Which way to go

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nikonuser

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Dave
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I would appreciate some help in deciding which way to go with imaging software. Should it be NX2; CS5 or LR3 or maybe a combination of all 3.
I would be intereted to know what you use and for what purpose.
At the moment I'm using CS3 and have spent some time trying to learn NX2 together with watching Julianne Kosts videos on LR3 and dont know which way to go.
I usually photo landscapes, architiecture and family.
Appreciate any help
Thanks
Dave
 
I downloaded the free trial of Lightroom to see what all the fuss was about and hated it, the raw conversions from my (admittedly old tech D1x) were contrasty and coarse compared with the ones from Capture NX.
I'm now trying NX2 and will probably upgrade at the end of the 60 day trial, from an image optimisation point of view I find it perfect, and NX2 is faster than NX.

However if you want to bulk process loads of shots Lightroom is probably better from a database point of view. I use photoshop for any retouching and fnal resizing as well, because I'm used to it.
 
As you already have CS3, I wonder if you need to upgrade that particular piece of software. Is there something in CS5 that is worth the cost.

I'd try Lightroom. The latests incarnation has a lot of excellent features, and to be honest 90% of my images never see Photoshop. The lens profile option works a treat especially with extreme wide angle lenses. The develop module is easier to use than the ACR module in Photoshop. Not tried NX2 ( as I am a Canon user)but not sure it offers a great deal over Lightroom.

As Tim has suggested download trial versions of both Lightroom and NX2 and see which you prefer. Also consider does CS3 do all you want and additional software is not necessary.
 
thanks Guys, will probably try the other trial versions before I decide and John, I dont think there is much more in CS5 than i'm use to in CS3 so you may have given me second thoughts about buying the upgrade.
Tim if you want a good book on NX2 then buy After The Shoot by Mike Hagen £8.49 from amazon and well worth the money.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-Captu...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279817349&sr=1-1

Thanks again
Dave
 
I wouldn't waste money upgrading CS3 should suffice for the vast majority of editing.
 
I have all 3 (CS5, LR3, NX2)and use them all depending on what the image is and what I want to do.
NX2 is slow & clunky but will produce the cleanest most detailed image.
LR3 is great for cataloguing and simpler edits
CS5 for complex edits and re-touching

Horses for courses really though expensive.
 
My favourite in terms of quality coversion of raw file is deffo NX2
Then Lightroom - which I mainly use when I want to run through one of my presets
Then photoshop for anything I cannot do in either of above.
 
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