nikon nx2 or lightroom 4

iwols

iwols

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hi guys just wondered which was best for retouching of photos with a nikon camera and any commments on both thanks
 
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Depends what you mean by retouching? :shrug:

NX2 has the benefit of reading all the in camera settings correctly, but has a poor user interface imho. And LR4 has more editing options.

NX2 and LR4 are generally global editors, programs like Elements, Photoshop and Gimp are pixel editors.
 
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I have NX2 and Photoshop.

NX2 is good but has limitations to do more intricate processing, it's pretty good to use for minor adjustments and is quite quick too.

If I had to choose just the one photoshop would be it but handy having both.
 
I have a Nikon camera - a baby one the P7700 but it is so new not much will read the RAW files. However I tried NX2 and felt the user interface was one that I wasn't getting to grips with and my demo period has now run out but don't miss it.

So I am using LR4 version 3 (I love LR after my first month or so using it) which reads the files and have the DNG converter for my CS4 & PE10. I may upgrade my PE10 to PE11 as that is the only way PE will read the RAW's.

Photography doesn't half take your time (well PP does) - in fact none left to take actual shots :nuts:
 
Suvv said:
View NX2 or Capture NX2 ?
Click to expand...

Good point. I felt cheated when my new camera turned up with software and it was the cheaper of the two View NX2. There was a free trial of the Capture but felt Nikon were somewhat penny pinching as View is just really a browser unless there is a magic click option leading to more wonderful choices than I have found :shrug:
 
DayDreamer said:
Good point. I felt cheated when my new camera turned up with software and it was the cheaper of the two View NX2. There was a free trial of the Capture but felt Nikon were somewhat penny pinching as View is just really a browser unless there is a magic click option leading to more wonderful choices than I have found :shrug:
Click to expand...

Could be :)

Nikon View NX2 is a free download and is great for NEF processing, but in general it is a global editor so you cannot alter just one part of a picture.

It uses the same algorithms as Capture NX2 but does not have all the extra adjustments so it is more efficient and therefore faster.

It has
Exp comp
WB
Picture Control
Sharpness
Contrast
Brightness
Highlight Protection
Shadow Protection
D Lighting
Colour booster
Crop
Straighten
Auto Red Eye
Axial CA
Auto Lateral CA

You can also edit metadata, batch process etc.

Capture NX2 has all the above plus pixel editing with Control Points, Selection Tools, Heal tool etc etc
 
Kev - I owe you a thanks as I have found it!!!

When my trial of Capture ran out I didn't bother any more with View as I have been hard at it learning LR. So another option for me to fiddle with - eeek - I spend too much time fiddling PP :clap:
 
DayDreamer said:
Kev - I owe you a thanks as I have found it!!!

When my trial of Capture ran out I didn't bother any more with View as I have been hard at it learning LR. So another option for me to fiddle with - eeek - I spend too much time fiddling PP :clap:
Click to expand...

Glad about that :)
I use Capture NX2 now, with Elements for pixel editing, but I did use View NX2 at first.
There are some videos Here, there are 3 in total. If I remember the first is about Nikon Transfer and View NX2, the second is View NX2 and Capture NX2 and the third is Capture NX2. They are quite long but give a good idea of what the software is capable of.
 
Capture NX2 rocks, and I find it has better NEF conversion and image resizing algorithms than any Adobe product.

However, I'd recommend using it in conjunction with software that enables layer-based editing. For me, that's a necessity.
 
Unijak said:
Capture NX2 rocks, and I find it has better NEF conversion and image resizing algorithms than any Adobe product.

However, I'd recommend using it in conjunction with software that enables layer-based editing. For me, that's a necessity.
Click to expand...

Agree with this.

I use Capture NX2 90% of the time. Love it.
 
After buying LR4 a very short while back I have drawn a line on any more spending. Also not sure I can cope with another learning curve so will see how it goes with my current software setup :thumbs:
 
Lightroom has all the bells and whistles but i seriously i notice a difference in the quality of NEFs that are output from Capture NX2, they have detail that i don't get in LR, ACR or anything else and I was using LR for years.

Additionally, the camera profiles matching really helps as a starting point for editing IMHO.

It's somewhat clunky software but if you take the time to learn it (Lynda.com course) it has some real gem features hidden away under the hood which after a while of using you would struggle to live without.
 
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