Nikon Capture NX 2

[Algernonep]

Has anyone used Nikon Capture NX2? If so how well does it work? Do you recommend it over Photoshop?

[Omar]

I've been using it for a year now. I don't have Photoshop so can't compare the two. I think NX2 and Photoshop have two different sets of skills. Yes, they overlap, but I seem to read about a number of pro's starting with NX2 to get whole picture things done, then dropping into Photoshop to do things like cloning, adding text etc.

The biggest issue I found with NX2 is it takes getting used to the way it thinks. I'm a bit strange, so I get along with it. Others don't like it. I've got a decent computer, so performance isn't an issue for me.

What I really like is NX2's native format is the NEF raw format. Any changes I make can be completely undone later. I don't have to mess around with storing multiple versions of any picture. NX2 starts off with whatever settings you had the camera at, and lets you change any of them (provided you shot RAW).

Some people knock NX2 for its batch performance. After a year, I'm finally getting my head around doing batch updates. Performance isn't bad for me, but then I usually just do batch changes to 100 pictures or fewer at a time.

Bottom line. If the choice is one or the other, I'd choose NX2. Well, that's what I actually did, anyway.

[Digidave]

I do about 98% of my PP in NX2. I use Paintshop Pro to do any pixel manipulating, That's a fancy way of saying "Cloning". I love it! I like the way it works. Control Points being the key to many procedures. To be honest, if NX2 had a cloning feature, I wouldn't even have the need to use anything else. I find it very user friendly & easy to use. I run it on a Windows XP desktop that's about 6 yrs. old with 2G of RAM. Kind of slow but not real bad. I do have it on my laptop that runs Vista 64 bit system. I just need to get my monitor hooked up the laptop & I'll be set. Nikon recommends a 32 bit system, says it's not recommended to run on a 64 bit systems but it works just fine. You can download & try it full featured for 30 days to make certain it runs okay on your system.

[wckimmel]

Great software. I've been using NX siince I bought my D-80 and just upgraded to NX2. I don't do cloning or other post production that PhotoShop is famous for. I treat NX2 like a darkroom and it works great. I shoot all images in both NEF and JPEG but do all my work in NEF. I wish it managed printing better. PhotoShop has a plugin for my HP Photosmart Pro B9180. That's all I use PhotoShop for.