Capture NX Performance Tip

[Brad Morris]

If you are shooting RAW, NX will take note of the High ISO Noise reduction setting in camera and automatically enable the High ISO Noise reduction settings in the base adjustments to match the in camera setting.

The end result is that after every adjustment you make in NX, the noise reduction calculations have to be redone and this will slow performance down.

It you turn the High ISO off, you do not need to disable it when you open teh NEF file initially and the raw processing performance is much improved during your initial adjustments with WB, EV or control points.

Add the Noise reduction back as a "next step" option as a last step in the workflow before you do export to PS (if you dont want top use Noise ninja/Neat image in PS)or sharpening etc.

Cheers
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k-blad/

 

[sfisher]

Read the Freaking Manual and online Help and try out the componets before you need to acually process hundreds of photos.
--
-Steve
===================

Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships. Ansel Adams

 

[Bill Karadimos]

lol. Lets not get excited now....lol
--

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming - ' Wow! What a ride!'

 

[Brad Morris]

I have never been able to understand peoples need to shoot 500 Raw images then batch them into Jpeg/Tif files.

Shoot Raw+Jpeg and it saves the need to batch process all the files. you can still selectively process the raw shots when needed
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k-blad/

 

[jhwalker]

I have never been able to understand peoples need to shoot 500 Raw
images then batch them into Jpeg/Tif files.

Shoot Raw+Jpeg and it saves the need to batch process all the
files. you can still selectively process the raw shots when needed

. . .or shoot raw, then extract the embedded JPEG file using Dr. Chung's extractor (or FileJuicer for Mac) - takes about 1 minute for a couple hundred NEFs. You can still process the raw files with "promise" but save space on your CF card by not storing that extra JPEG at shooting time.

--
John Walker
http://jhwalker.smugmug.com/
Want a Sumgmug account? Use referral code 'iA22TmSWiZzr'!

 

[sfisher]

I shoot NEFs alone and use and external viewer/cataloger (ThumbsPlus Pro) that knows to read and display the embedded JPEG. Then if I like what I see I'll send it to NX for advanced processing and then maybe to PS CS2 for photo finishing. Or maybe just to PS CS for cloning, or only NX just for the IQ and adjustments that NX can do so well.

--
-Steve
===================

Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships. Ansel Adams

 

[Brad Morris]

I have not seen that utility but that would work too.
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k-blad/

 

[Brad Morris]

I use exactly the same tools as you and have a similar workflow

I shoot NEFs alone and use and external viewer/cataloger
(ThumbsPlus Pro) that knows to read and display the embedded JPEG.
Then if I like what I see I'll send it to NX for advanced
processing and then maybe to PS CS2 for photo finishing. Or maybe
just to PS CS for cloning, or only NX just for the IQ and
adjustments that NX can do so well.

--
-Steve
===================
Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in
establishing tonal relationships. Ansel Adams

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k-blad/

 

[PRAVEEN NAIR]

I just ran a test on the Preview Extractor; found the Horizontal and Vertical DPI is different than using Capture NX batch process. Here is the details:

Capture NX Batch JPG Image:

Horizontal Resolution : 300 dpi
Vertical Resolution: 300 dpi

Dr. Chung's Preview Extractor

Horizontal Resolution : 96 dpi
Vertical Resolution : 96 dpi

Any body know why the difference is? and is it recommended to use for printing the JPGs using Preview extractor in such low dpis..? Please advice...

With Best Regards,

Praveen
--
Wish to become a great photographer with my D200 !!

 

[Brad Morris]

The pixel count is important, not the dpi count that is only a file tag can be changed at will without damaging ir altering the image data in the file. Ordinarily, you would print with the DPI setting at somewhere between 200-300
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k-blad/

 

[sfisher]

take the DPI setting and multiply it by the Physical dimensions to get pixels

if the pixels are the same you've lost nothing in detail. All that has happened is the program has set the DPI and Dimensions to your screen resolution (most likely or it just guessed it was 96 DPI) have seen the program perhaps it has a location to set the output device DPI?

Anyway you can go into most image programs and tell it to re-size the image to 300 DPI and or the length and height in inches while keeping the file size the same , or no re-sampling and scale it to any size you like. Even most printer divers has a scale to fit option that as long as you have the pixels it will use them. If you don't have the pixel the that's another story, the printer will invent them.

-Steve

I just ran a test on the Preview Extractor; found the Horizontal
and Vertical DPI is different than using Capture NX batch process.
Here is the details:

Capture NX Batch JPG Image:

Horizontal Resolution : 300 dpi
Vertical Resolution: 300 dpi

Dr. Chung's Preview Extractor

Horizontal Resolution : 96 dpi
Vertical Resolution : 96 dpi

Any body know why the difference is? and is it recommended to use
for printing the JPGs using Preview extractor in such low dpis..?
Please advice...

With Best Regards,

Praveen
--
Wish to become a great photographer with my D200 !!

--
-Steve
===================

Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships. Ansel Adams

 

[cocovanna]

I shoot NEFs alone and use and external viewer/cataloger
(ThumbsPlus Pro) that knows to read and display the embedded JPEG.

How do you do this? I'm unable to see anything but a 160x120 thumbnail?

Kim

 

[runningwithscissors]

--
http://encoding.n3.net

 

[Gene007]

Brad:

Thanks for the tip.

I assume that you are not doing any sharpening prior in your NX workflow?

For those who sharpen as part of the Capture NX workflow, it seems that the NR would have to be reactivated prior to sharpening.

Sharpening should probably be the last step in the "global" adjustments, i.e., prior to local changes, setting any color control points, straightening, cropping, etc. So, NR would have to be reactivated prior to this sharpening step. (You wouldn't want to sharpen the noise in the image and then turn on NR to remove it.)

The best NX workflow strategy IMO seems to be: Base Adjustments => Global Adjustments => Sharpening ("capture") => Local Adjustments => Straightening => Cropping => Export to PS.

 

[Jason Odell]

I agree witht the OP's performance tip. I have NR disabled in my camera for that very reason.

But there are a couple of other things to remember, too.

First, if you shoot at ISO Hi-1 or above (actually, depending on your camera ANY of the "above spec" ISOs), then NR gets turned back on in Base Adjustments.

Second, ANY operation performed in Base Adjustments will severly hinder performance. Base Adjustments is essentially the Capture 4.4 rendering engine. Use it sparingly for best performance. Why? Because Capture NX uses disk temp files/cache for the Edit Steps, but not for Base Adustments.

For processing shots with NR, I recommend doing the following:

1) Turn OFF Sharpening in Base Adjustments
2) Apply NR (I do this as a separate Edit Step, because NR is OFF in Base)

2) Sharpen LAST. (Or at least towards the end of the workflow). I recommend using a low intensity, high radius sharpening step, like USM 15/25/10. This will keep the high-iso luminance noise from reappearing when you sharpen.

Sharpening and NR are like Yin and Yang. They can complement each other, but they can also oppose each other.

-Jason

--
Jason P. Odell, Ph.D.
Author, 'The Photographer's Guide to Capture NX'
http://www.luminescentphoto.com/capturenx.html

Co-host, 'The Image Doctors' at Nikonians Podcasts
http://podcasts.nikonians.org

 

[sfisher]

I shoot NEFs alone and use and external viewer/cataloger
(ThumbsPlus Pro) that knows to read and display the embedded JPEG.

How do you do this? I'm unable to see anything but a 160x120
thumbnail?

Kim

Kim, I'm assuming you have thumbsplus pro and the latest free Digicam plugin for it. and I don't think it supports D80 yet...

look under Options~file plugins~Digicam~general page

need more info to help more.

--
-Steve
===================

Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships. Ansel Adams

 

[Brad Morris]

There was a new digicam RAW plugin update that came out the other day. I think that this one adds D80 support

I shoot NEFs alone and use and external viewer/cataloger
(ThumbsPlus Pro) that knows to read and display the embedded JPEG.

How do you do this? I'm unable to see anything but a 160x120
thumbnail?

Kim

Kim, I'm assuming you have thumbsplus pro and the latest free
Digicam plugin for it. and I don't think it supports D80 yet...

look under Options~file plugins~Digicam~general page

need more info to help more.

--
-Steve
===================
Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in
establishing tonal relationships. Ansel Adams

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k-blad/

 

[Brad Morris]

Given that you have the RAW shot, does that really matter if you only want a quickie jpeg?
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k-blad/

 

[Brad Morris]

If you are using NX for RAW, you cant do any sharpening before you open the file in NX.

If you want to sharpen in NX, do NR as the 2nd last process then add the sharpening before final output, this should also be done as a "next step" option, not part of the base adjustments

Brad:

Thanks for the tip.

I assume that you are not doing any sharpening prior in your NX
workflow?

For those who sharpen as part of the Capture NX workflow, it seems
that the NR would have to be reactivated prior to sharpening.

Sharpening should probably be the last step in the "global"
adjustments, i.e., prior to local changes, setting any color
control points, straightening, cropping, etc. So, NR would have to
be reactivated prior to this sharpening step. (You wouldn't want to
sharpen the noise in the image and then turn on NR to remove it.)

The best NX workflow strategy IMO seems to be: Base Adjustments =>
Global Adjustments => Sharpening ("capture") => Local Adjustments
=> Straightening => Cropping => Export to PS.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k-blad/

 

[Brad Morris]

Further to that, If you were using PS for additional manipulation, I would sharpen in PS, not NX, as the very last step in the work flow
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k-blad/