Nikon Capture NX2

I have been using PSE7 for my photo editing but I am thinking about getting Nikon Capture N2. I am curious about other's thoughts on the program and its comparison to PSE. Is it really worth the price since I already have PSE?

If you shoot raw (.NEF), I highly recommend NX2. I only shoot raw, and open all images in NX2 first for any necessary adjustments, i.e. white balance, exposure, distortion correction, etc., then transfer the image as a TIFF to Photoshop for any other more complex edits needed. Using this workflow, my original raw image is preserved without any destructive edits.

I shoot exclusively in RAW. I am using Nikon Transfer to download the files from the SDHC. I then use PSE7 for adjustments. What does NX2 do better than PSE? Are the presets for adjustments better, does it make it easier to make adjustments? I can open the files in RAW and then save them as TIFF files. I saw on the web site that you can select individual color areas and enhance, is this pretty easy? Thanks for the quick reply.

Mark, I highly recommend you download and try adobe lightroom 3, it has a 30 day free trial so you can take it for a test drive. I also shoot raw frequently and it is fast and wow what adjustment capability. I seldom need other editors since lightroom is very powerful.

Yibel said:

Mark, I highly recommend you download and try adobe lightroom 3, it has a 30 day free trial so you can take it for a test drive. I also shoot raw frequently and it is fast and wow what adjustment capability. I seldom need other editors since lightroom is very powerful.

Click to expand...

Mark:

This is good advice from Yibel. You can also download a 60-day trial of Capture NX2 from the Nikon USA website.

I have both NX2 and LR3. I use LR3 for 99.97% (approximately measured in unscientific manners ). They will give you different results. The reason I don't do 100% of images in LR3 is that I've found that NX2 does a better job of handling CA on some of my images. To be fair, it might also be a training/knowledge issue on my part.

Couple things that you might want to consider. This is in no ways meant to be a complete list - I'm not even sure I could provide one. These are just based on my experiences.

• Workflow: NX2 is geared to working on a single file at a time. LR3 allows you to easily copy adjustments to multiple images.
• Catalog Management: Lightroom is a Digital Asset Management (DAM) tool. Capture NX2 is not.
• Training/Support: Unless you go to a Nikonians workshop, there isn't a whole lot available regarding Capture NX2.
• Support: Frankly, the support of Capture NX2 is lacking. Until Nikon and Nik software decide to give some priority and focus to the product, it will remain a bit player. Supporting 64-bit operating systems (both Mac and PC) took around a year after they were released when they were common knowledge and available in beta.
• U Point: Major credit to Nik software for the U Point selection technology which until Viveza was released was reason enough to use Capture NX2 for some images.

One final thing to consider is that you can integrate Capture NX2 into a Lightroom workflow by setting it up as an external editor. This is how Photoshop or Elements is integrated as well.

Hope this helps!

Eduard said:

...NX2 does a better job of handling CA on some of my images.

Click to expand...

Sorry, but what is "CA"?

PhotoAV8R said:

Sorry, but what is "CA"?

Click to expand...

Sorry. I should have explained. Chromatic Aberration are distortions caused by lens designs. You might see it as a purple or bluish fringe on edges of an image. Good, and very detailed description and examples can be found here.

Well I have downloaded the trial version of NX2 from Nikon. You get a 60 day trial. That should be enough time to evaluate it and see if it will be worth it. I like the fact that it will read all the camera settings and allow you to do processing in both.

Thanks, Eduard!