Nik Analog Efex Pro 2 available

[BackdoorArts]

Saw on another forum that Google has released Nik Analog Efex Pro 2. Normally this is supposed to update automatically, but this never seems to happen for me so I just downloaded and installed the new version. The interesting thing is that I now have both Analog Efex Pro and Analog Efex Pro 2 listed in the Nik Selective tool in Photoshop.

Differences?

Wow. They made this a lot more usable and customizable, while adding some cool new camera types. In addition to the Classic Camera, Toy Camera, Wet Plate and Vintage Cameras they had, you now get Black & White, Color Cast, Motion, Subtle Bokeh, Double Exposure and Multilens functions as presets. What's truly nice is that you can now just add and stack the various filters at will the way you do in Color Efex Pro 4. It's still done in the guise of a "Custom Camera", but it's more user friendly - just click on the filter you want to add, try it, and click again if you want to remove it, then either save the "camera" or just exit to save the image.

There's a lot of subtle and not so subtle effects in the additions. Very cool motion and double exposure effects. Probably easy to overdo them - but isn't that always the case?

If you've got Nik already, just download the latest trial and install - it should recognize your license.

 

[BackdoorArts]

FYI, if you want to remove the old Analog Efex Pro here's a link with the information on how to do it. Not sure what happens with any camera presets you might have had (I didn't have any), but if they didn't transfer over automatically then you'll likely need to rebuild them.

https://support.google.com/nikcollection/answer/6021621?hl=en&ref_topic=3467181

 

[BackdoorArts]

And for the curious and lazy, I found a list of the precise differences...

• Six new Cameras with engaging filter combinations: Black and White, Color Cast, Motion, Subtle Bokeh, Double Exposure, and Multilens
• Three powerful new filters have been added to the Camera Kit: Motion Blur, Double Exposure, and Multilens
• Control points are now available in the Basic Adjustments, Dirt & Scratches, Light Leaks and Photo Plate filters, providing selective control to your editing.
• The Bokeh filter now includes a Tilt Shift mode for more focusing options.
• The Frame filter has a new Scale slider that adjusts the width of the applied frame.
• The Photo Plate filter now has the ability to invert the tonality of each texture, providing a greater range of textural options.
• The Lens Distortion filter now includes Defocus, a slider to further distort your images.
• A new Instant Help feature provides additional guidance when navigating throughout the interface.
• Finally, you will notice an updated appearance to the interface overall, including updated Camera icons and a new workflow in the Camera Kit.

I'm so happy with the addition of Control Points to those filters. I love the subtle detail extraction in the Basic Adjustment tool, and could almost use it in place of Viveza 2 (at least in most cases), but the lack of control points limited it. Not any more. They've added some more subtle film types as well, which I don't see mentioned. Either way, it's a huge improvement towards making it more usable and less like a semi-flexible set of Instagram-like filters.

My friends are happy with it too.

 

[ShootRaw]

Wow....I have been looking into the Nik software as a plug-in for LR5...I am not a PS guy...besides paying each month for it is ridiculous...