that´s a bad thing).

But, as Uwe says, the controls and the ease of getting results that would take far longer to achieve within Lightroom makes it worth it IMHO.

 

[ustein]

In my SEP2 review I wrote:

Wish List

-Histogram (free floating) and Loupe shown at the same time
-Show a border at the histogram to better judge highlights and shadows
-Allow to recall the previous (last used settings). Note: we show a nice solution soon.
-Minimize halos
-The UI fonts are very hard to read
-That you need to scroll over the sub-sliders to see the values may make the UI look clean but is not really user friendly.

Still a great software.

 

[mathomas]

I don't even use the presets, but I'm sure the font problem is annoying if you do. The preset names read just barely acceptably on my 23" Apple monitor.

One thing I love is they fixed it so the scroll wheel is recognized. That was a huge annoyance in the last version.

 

[EdK]

Uh-oh. I've been an enormous fan of Silver Efex Pro and without even doing the trial, I bought the version 2 upgrade and downloaded it last night.

I am so disappointed to be disappointed. Everything installed and launched as it should in PS CS5. But the new interface is barely legible. The typeface used in the preset categories appears so small and thin that it is broken and illegible.

I suppose I could just go with the visual and not pay attention to the name of the category but I much prefer to be able to scroll through the various effects and select them by name.

Anyone else seeing this?

Although what you say is so, don't you see a very easy to read (even with 74 year old eyes) black font on yellow background tool tip with the preset's name when you scroll over the preset?

 

[TRSmith]

I do see the tool tips. There's a lag though and it's not as comfortable or as easy as simply reading a label that's correctly displayed. Why go to all the trouble of making groups of presets and then label them so poorly you have to use a tool tip to decipher them?

As for the presets, it's true I don't use their recipes often but I have made my own that do get used regularly.

I've calmed down a little bit since my first negative impression of the user interface. However, I can't help but hope they make a software fix since as it stands now, the user interface is poorly implemented.

 

[ustein]

>As for the presets, it's true I don't use their recipes often but I have made my own that do get used regularly.

That is the main reason for presets. Their presets can be used as a starting point.