For my landscape work, I tend to customize each image individually and don't tend to use a lot of presets, other than possible starting points from which I will refine the image. It's also much easier to create new ones and apply them to another image that is opened in NIK. Some new features and more easily accessed features is where the new version has more to offer. More refinement here would really make this feature even more useful. For example, looking back at the history, I couldn't tell the difference between adjusting the midtone brightness or adjusting the midtone structure.

It does not differentiate between types of actions very well. It makes it much easier to see what’s been done and to go back and find a particular point in time. I like this way of organizing, and it seems that it could be refined further. I like the way that items in the history menu are grouped under categories. History MenuĮven though it’s not new, I feel that it’s worth noting here. Probably more conditioning from Adobe on my part, but I think it’s just an easy way to zero something out fast. I personally would also love it if resetting each slider was done with a double-click on the name of it. Even though I am only reviewing Silver Efex Pro 3 here, it’s worth noting that the interface of this plugin does not always match some of NIK’s other offerings. And being able to click and hold on the compare button to switch between the two instead of accessing that with another button is a nice little addition. I also liked the way that the compare menu was made larger and moved to the middle of the top. It just makes more sense to me since it’s something that I reference a lot when fine-tuning the tonal contrast in an image. Personally, I really like having the loupe and the zone system overlay controls at the top instead of down at the bottom. The menus were easier to collapse, and sliding out of the way is done the same way as Lightroom, making it more automatic for me. It just feels like more refined software. There is a sleeker look to the design in this version of Silver Efex. Just a few relatively minor things to mention here. Honestly, there is not a lot new in the interface.

Silver efex pro 3