Capture NX 2 – Nikon takes their in-house image editing application to the next level.
The love/hate relationship that many Nikon digital SLR users have with Nikon Capture is escalating to new heights. The Nikon marketing people are touting a new improved interface and new functions, that are apparently so significant that they are charging an (approx.) $100. upgrade price from Nikon Capture NX 1. Nikon Capture old timers and newly converted Capture NX users (many of whom got the application FREE with the Nikon D300), are going to both be happy about the improvements and (according to the many posts already made on various on-line forums) feel ripped off by the upgrade price.
NEW – Selection Control Point tool – builds on the incredible color Control Point tool of Nikon Capture NX 1, by allowing for easy selection of specific areas in an image and allowing you to apply a longer list of image enhancements to those areas.
NEW – Auto Retouch Brush – dust spots and other blemishes can now be removed easily without having to leave the application. This tool is of course a very welcome and useful addition to the application. It will eliminate a lot of the usual trips to Photoshop CS.
NEW – Workspaces – preset and user defined screen layouts (including the ability to recognize a second screen) are now available at the click of a button. Unfortunately the application interface still looks pretty much the same. This new feature is of course useful but there is no WOW factor in either the design or the implementation.
All together the Nikon Capture NX 2 package is very powerful and capable of producing great image results, but next to Lightroom it looks like a software engineering student’s project at best. The question that begs to be asked is, when will Nikon spend some money on interface design and why are we paying (almost the full software price) for this relatively minor software upgrade?
The reality as I see it, is that Nikon D SLR users can not get the best images possible out of their cameras without using Nikon Capture NX. This point is of course debatable, but it is a fact that if you use any of the incredibly powerful image enhancement tools available in the Nikon D SLR cameras and wish to have them available in a RAW image workflow, you will have to use Nikon Capture NX software.
If you use a third party image editing application such as Adobe Photoshop CS3 or Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, the RAW image files will be stripped of any in-camera image enhancements. The only way that a third party software application can make use of the Nikon in-camera image enhancement tools is to record your images in the JPEG image format (or RAW+JPEG). If you shoot RAW+JPEG you will have both an image with all the in-camera enhancements and a RAW image file that can be manipulated by any RAW image editing application (that recognizes the specific camera you are using).
Conclusion:
Nikon Capture NX is an absolutely essential tool for all Nikon D SLR users. The latest version is a significant improvement on the last version, so I highly recommend that all current Nikon Capture NX users should upgrade to the latest version. That the latest (and relatively expensive) upgrade came so close on the heels of the “FREE” Nikon Capture NX software offer for Nikon D300 buyers is unfortunate (and has upset quite a few Nikon D300 owners), but I still recommend that all current Nikon Capture NX users should upgrade to the latest version. After all you are more than likely the owner of thousands of dollars worth of Nikon camera equipment, so spending a few hundred dollars a year on software, which will allow you to get the maximum image quality out of your equipment, makes pretty good sense.
