CaptureNX2 vs. Lightroom

Michael J.

Michael J.

Senior Member
I wanna start taking photos in RAW. I think no is the time to get more out of my photos.

Today I shot a photo in Raw with my D5100 an dthe Nikon 16-85. I opend the file in capture and only rezised it. The same with Lightroom 3.6 No processing with both


Can you see a difference and if there is a difference which one looks better ooc


Capture

capture.jpg

Lightroom 3.6

lightroom.jpg
 
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nickt

Senior Member
I see a difference in the smaller thumbnails, but not enough to notice in the larger pictures because I only see one at a time.

BUT... I would expect the Nikon Capture to look better than Lightroom with no additional processing. I do not have Capture, but I believe it would be the same as ViewNX in that it applies your camera jpg picture control settings to your raw view. Lightroom does not show your jpg in-camera adjustments so it will look more plain with no processing. You can adjust Lightroom to apply some adjustments on import. To test if I am correct, set your camera for B&W. If i am correct, Capture will show a black and white image and Lightroom will show a color image for the same picture.
 
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Dave_W

The Dude
nickt's right, CaptureNX will carry over the camera adjustments. But also keep in mind that the conversion from RAW to JPEG is not a single lane road, so to speak. Each software company's code will render the compressed JPEG differently from the other. IMO the way to really test it is to use both software programs to convert the image to the best the program will allow you to and then compare the developed images head to head.
 
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nickt

Senior Member
I am still very new at this so I don't know what is better.
You still get full control in Capture or NX, you are just seeing a different starting point. (I think). I have Lightroom apply "Camera Standard" on import. I sometimes change that to "Camera Vivid". Seeing a picture with that adjustment applied right from the start might help me learn.
 
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WhiteLight

Senior Member
For what you have done (basic resizing & converting), Capture NX2 will give better results.
Firstly cos CNX2 is optimized for Nikon
Second you are comparing an older version of LR with the last version of CNX2, so i am assuming you would still be missing on some features.
Both are brilliant programs, CNX2 has a steeper learning curve cos Nikon doesn't seem to care all that much about its software so the number of quality tutorials available for CNX2 is very limited.
The Control Points perform very well.

On the other hand, LR is very well marketed, lots of folks use it & swear by it..
At the end of the day, both are quality programs and you won't be disappointed with either.
If you ask me, i would say start with LR, but do go ahead and learn CNX2 (and other programs as well)

Regarding the pics, i don't really see all that much of a difference. And if you shooting RAW, you got all bases covered
 
Michael J.

Michael J.

Senior Member
Thanks to all of you for sharing your opinion.

This year I am going to learn how to use Raw in different programs. I hope that on my vacation in December I am brave enough shooting RAW only.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Michael J.

Michael J.

Senior Member
WhiteLight said:
Second you are comparing an older version of LR with the last version of CNX2, so i am assuming you would still be missing on some features.
Click to expand...

O.K I got LR4 now and I am surprised that it has some great features. I think, according to my feeling, it will be my standard photo prossecing programm
 
Eduard

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
siamthai1 said:
On my laptop I've got Windows7 and no Problems and on my PC Window XP and LR4 doesn't run
Click to expand...

Lightroom 4 is a 64-bit program and will not run on Windows XP. The technical requirements for Windows (from the Adobe site) are:

[h=3]Windows[/h]
  • Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor
  • Microsoft® Windows Vista® or Windows® 7 with Service Pack 1 or Windows 8
  • 2GB of RAM
  • 1GB of available hard-disk space
  • 1024x768 display
  • Internet connection required for Internet-based services
 
Eduard

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
The latest I've heard is that the new PS CC is going to be released in mid-June which implies that LR5 will be on the same schedule (since they share the Camera Raw engine). If I were you, I'd probably wait or use the free LR5 beta.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I believe folks have covered most of it the CaptureNX/Nikon optimization thing, but realize that Lightroom offers the ability to mimic all those things as well - it just doesn't apply them as defaults. It's also got a robust (dare I say "near complete") set of lens-specific adjustment profiles, so removing distortion and chromatic aberation is near automatic.

One other thing, remember that LR5 is out in Beta and will be release this Summer. It seems to have some cool features, and the Beta release will run for free until the full release is available, so you may want to use that instead of purchasing LR4.
 
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