Macphun v. Nik?

turnthedarncranks

Anyone have an opinion as to which of these suites of plugins is preferable? My primary uses will be of the noise reduction and b&w tools. The reviews seem very similar, but make the Macphun stuff sound a bit more user-friendly. (There are trials available of both. I have used the Nik trial and liked but didn't love it. And the Macphun stuff is a bit crippled in trial mode, so it's hard to get a good feel.)

Thanks!

paulr

I use both, Macphun is Mac only,The MacPhun Tonality Pro is very good and Intensity Pro also. If you buy MacPhun make sure you buy the Pro versions, I believe they are doing special offers 30% discount on Bundle buys.

http://macphun.com/store?utm_source=Macphun+Friends&utm_campaign=026ce6a405-July_4_Sale_Trial&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_912838542a-026ce6a405-268238209&mc_cid=026ce6a405&mc_eid=254edfa689#Free

turnthedarncranks

Thanks. They do have that discount and I plan to use it if I go the Macphun route. How do you like Tonality v. Silver Efex?

Thanks again.

paulr

I tend to use Intensity Pro most of the time it works well with the resolution of D810 I would say from personal experience MacPhun has the edge on the B/W conversion, but all images are different and sometimes one software works better than the other on some images. Topaz also offer an comprehensive Plug-in list, so I would throw them into the cocktail too.The secret of all plug -ins is a little delicate use rather than a lot.
If you like Post production and have the time, the use of Plug-ins is an Art form in it's own right. The purists would disagree but each to his own.

turnthedarncranks

Thanks. I don't love post, which is why I think something with a good number of presets is a good way for me to go. And thanks also for mentioning Topaz; their stuff looks neat but is a bit pricey for my tastes.

Methinks Macphun is the leader in the clubhouse, but I remain all ears if others have opinions they'd like to share.

Ryukyu

Check out On1.Their suite is pretty good and is on sale right now.
The thing that I really like about their suite is that you can do things on layers. Not so with Nik. Not sure about the others. You can do a lot in the On1 suite without having to use Photoshop.

turnthedarncranks

Thanks. I just checked their website, and $79 is hard to pass up. The biggest negative is that it doesn't appear to work as a plugin for Aperture, which is a big issue for me as I don't intend to switch to Lightroom any time soon. On the other hand, it seems like it would work well as a stand-alone app. Having said this, one thing that's hard to tell from their site is how much I can rely on presets, and how much I am going to have to do lots of work with sliders Can you shed any light on that?

Thanks again.

turnthedarncranks

Oops! Looks like it may integrate with Aperture after all. But it looks like it's noise reduction capabilities may not be so great. That's a big one for me -- Noiseless Pro seems to do a really good job. Looks like it's time for a free trial of the On1 suite to see if the video doesn't do it justice or if it's noise reduction isn't up to par. Thanks again for the lead.

tganiats

I didn't find much NR difference between a Macfun trial and Nik. Didn't notice it was crippled. Maybe that's why (and I've had such good luck with Nik), The rest of the Nik suite is great. I also like On1.

turnthedarncranks

Thanks. I was a bit overbroad in calling Noiseless "crippled". To be fair, the limits relate to processing RAW files (the trial version won't) and, if memory serves, export/save options. But it's primarily the inability to process RAW, and thus to test Noiseless Pro doing what it (allegedly) does best, that is troubling me.

paulr

MacPhun Noiseless Pro does NEF Raw files, However if you do not like PP DxO Pro 10 would be your answer most of it can be done automatically. Bad news for you is the best results come from The DxO pro 10 Elite Version which is 60% dearer than Pro 10. There is never a software which pleases all users all of the time.

turnthedarncranks

Right -- my issue is that the trial version of Noiseless Pro doesn't do RAW files.

On the DxO front, are you saying DxO Pro 10 is easier to use than Noiseless Pro? Looks like there's a trial option for the DxO stuff too, so maybe that's my next download. (It seems relatively pricey, however.)

Fully agree that there's no perfect software! Just trying to figure out the best bang for my personal buck and personal use.

paulr

DxO Pro 10 is certainly more costly than Noiseless Pro but it does a lot more than just Noise reduction and is the only software company that analyses your camera/lens combination.. If you are a Nikon user then try NX-D It's free from Nikon, and is excellent in noise control. There are other ways of reducing noise other than software.
However this entails further costs in cameras and lenses, Depends how far you want to take your photography and what your end are trying to achieve .

turnthedarncranks

Thanks. I will try NX-D, and then maybe one of the other packages as well. (To be clear re my pricing comment, I am comparing the price of the entire Macphun/Nik/On1 suite to that of DxO and they are all quite a bit cheaper.)

I have to stick with my D7100 and the lenses I've got right now, so the noise I get is the noise I get!