If not Nikon view then what software recommended?

[Brett Zedialis]

I'm a newbie to the digital camera world so I need some direction. My wife just bought a 995 and I have not loaded the Nikon view 4 yet. After reading the posts I'm confused on what is the best software(easy to use) instead of Nikon 4 or 5. Or is there a combination of different software that I should use instead.

All recommendations would be appreaciated. My wife is also getting a new laptop with Widows xp loaded. I currently have windows ME and am not familiar with xp and it's photo handling abilities.

Thanks
Brett

 

[Baywing]

As many have said over and over, get a card reader and bypass the Nikon software, it's only good for headaches.....giving them, that is. Most of us use Photoshop, the trial versions work fine, either 5.0LE or the newer Elements. USB card readers are only about $40 at worst and well worth the price. Otherwise, you can use the USB cable with the 995 to load direct to Photoshop.

I'm a newbie to the digital camera world so I need some direction.
My wife just bought a 995 and I have not loaded the Nikon view 4
yet. After reading the posts I'm confused on what is the best
software(easy to use) instead of Nikon 4 or 5. Or is there a
combination of different software that I should use instead.

All recommendations would be appreaciated. My wife is also getting
a new laptop with Widows xp loaded. I currently have windows ME
and am not familiar with xp and it's photo handling abilities.

Thanks
Brett

 

[Muriel S]

I'm a newbie to the digital camera world so I need some direction.
My wife just bought a 995 and I have not loaded the Nikon view 4
yet. After reading the posts I'm confused on what is the best
software(easy to use) instead of Nikon 4 or 5. Or is there a
combination of different software that I should use instead.

All recommendations would be appreaciated. My wife is also getting
a new laptop with Widows xp loaded. I currently have windows ME
and am not familiar with xp and it's photo handling abilities.

Thanks
Brett

I use Photoshop Elements - like the fill flash for dark flash photos. Only item I miss is Curves, but they're on Photoshop LE, which came with my Visioneer scanner, so I can always use that, too. For a freebee, try Irfanview. It works on XP and other Windows versions just fine. a Dell XP comes with some nice software. After 60 days, if you like it, you can buy it for about $40. Makes great slideshows and has all kinds of editing available.

 

[Muriel S]

I'm a newbie to the digital camera world so I need some direction.
My wife just bought a 995 and I have not loaded the Nikon view 4
yet. After reading the posts I'm confused on what is the best
software(easy to use) instead of Nikon 4 or 5. Or is there a
combination of different software that I should use instead.

All recommendations would be appreaciated. My wife is also getting
a new laptop with Widows xp loaded. I currently have windows ME
and am not familiar with xp and it's photo handling abilities.

Thanks
Brett

Muriel again: forgot to say I use SanDisk reader or my Epson 785 to get data to computer. Easy, easy.

 

[Steven O. Smith]

You should not need any software to download pictures. You also do not need a compact flash card reader. Simply plug your camera into a USB slot and turn it on to playback. Now open explorer or My Computer and see if you have a new removeable disk drive. This is the camera. You can drag and drop images wherever you want using explorer; if you set explorer's options correctly, it will show you thumbnails.

Be sure to use the icon that appears in the lower right corner to turn off the camera/drive interface before you shut off the camera. All I get is a warning if I forget, but others have had their operating system crash.

Steve Smith

I'm a newbie to the digital camera world so I need some direction.
My wife just bought a 995 and I have not loaded the Nikon view 4
yet. After reading the posts I'm confused on what is the best
software(easy to use) instead of Nikon 4 or 5. Or is there a
combination of different software that I should use instead.

All recommendations would be appreaciated. My wife is also getting
a new laptop with Widows xp loaded. I currently have windows ME
and am not familiar with xp and it's photo handling abilities.

Thanks
Brett

 

[mithat erdinc]

I think ACDSEE is a great softaware if you have a digi cam. WHY? what I like with it is that u can manage all the pics very easily, but the most important to me, when u click on a thumbnail, u can see the properties of the pic above ( shuuter speed, aperture, focus, everyother details about the photo) . So, if u are a newbie like me, u can compare the details of two or more pics taken at different values ands see the difference ! ( nikon view4 and 5 also show those deatils but they are not as good as Acdsee!)
GOod Luck
Mithat

I'm a newbie to the digital camera world so I need some direction.
My wife just bought a 995 and I have not loaded the Nikon view 4
yet. After reading the posts I'm confused on what is the best
software(easy to use) instead of Nikon 4 or 5. Or is there a
combination of different software that I should use instead.

All recommendations would be appreaciated. My wife is also getting
a new laptop with Widows xp loaded. I currently have windows ME
and am not familiar with xp and it's photo handling abilities.

Thanks
Brett

 

[eric lassiter]

Keep in mind the tasks (or variations of them) that need to be accomplished once a picture is taken:
-- download the images to your harddrive,
-- view the images or their thumbnails,
-- edit the images,
-- catalogue and store the images.

Some software programs perform one or two of these tasks very well while performing the others not as well. Some do a mediocre job at all of them. Some are designed to do only one or two of these tasks.

Photoshop is the gold standard for editing images but it is not expressly designed to download images, view thumbnails or catalogue them. Its learning curve can be a challenge. It is a digital image manipulation program designed for graphic designers and artists that has been adapted to new uses.

I'm certainly not an expert at any of this but here's what I found works best for me:

-- download using a USP card reader and Windows Explorer
-- view thumbnails and catalogue in CompuPic
-- edit in PS
-- obtain prints via one of the online printing services.

I have found the dpreview.com forums to be of great help, especially PCTools, Q&A and Retouching.

Eric L.

 

[Brett Zedialis]

Thanks Eric for outlining the basic's and giving me a sense of order on process. All of the different kinds of software programs to a new person is kind of confusing. It looks like you need more than one (?) as you described below. I'll pass on Photoshop for now, as I'm looking for something that will be eaiser to use and not too time consuming for now. I guess I'll check out Photoimpact or Paint Shop Pro for now to see which one might be the best to get started.

Thanks,
Brett

Keep in mind the tasks (or variations of them) that need to be
accomplished once a picture is taken:
-- download the images to your harddrive,
-- view the images or their thumbnails,
-- edit the images,
-- catalogue and store the images.

Some software programs perform one or two of these tasks very well
while performing the others not as well. Some do a mediocre job at
all of them. Some are designed to do only one or two of these tasks.

Photoshop is the gold standard for editing images but it is not
expressly designed to download images, view thumbnails or catalogue
them. Its learning curve can be a challenge. It is a digital image
manipulation program designed for graphic designers and artists
that has been adapted to new uses.

I'm certainly not an expert at any of this but here's what I found
works best for me:

-- download using a USP card reader and Windows Explorer
-- view thumbnails and catalogue in CompuPic
-- edit in PS
-- obtain prints via one of the online printing services.

I have found the dpreview.com forums to be of great help,
especially PCTools, Q&A and Retouching.

Eric L.

 

[Hjessen]

I'm a newbie to the digital camera world so I need some direction.

Since you are getting a laptop, get a $12 PC card adapter for the PC card slot in the laptop. Simple. For the desk top, see other messages. The reason these are a must is that they download a full picture at about one per second. You will see about one per 20 to 30 seconds with the cable since Nikon has yet to learn about firewire. (and a lot of other things, me thinks.)

Go to ACDSee.com and download their demo good for 30 days. You will most probably want to buy it for $49 as soon as you see what it does. Tho I use PS 6.0 a bunch, I would not be without this. I most often run them simultaniously so I can see what all the photos are and where that I need to edit in PS. ACDSee had a fair editing tools set also. Most folks should not need more.

Hjessen

 

[Ed Blake]

I use ACDSEE 4.0 to use as a database and quick viewer and then use Photoshop as my editing program.

Ed

I'm a newbie to the digital camera world so I need some direction.
My wife just bought a 995 and I have not loaded the Nikon view 4
yet. After reading the posts I'm confused on what is the best
software(easy to use) instead of Nikon 4 or 5. Or is there a
combination of different software that I should use instead.

All recommendations would be appreaciated. My wife is also getting
a new laptop with Widows xp loaded. I currently have windows ME
and am not familiar with xp and it's photo handling abilities.

Thanks
Brett

Muriel again: forgot to say I use SanDisk reader or my Epson 785
to get data to computer. Easy, easy.

 

[Brent W Haydamack]

Nikon view is OK but Nikon is a camera maker, not a software company. I have used both 4 & 5 on my Win 98 SE machine with no problems. I like the ability in 4 of uploading only select pictures from my card reader and that I can have it automatically resize pics when I upload them. This is really the only advantage I can see.

The other programs I use are JASC PaintShop Pro 7.0. It is essentially a poor person's photoshop. I find it better than Photoshop LE and it is a bit easier to use. It has many features similar to Photoshop, and they include some digital camera specific features such as red eye reduction, sepia tone filters, etc. The full version of Photoshop is extraordinarily expensive - some 2.1mp cameras are cheaper than this software. Paintshop is about $90.

For database I use Jasc Media Center 3.0. It is really easy to use, does slide shows, will export your pics into a full blown website, etc. but it does not display the exposure data. I wish JASC would update this software - I really like it. It was cheap - $35.

Both programs are a bit dated. They supposedly have digital camer support to download your photos right into the software, but the latest Nikon camera they support is the 950 - a little behind the times.

Best,
Brent

I'm a newbie to the digital camera world so I need some direction.

Since you are getting a laptop, get a $12 PC card adapter for the
PC card slot in the laptop. Simple. For the desk top, see other
messages. The reason these are a must is that they download a full
picture at about one per second. You will see about one per 20 to
30 seconds with the cable since Nikon has yet to learn about
firewire. (and a lot of other things, me thinks.)

Go to ACDSee.com and download their demo good for 30 days. You will
most probably want to buy it for $49 as soon as you see what it
does. Tho I use PS 6.0 a bunch, I would not be without this. I most
often run them simultaniously so I can see what all the photos are
and where that I need to edit in PS. ACDSee had a fair editing
tools set also. Most folks should not need more.

Hjessen