The Survival of Nik Software
It was close to extinction, and then...
I first saw Nik Software demonstrated at a photography conference in 2009. Tony Corbell, who was a Brooks graduate and senior manager at Nik, was showing how Silver Efex Pro could turn any photo into a gritty, wonderful B&W image. It was the most impressive 20 minutes of the week.
Not only was Tony an amazing photographer with an impressive pedigree, he was now a magician as he showed us how to effortlessly convert our digital images into timeless masterpieces with just a few clicks of the mouse.
Little did I realize at the time, Nik Software had already begun a long journey that would see many changes, including a near-death experience in 2017. Fortunately, it survived. And on August 31, 2023, Nik Collection reemerged stronger than ever with a refreshed interface and thousands of lines of rewritten code.
If you are one of the many photographers who love this software, this is a story you will appreciate. And if you’ve never used Nik Collection, consider this your introduction.
San Diego, CA
Southern California isn’t a likely place to birth a fledging software company. But it was home to Ed Sanchez and Mike Slater, two of the key players who helped establish the company. So that’s where they set up shop.
Nik wasn’t a typical startup in many ways. Instead of the indulgences we often read about with angel-invested visionaries, the small San Diego office was professionally run with quarterly strategies that rolled up into annual plans where each department played an important role in the company’s success.
If the goal were, for example, to create 25 million educational impressions for their software, then the departments would coordinate trade shows, ad campaigns, and customer outreach to fulfill the plan. Their professionalism paid off.
In 2006, Nik Software reached a worldwide agreement with Nikon Corporation to collaborate on technology development for Nikon’s Capture software. In return, Nikon made a capital investment in Nik Software.
At the heart of Nik’s business model was a goal to create tools for photographers to improve their images efficiently. Why spend an hour refining a picture if you could accomplish the same task in minutes?
Nik’s release of Snapseed for the iPad in 2011 became a shining example of this approach. Among those who noticed this brilliance was a Silicon Valley giant to the north who was preparing to battle its major competitor in the photography space.
The Google Acquisition
The online world was changing fast in 2012. Facebook bought Instagram, a wildly popular photo-sharing site, for $1 billion. This acquisition put Mark Zuckerberg in prime position to dominate the mobile photo-sharing landscape.
Google, a competitor to Facebook, had social media plans of its own. It wanted to counter the Instagram acquisition. In that same year, Google bought Nik Software to strengthen the allure of their new photo-sharing product, Google Plus.
The plan was to attract more serious enthusiasts and professionals to their platform. By providing sophisticated, but easy-to-use tools, Google could differentiate itself from Facebook.
The plan failed. Google never figured out how to elegantly integrate Nik software with its own to create a seamless experience. Compared to the cohesive Instagram design, Google Plus felt like a collection of parts held together with gaffer’s tape.
Instagram continued to grow in leaps and bounds. Google Plus faltered. And in 2018, Google finally announced the closing of Plus.
Odd Man Out
Even before Google Plus was scuttled, there were warning signs that the search giant was changing directions. For example, in 2016 they dropped the price for Nik Collection from $149 to free. Google seemed to have lost interest in the software.
And sure enough, Google announced in 2017 that they were ceasing the development of Nik Collection. The once-magical set of image editing tools had become collateral damage in the battle of Silicon Valley titans.
Life Support
With so many new editing tools bursting on the scene from the likes of Skylum, ON1, and Pixelmator, it would be easy to think that Nik had served its role in the early days of photography special effects and that it was time to pass the baton.
But large segments of the digital imaging community didn’t necessarily agree. There was still nothing like Silver Efex Pro, Nik’s software for creating gritty, artistic black-and-white images. Color Efex Pro and Viveza also had dedicated followings.
Photographers would find ways to nurse their existing Nik software along, sometimes dedicating older machines with compatible operating systems to edit special shots that would benefit from these plugins.
Fortunately, one company saw an opportunity that others missed. And they devised a plan to integrate Nik Software with their own products.
DxO Pulls the Trigger
In October 2017, DxO, a French photo software company, announced that it had acquired the Nik Collection assets from Google. Initially, just to keep things alive, DxO provided links to download the existing collection of seven plugins free of charge. But they also announced that they would resume development of the product with more details to come in 2018.
Aravind Krishnaswamy, an Engineering Director with Google commented,
“The Nik Collection gives photographers tools to create photos they absolutely love. We’re thrilled to have DxO, a company dedicated to high-quality photography solutions, acquire and continue to develop it.”
The photography community breathed a cautious sigh of relief. But no one knew what would happen next. There was much work to be done if Nik Collection were to reemerge as a dominant software suite. And as with any journey, plans are one thing, what unfolds along the way can be quite another.
Why DxO?
If you’re wondering why DxO took this risk, the best place to start is with a primary business challenge.
It’s not easy for a French software company to establish traction in North America. Even though DxO had an excellent flagship product in PhotoLab, how could they persuade U.S. photographers using Lightroom to take a look at it?
On the other hand, Nik had great brand awareness in the States and practically everywhere else. Silver Efex Pro was one of the most beloved photo applications of all time.
By saving Nik Collection and keeping it modern, DxO was banking on a halo effect that might lead photographers to look at its other products as well.
They had additional things going for them too. Unlike Adobe, which had moved to a subscription model for their software, DxO remained license-based. Photographers pay once for the software and use it as long as they want. Combine that approach with the charm of Nik Software, and the business risk begins to make sense.
Essentially, Nik Collection became the ultimate wingman for DxO. But there was much work ahead to make this plan succeed.
The Slow Grind
DxO kept its word and offered an updated release of Nik Collection in 2018. Job one was to make it compatible with the latest versions of Photoshop and Lightroom, which were the host applications used to access the plugins. The price for the update was $69.
Many existing customers grumbled about the fee while others defended the work that DxO was investing in the software. Essentially, this was the price for bug fixes. And if DxO were to have success with this endeavor, they needed to convince photographers that this was only the first step in the software’s reemergence.
In 2019, DxO released Nik Collection 2. This was the first major update to the software in 3 years. In addition to improved Photoshop and Lightroom compatibility, photographers could now use the Collection with DxO’s own product, PhotoLab. DxO also introduced 40 new filters and high-resolution display support for Windows users.
These were still early days of integration. And customers would have to pay for both updates to Nik Collection and for PhotoLab if they wanted to try the new workflow. Compared to other options from competitors, many photographers questioned if the investment was worth it.
Beginning to See How This Is Going to Play Out
Nik Collection 3 debuted in June of 2020. The were plenty of incremental updates and new software for the Collection: Perspective Efex. In addition to the new plugin, we started seeing interface improvements and what appeared to be more code cleanup under the hood.
Fortunately, DxO did have Nik engineers on staff to help them with rewriting the code base. But even with that knowledge at hand, the work was slow.
Each year the photography community saw an updated release with new refinements. Nik Collection 4 in 2021, Collection 5 in 2022, and finally, six years after the purchase, Nik Collection 6.3 in August 2023.
The Transition was Complete
DxO finished rewriting the last two plugins, Sharpener and HDR Efex. All of the underpinning code for the entire software suite was now theirs. The Collection ran smoothly on Windows, macOS, and on Apple Silicon. It was a hard-fought, but impressive accomplishment.
“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.” Jérôme Ménière, CEO of DxO Labs.
A Home At Last
DxO will succeed where Google failed for two reasons. First, DxO had a better plan. Nik Collection is a beautiful fit with PhotoLab. Photographers can clean up and perfect their RAW files with PhotoLab’s impressive editing tools, then from within the app, choose a Nik plugin to add the artistic touches that often separate a good picture from a great one.
Google never figured out how to integrate Nik Software with their own. And they weren’t a photography company that offered complementary products.
Plus, Nik Collection continued to work beautifully with Lightroom Classic and Photoshop. DxO even added compatibility with Affinity Photo to the mix. And the plugins worked as standalone apps as well. In other words, if you wanted to use Nik software, there was a way to fit it into your workflow.
Second, the engineers at DxO are grinders. For six years they rewrote, redesigned, and reimagined every aspect of Nik Collection. And it wasn’t like they were receiving unbridled praise along the way. But they stuck to the plan and accomplished the goal.
Today, Nik Collection is more polished and stable than at any time in its history. Its future looks bright.
A gem was saved.
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Author’s Note: I do not work for DxO, nor am I an affiliate. But I have loved this collection of plugins since I first saw Tony Corbell demonstrate Silver Efex in 2009. If you want to learn more about Nik Collection, you can visit its webpage and download the free trial.
Great article! I started off with that boxed version of Silver Efex and have been through the history you provided. Thanks! cb.
Many thanks for this great and well written article. I fully share your enthusiasm, and concerns during the 'Google phase', of this awesome suite of applications. Hopefully now 'safe' with DxO. I am long time user of in particular Silver EFEX. No other applications even close in terms of results and usability. I use the fully paid version to hopefully support the longevity of the software. Cheers.