Capture NX2 Reviewed

TheronFamily · Jun 4, 2008

hi (again)

Have discovered a better way to handle those nigglies of yours.
Presentation mode.
Press P, takes you to a full screen edit mode.
Maximise ur image (Ctrl+0) or Ctrl++.

The magic of this is that the edit list and all other toolbars / dialogs etc, are all hidden on the edge(s) of your window. Mouse over where the edit list is normally situated, it pops up, you apply adjustment, mouse away, it's gone!

Added bonus - if ur working on a part of the image that would be under the edit list once it's opened, grab the pic and drag it left with H key.
Too kewl!
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin
so many flowers, so little time sigh
the 'Art' of Aperture: a mini tutorial
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=23460691
http://www.rootminus1.com/freepics/thumbnails.php?album=68
http://www.rootminus1.com/freepics/index.php?cat=10032
http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d58/theronfamily/

rkligman · Jun 4, 2008

Wow, that's freaky. That mode is very similar to Photoshop, the difference is two fold. In PS you get a slight sliver of the window to know it's there and in PS the Menus stay up.

There are only a couple menus you really use so the fact that it's missing is only a big problem if you use NX only every once in awhile and can't remember the pnumonic for it. I guess the only thing missing from this scenario would be for the Edit List to open automatically on the menu selection. If it did that though, you would have to manually close it, otherwise how would the app know that you were done with it.

I like the H thing. You can undock the list and it gets interesting.

TheronFamily said:
hi (again)

Have discovered a better way to handle those nigglies of yours.
Presentation mode.
Press P, takes you to a full screen edit mode.
Maximise ur image (Ctrl+0) or Ctrl++.
The magic of this is that the edit list and all other toolbars /
dialogs etc, are all hidden on the edge(s) of your window. Mouse over
where the edit list is normally situated, it pops up, you apply
adjustment, mouse away, it's gone!
Added bonus - if ur working on a part of the image that would be
under the edit list once it's opened, grab the pic and drag it left
with H key.
Too kewl!

--
Rick Insane Diego...

TheronFamily · Jun 4, 2008

rkligman said:
There are only a couple menus you really use so the fact that it's
missing is only a big problem if you use NX only every once in awhile
and can't remember the pnumonic for it.

aint that bad in this case. If you remember the default Windows shortcut key, ur in business. A simple ALT+E (edit menu) or ALT+A (adjust menu) does the trick.

It all comes together ever so much better now that the kbd shortcuts ACTUALLY work!

rkligman said:
I guess the only thing
missing from this scenario would be for the Edit List to open
automatically on the menu selection. If it did that though, you would
have to manually close it, otherwise how would the app know that you
were done with it.

I like how you think there. One MAJOR missing ingredient, is a simple ENTER keypress to activate and close down the tool you were last working with.
Watch this space, odds are it will be implemented in 2.1

rkligman said:
I like the H thing. You can undock the list and it gets interesting.

very!

rkligman · Jun 4, 2008

I had been thinking about purchasing Jason's 1st eBook and since the products are so close and there is a discount, I bought the 2nd book. Wow! I've read the manual and I've read another NX book, and I've been using NX since it came out but I've never seen how to do the stuff he talks about. Well worth the price of admission. Thanks Jason.

After reading some of that, I decided to load NX2 on my real computer and try it out. BTW, Real = the computer I actually use to process pics. The fact that the Quick Fix works with the RAW data would seem very important and has been mostly missing in NX 1.x. So I want to give that a run.
--
Rick Insane Diego...

Just_Ed · Jun 4, 2008

Downloaded the trial copy of NX2 last night and purchased Jason's ebook this morning. Both look great.

For those using Nik Color Efex there is a free update available:
http://shop.niksoftware.com/cep2capturenx/

Chris Elliott104343 · Jun 5, 2008

TheronFamily said:
TheronFamily said:

Another minor gripe - When you make changes to your edit steps it
used to be quite clear that later steps had ben unchecked and were
not active. Now I get something slightly greyed out but still with a
check in the box but only when you click on the step do you get it in
bold meaning the step is active.

Click to expand...

your fix for that is Ctrl-K (preferences) then select "Keep all steps
active in Edit List" - they do however warn about performance impact
(obviously if you have many edit steps)

Kevin,

You're a star! I obviously need to dedicate a a day or more to explore all features.

It does seem that NX2 this is a very flexible beast and that some genuine and productive thought has gone into the design.

--
Chris Elliott

Nikon D Eighty + Fifty - Other equipment in Profile

http://PlacidoD.Zenfolio.com/

Chris Elliott104343 · Jun 5, 2008

rkligman said:
...
Just for the record, I LOVE NX and the way it gets my pics started. I
use it nearly everyday. It does some really cool things. I'm just
disappointed at the cost. I'll play with it a few more times and keep
my eye on the messages to see what I may be missing at first glance
that will make me give Nikon some more money.

Rick like you I am concerned about cost. At $109.95 I will be paying more for the upgrade than I paid for NX1. (Even now I can get NX1 for $119.95)

I wonder if there is someone reading this thread with experience of Nikon Capture upgrade prices? Was there real competition on price in selling the upgrade? I think I might take a holiday on NX2 after the trail period to see if the price drops on the market. It would be nice to get it for less than $100 say. Or will the upgrade only be available direct from Nikon?

--
Chris Elliott

Nikon D Eighty + Fifty - Other equipment in Profile

http://PlacidoD.Zenfolio.com/

Fabio Amodeo · Jun 5, 2008

Chris Elliott said:
Rick like you I am concerned about cost. At $109.95 I will be paying
more for the upgrade than I paid for NX1. (Even now I can get NX1 for
$119.95)

I wonder if there is someone reading this thread with experience of
Nikon Capture upgrade prices? Was there real competition on price in
selling the upgrade? I think I might take a holiday on NX2 after the
trail period to see if the price drops on the market. It would be
nice to get it for less than $100 say. Or will the upgrade only be
available direct from Nikon?

--
Chris Elliott

Nikon D Eighty + Fifty - Other equipment in Profile

http://PlacidoD.Zenfolio.com/

Any money it costs, it is worth. NX1 on my old Mac was a pain. I could only apply noise reduction as the last step (which does not make sense) because otherwise everything slowed down to forever for any operation. Anything I did was slow. NX2 is a normal program, with intuitive interface, and in mixed lights situations it is a dream. Don't tell Nikon, but in an advantage to dollar ratio it's a bargain (and NX1 was a steal).
Fabio

rhlpetrus · Jun 5, 2008

Thanks Jason. I've used your e-book, great help. looking forward to the update (but I'm always very slow with that, hope others pave the way first).

Best
--
Regards, Renato.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11435304@N04

erik527 · Jun 5, 2008

I have a slight hijack...can anyone tell me why the following is happening on my machine (PC w/ Vista, Huey, and ATI video card):

In browser mode colors look fine, but if I double click to open up some photos (seems to be isolated to bright floral colors) the color profile changes and the detail is lost?

Same issue in View....color look fine looking at thumbnails but when I double click to open they look blown.

Here is an example:

I would LOVE to figure this out....has been driving me nuts.

TheronFamily · Jun 5, 2008

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin
so many flowers, so little time sigh
the 'Art' of Aperture: a mini tutorial
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=23460691
http://www.rootminus1.com/freepics/thumbnails.php?album=68
http://www.rootminus1.com/freepics/index.php?cat=10032
http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d58/theronfamily/

erik527 · Jun 5, 2008

I am current on all versions. i even downloaded nx 2 last night and had the same issue.

rhlpetrus · Jun 5, 2008

erik527 said:
I am current on all versions. i even downloaded nx 2 last night and
had the same issue.

Let's see.

1) Which profile in-camera? sRGB of aRGB?

2) It may be that you chose aRGB, which is not supported by browsers/ms viewers. In that case, the change is like that, aRGB shows one way on PS or CNX and another on browsers/viewers. To correct that, in CNX go to adjust> color profiles, then choose Convert button and sRGB IEC..., with Intent Perceptual. Save, that should work on any viewer, internet, etc, just same image as seen on your PPing soft.

Other than that, maybe the monitor has a problem, but that's beyond my knowledge at this point.
--
Regards, Renato.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11435304@N04

reck · Jun 5, 2008

"Handling large numbers of images through Capture NX 2 is still not fixed (and probably the reason why you'd keep ViewNX around)."

Can anyone explain what he's getting at here? I looked briefly at ViewNX and didn't see anything that interested me. But I wasn't aware that it had enhanced batching capabilities; does it?

Chris Elliott104343 · Jun 5, 2008

I think he means sorting the images not batching them.

--
Chris Elliott

Nikon D Eighty + Fifty - Other equipment in Profile

http://PlacidoD.Zenfolio.com/

Taallyn · Jun 5, 2008

One thing that I have found annoying when using the NX2 Browser is that it doesn't remember the photo you clicked on to edit after you have closed the photo. When you open the browser again, you have to start back at the beginning of the list and scroll all of the way through it again to get to the point you were at. The Browser should remember that. As it is now, you have a lot of rescrolling to do after each editting each photograph.

Otherwise, I really like NX2. So, I may still use View NX to browse, select and send shots to NX2 for editting to cut back on the amount of re-scrolling I have to do. I was hoping to be able to reduce down to just using NX2, but I think the Browser feature still needs a bit of work before I can do that.

--
Craig
Nikon D80, 18-135mm, 70-300mm VR, 50mm 1.8, SB600, MB-D80
Manfrotto 190XDB tripod w/ 486RC2 Ball Head
Kenko 12/20/36mm Ext. Tubes
http://taallyn.zenfolio.com
http://4pphotoblog.blogspot.com/

JasonOdell · Jun 5, 2008

Because in View NX, you can make simple RAW adjustments like Exposure, WB, and Picture Control. The interface in View NX is a little simpler than trying to copy/paste/batch in Capture NX.

-Jason

--
Author, 'The Photographer's Guide to Capture NX2'

Author, 'The Photographer's Guide to Capture NX'
Visit my website at: http://www.luminescentphoto.com

TheronFamily · Jun 5, 2008

Taallyn said:
The Browser should
remember that. As it is now, you have a lot of rescrolling to do
after each editting each photograph.

I use ALT+1 for browser workspace, takes me directly to last photo opened.

JasonOdell · Jun 5, 2008

The Capture NX browser isn't color managed beyond sRGB or Adobe RGB.

If you open images in Capture NX in sRGB that you've shot in Adobe RGB, your highlights could clip.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, using ProPhoto RGB gives even more latitude for highlights and shadows. I've got pictures that the camera histogram shows as having clipping, but there is none when I open in CNX in ProPhoto RGB.

-Jason

--
Author, 'The Photographer's Guide to Capture NX2'

Author, 'The Photographer's Guide to Capture NX'
Visit my website at: http://www.luminescentphoto.com

erik527 · Jun 5, 2008

rhlpetrus said:
erik527 said:

I am current on all versions. i even downloaded nx 2 last night and
had the same issue.

Click to expand...

Let's see.

1) Which profile in-camera? sRGB of aRGB?

2) It may be that you chose aRGB, which is not supported by
browsers/ms viewers. In that case, the change is like that, aRGB
shows one way on PS or CNX and another on browsers/viewers. To
correct that, in CNX go to adjust> color profiles, then choose Convert
button and sRGB IEC..., with Intent Perceptual. Save, that should
work on any viewer, internet, etc, just same image as seen on your
PPing soft.

Other than that, maybe the monitor has a problem, but that's beyond
my knowledge at this point.
--
Regards, Renato.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11435304@N04

With that photo, I used color mode II on my d50.

Here is what Rockwell says about color mode II - is this the reason for my problems??

Mode II is secret code for Adobe RGB, which only hackers use. Adobe RGB gives dull colors when used by anyone other than an expert in color management who prints his own work. Even if you're an expert, if you send your work out for printing, 90% of the time the people doing the printing aren't experts and screw it up for you. Ignore desktop armchair hobbyists who bleat on about the broader color gamut of Adobe RGB. I've created and printed 100% chroma grads in Adobe RGB and sRGB and saw no difference when printed either on Inkjets or on the $250,000 Lightjet 5000 on Fuji Supergloss. Oh well! Using Adobe RGB is asking for trouble unless you really know what you're doing and have complete control over your process. If you have to ask, don't use Adobe RGB.

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