DxO Nik Collection 4.2 brings Mac M1 Photoshop support and Silver Efex Pro boost

(Image credit: DxO)

DxO has released a Nik Collection 4.2 update which brings native support for the Mac M1 processor, improved responsiveness in Silver Efex Pro and fixes issues when using the freshly redesigned Silver Efex Pro and Viveza with Capture One.

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Apple's new M1 Macs, including the Mac Mini M1, MacBook Air M1, MacBook Pro M1 and more recently the iMac M1, have brought huge performance increases but left older Intel-based software running under Apple's 'Rosetta' emulation.

"Users of Photoshop 22.3 (and later) working on a Mac M1 can run it in 'native' mode or with the Rosetta emulator. Up until now, they had to use Rosetta to be able to run Nik Collection." recalls Jean-Marc Alexia, Vice President Product Strategy. “With the 4.2 version of Nik Collection, users can now opt to run the software in ‘M1 native’ mode and enjoy an optimized user experience.”

What this means is that the Nik plug-ins now work with Photoshop in M1 mode, not that the plug-ins themselves have not been made M1-native.

DxO Nik Collection 4 — (Image credit: DxO)

The improved responsiveness in Silver Efex Pro is for local U-point adjustments, one of the strongest features in the Nik Collection and enhanced in this plug-in with Lightroom-style color range and luminance masking. With Silver Efex Pro 3, a new version for Nik Collection 4, the U-point adjustment sliders have been moved to the sidebar to allow a clearer view of the image being edited.

The Capture One compatibility fix is especially welcome. Where Photoshop and Lightroom use the Nik tools as plug-ins (they do now have this issue), Capture One uses the Nik plug-ins as standalone external editors, and changes to Silver Efex Pro and Viveza in Nik Collection 4 produced issues where editing changes did not appear in Capture One. (We checked and can confirm that editing from Capture One now appears to work exactly as intended.)

The Nik Collection 4.2 update is available to download now from the DxO website; DxO is also offering a discounted price on the Nik Collection up until October 10th.

Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com

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