CaptureNX2

[JohnBeecroft]

Good Morning,
I have purchased my first dSLR, A Nikon D3200 and am looking at their image processing software Capture NX2 ( 60 day free trial).
Compared to Photoshop Elements or Lightwave seems a bit pricy with little documentation ie books.

Anyone else using this and what are their opinions regarding ease of use and value for money.

Thanks for any help.

[Dave Humphries]

Welcome to the CiC forums John,

I agree, I tried it (way back) and didn't get on with it.

I now use/rent Photoshop CC, far better support, although not free.

I'm sure some GIMP users will be along to suggest that (which is free).


Also, I'm not sure how much longer NX2 will be supported by Nikon, perhaps an NX2 user can set the record straight on this matter for us? (I may have mis-understood the situation)


It would help to know where in the world you are; could you click Settings (right at the top),
then Edit Profile (on left)
and put your first name in the Real Name field (I know it's obvious, but for consistency, you might as well)
and where you are (roughly) in the Location field?
this helps everyone give you more personal and relevant answers - thanks.

Cheers,

[george013]

Good Morning,
I have purchased my first dSLR, A Nikon D3200 and am looking at their image processing software Capture NX2 ( 60 day free trial).
Compared to Photoshop Elements or Lightwave seems a bit pricy with little documentation ie books.

Anyone else using this and what are their opinions regarding ease of use and value for money.

Thanks for any help.

I use it. And I like it for the next reason. If you edit a Nef and save it as a NEF, a full JPG at high quality is added in the NEF. Using a photebrowser like iView or Viewnx, that JPG is shown. And you can extract it. So only 1 file.

Be aware that CaptureNX is discontinued. The successor is CaptureNX-D which will be free. This version works with side-files. Comparing with the old version you have now 3 files to keep track of: the NEF, the side-file and the JPG.
One of the reason to discontinue NX is that some thirdparty functions have been sold to Google, I thought the Nik-software functions. You will miss them in the free CaptureNX-D.

George

[John 2]

Welcome John. Dave has made some good points. I have am a Nikon user and I have tried NX2 but found it awkward. However, I'm a dyed in the wool Photoshop user and so whether that is because NX2 is less user friendly or whether it is just different to what I am used to, I'm not sure. Other factors that I would need to consider are on going development and whether NX2 supports working in Layers (anybody?). If you don't currently think in terms of layer just yet, you probably will at some stage in the future and there is no doubt that Elements, Paint Shop Pro and for that matter the FOC GIMP have been improved on a continuous and regular basis over the last few years. I don't see evidence that NX2 has moved on to the same extent. Hope this helps.

Finally, I found this site that may be of help.

http://photo-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

[Mike Buckley]

To the OP:

I use Capture NX2 on 100% of my photos and have been doing so for many years since it was first released. Before that, I used Capture NX1.

However, Capture NX2 is no longer for sale and is no longer being supported by Nikon. (I'm actually curious how you even know the price it used to sell for.) Nikon continues to make the software available for downloading presumably so existing licensees such as myself have access to it when the need to reinstall it arises for whatever reason.

The primary advantage in my opinion that Capture NX2 has over competing software is its use of Control Point technology for making masks. If you like using them as much as I do, you would want to evaluate the Google/Nik suite of plug-ins, as they also have that technology.

Keep in mind that Capture NX2 is a parametric editor, not a pixel editor. So, whatever editor you settle on, if like Capture NX2 it happens to be a parametric editor, you will occasionally need a pixel editor to do such things as correct perspective distortion.

Hope this helps!

[ajohnw]

Before I comment I should point out that I run Linux so can't tun NX2. I can run the free one that comes with the camera - after a fashion.

What I found is that it's very easy to quickly arrive at something that equals or betters the camera jpg's. The main aspect of better is the d-light shadow correction. The other aspect is the way that Nikon handle camera profiles. It's unusual - they form one that is unique for each shot and this seems to ensure that colours are sensible initially without any further messing about.. Some people run their software on images with it set for each camera mode and extract them to use in other PP packages but it isn't worth the effort as they differ too much from shot to shot.

So in my case I would use their software if I could and then export to another package to finish off. However I do not know if these packages can be set up to export and wouldn't be happy having to save 16 bit tiffs. Going from comments on here NX-D will export to other packages and as it uses side car files the same processing steps can be repeated each time the raw file is loaded - this is a better option than any other as they can be changed rather than having to try and undo what has been done. Maybe you should take a look at that. From comments on here it will export.

Currently I use Adobe profiles but have the general feeling that they can leave more work to do than the Nikon ones. In some respects this relates to PP skills but personally I am inclined to go for the quickest route and feel that the Nikon software offers that - if only I could use it.

John
-

[Mike Buckley]

To clear up any potential for confusion, the previous post refers to Capture NX-D and Capture NX2. Capture NX2 is no longer for sale. Capture NX-D is the RAW converter that Nikon provides for free. The primary difference between Capture NX2 and NX-D is that NX-D does not allow editing a portion of the image; it edits only the entire image.

[ajohnw]

Your correct about confusion Mike. It looks like the free one that comes with the camera may be on a trial basis and is NX-2. NX-D can be downloaded here

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/microsite/capturenxd/

The one I managed to run partially on Linux was on the CD that came with the camera. It looks they have removed one adjustment that impressed me and that was shadow recovery but it's hard to be sure going from the images they post on it's web page.

There is Picture Control too. That is the one that I would expect to make use of the shadow recovery software built into their cameras as it offers the various camera tone curves - can't see any signs of it.

Picture Control is here. I had to open the icon in another tab to get the download to work.

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/micr...E_CONTROL_AREA

I haven't tried running either of these on Linux but will at some point.

If the OP wants to try another 30 day trial there is Corel's After Shot Pro but it is a PP package. All of these have a learning curve. Some automated stuff which as usual doesn't produce the goods every time but still pretty capable as it has layers. Rather than using separate layer masks they are painted directly onto the layer. There is one series of tutorials on it on Youtube and little else.

Note - If some one tries After Shot I would suggest the 32 bit version. There are lots and lots of plugins but many haven't been converted to 64bit. Running 32 bit in real terms doesn't have a penalty that is worth worrying about. I didn't try any of the plugins. I did notice that it gets upset if pointed at directories that have other applications side car files in it. This will depend on how they are named.

John
-

[NorthernFocus]

Capture NX2 is fine software but since it has been discontinued is a dead end. The interface is substantially different than most of the most popular alternatives. IMP spending the time to learn the interface of a dead end product would not be time well spent.

[davidedric]

o, whatever editor you settle on, if like Capture NX2 it happens to be a parametric editor, you will occasionally need a pixel editor to do such things as correct perspective distortion.

Mike,

You certainly need a pixel editor for many things, but Lightroom handles perspective corrections quite happily (assuming I am understanding you correctly)

Dave

[lukaswerth]

I have and use Capture NX2 - when I am in Germnay and don't have access to my normal photoshop (not CC yet, as you may note).
I think the program is pretty effective, easy to use, and you find enough documentation: you may edit photographs pretty straightforward, mend colors, highlights, shadows, and do so in very little time if that matters to you - but no comparison, of course, to Photoshop. This is the only program which I know (to some extend) to handle, which gives what I would like to call an intellectual space to develop an exposed frame according to the own vision - and if you don't have the skill, you may learn. I found this effective for myself: you learn with aims in mind, thinking about what you want to do.

Lukas

[Mike Buckley]

You certainly need a pixel editor for many things, but Lightroom handles perspective corrections quite happily

Thanks for catching that, Dave. I shouldn't have used perspective corrections as an example. I did because Capture NX2 can't make them and Lightroom can. That's true even though both are parametric editors.