ViewNX 2 tutorials for someone new to the program?

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paul_b

Senior Member
Does anybody know of any tutorials for ViewNX 2 for someone new to the program? (i know how to use Lightroom but I'm a beginner with ViewNX 2).

The help file is not that informative and i would really like to know exactly what all those sliders are actually doing, when they should be used etc.

I've searched Google and YouTube without much luck.

Is there any tutorials here at Nikonites, or does anybody know of any good ones elsewhere?

Thanks
 
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donaldjledet

Senior Member
Yes Paul, Welcome to nikonites.com
Go to nikonusa.com and click on the Learn and Explore.
there you will find stuff on the software and cameras and so on.
 
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paul_b

Senior Member
Thanks for the replies.

I cant find anything more than the very basic stuff on nikonusa.com when clicking on Learn and Explore. All I found was a very brief presentation that didn't really help me understand what those sliders really do and when to use them.

As for YouTube, all the ViewNX tutorials are either not very informative too (even amateurish) or in non-English language.

Sorry for sounding a bit moany.
 
Fred Kingston_RIP

Fred Kingston_RIP

Senior Member
Well... then I recommend you get a copy of Lightroom 5 instead... Rather than being a single manufacturer's product, it reaches a broader market. As such, it attracts an extensive collection of professional learning courses...

​
 
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paul_b

Senior Member
I already own Lightroom 4 and understand it very well, & understand it well because the help files were informative enough to help me understand, something that i feel is missing with the ViewNX 2 help file.

I'm about to buy my first ever Nikon and have downloaded some sample RAW files that I've been playing around with in ViewNX 2 and I'm just finding it a bit hard to understand what those sliders are actually doing and when to use which ones. I want to use Nikon software as it's dedicated for my make of camera.
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
If you already have Light room and know how to use it then that is the route you should go. When I suggested earlier about I did not know you had lightroom.

I use Bridge and PhotoShop for all my Post processing. Adobe is pretty much the standard for processing.
 
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paul_b

Senior Member
There are a few things I'm unsure about with ViewNX 2 and is why i wanted to read/watch a good tutorial:

1) When you have an image that overall is a bit too dark and want to brighten it: What is the difference between the exposure compensation slider and the brightness slider? Which should be used for what and when? Or should i just use the D-lighting slider?
2) When in Lightroom and you increase exposure you throw out the contrast and so also have to adjust the contrast too. Do you need to adjust contrast in ViewNX 2 after increasing any of the exposure or brightness or D-Lighting sliders by themselves?
3) How do i set my black point? i.e the equivalent of the blacks slider in Lighroom?

P.s I'm buying my first Nikon next week, and i'm just experimenting with ViewNX 2 first with some test NEF's. I'm so looking forward to buying the camera :) (D3200).
 
Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
Why do you want to use ViewNX 2 and not LR4? I have LR4 and have never even wanted to look at ViewNX 2. I am also thinking of just using bridge and photoshop for all my editing from now on. Just need to get my files into order.
 
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paul_b

Senior Member
Scott Murray said:
Why do you want to use ViewNX 2 and not LR4? I have LR4 and have never even wanted to look at ViewNX 2. I am also thinking of just using bridge and photoshop for all my editing from now on. Just need to get my files into order.
Click to expand...

Hi Scott,

My reasons are that surely a dedicated Nikon software is a better idea for developing NEF Raw files as the software is made by Nikon for Nikon camera files, and surely reproduces things more accurately like camera colour, tone , lens distortion and settings etc (i.e D-lighting, picture control). Lightroom can only give a best guess.

I was possibly thinking of developing the NEF's in ViewNX 2 and exporting as high quality Jpegs, and then using Lightroom to catalogue those Jpegs and do other things like non-destructive cropping, healing, fine tuning etc etc (discarding the NEF's afterwards, thus saving space, and maybe even being safe with future compatibility (jpeg vs NEFs)).
 
Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
paul_b said:
Hi Scott,

My reasons are that surely a dedicated Nikon software is a better idea for developing NEF Raw files as the software is made by Nikon for Nikon camera files, and surely reproduces things more accurately like camera colour, tone , lens distortion and settings etc (i.e D-lighting, picture control). Lightroom can only give a best guess.

I was possibly thinking of developing the NEF's in ViewNX 2 and exporting as high quality Jpegs, and then using Lightroom to catalogue those Jpegs and do other things like non-destructive cropping, healing, fine tuning etc etc (discarding the NEF's afterwards, thus saving space, and maybe even being safe with future compatibility (jpeg vs NEFs)).
Click to expand...

Ok that does make sense, just wondering if you have considered using CaptureNX 2 then?
 
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paul_b

Senior Member
Scott Murray said:
Ok that does make sense, just wondering if you have considered using CaptureNX 2 then?
Click to expand...
Yes, but have been saving for 2 months already for the camera itself (baby to feed/clothe etc too, lol). I want to buy a flash gun, good lens, wireless thingy etc first too. So, I think CaptureNX 2 is possibly one to buy for the future, but for now it would be ViewNX 2 (& Lightroom users will cringe, but i would possibly use Lightroom too for the non-destructive cropping, healing & especially it's cataloging features).
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
paul_b said:
My reasons are that surely a dedicated Nikon software is a better idea for developing NEF Raw files as the software is made by Nikon for Nikon camera files, and surely reproduces things more accurately like camera colour, tone , lens distortion and settings etc (i.e D-lighting, picture control). Lightroom can only give a best guess.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure your assumptions about it are correct but if you want to learn to use ViewNX2 to the fullest extent more power to ya! I would really suggest you dump ViewNX and learn to use Lightroom, or Photoshop, instead but to each their own.

So, that being said do you have the ViewNX2 Reference Manual? If you don't, you should start with that. It's the only real documentation out there for this application (which is one reason I don't like it). There's a link at the bottom of the page linked above where you can open the whole thing as a .pdf file, or just right-click on it and do a "Save Link as" or whatever. The manual does not go into technical detail about things like the difference between Exposure vs. Brightness (or Gamma or whatever ViewNX calls it) however. ViewNX2 is a free application and part of the reason it's free is there is next to no technical support for it.



....
 
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paul_b

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
....do you have the ViewNX2 Reference Manual? If you don't, you should start with that. It's the only real documentation out there for this application (which is one reason I don't like it).... The manual does not go into technical detail about things like the difference between Exposure vs. Brightness (or Gamma or whatever ViewNX calls it) however. ViewNX2 is a free application and part of the reason it's free is there is next to no technical support for it.

....
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for the advice - Understood :)
 
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