I like the simplicity and ease of use of View and Capture. I have LR and PS but the first stop for me in post is always View, then Capture if necessary. Like Eric, I use PS for more significant pixel work but 90% of my shots go to View and done.

I use LR primarily to find photos with keywords.

I used to use capture NX2 all the time and loved it, it shipped free with my D300. When lightroom4 came along I downloaded the free trial version and did some comparison tests with the editing tools and concluded that lightroom's color pallet and sharpening tools gave lot better results. I also often use the manual option in Lens correction, also better than in NX2. Lightroom has a great key wording system where NX2 has none.
NX2 does have one better aspect about it and that is you can use the develop tools with all the adjustments, where in LR you are limited to just a few main adjustments offered with the develop tools.
When NX2 was first released it was well ahead of its time offering big bang for your buck, I have read some place that mega-bucks went into its development, but sadly it is slowly being left in the dust as lightroom4 seems to be becoming more and more popular. I can't help wonder if Nikon have made a consious desission not to update NX2 and just keep offering free VeiwNX2 instead as it has an adjustment panel supplied with it.
If NX3 was released tomorrow I would certainly trial it and have a play but it would have to be pretty special before I would change back.

I've not heard anything. It seems very strange to me that Nikon would, if for no other reason, miss a marketing opportunity and leave NX2 un-touched for such a long time. Every other company I can think of, updates it's software every couple of years, and charges it's users for the privilege. I'm greatful that I don't have that expense, but bemused none the less.

So now we have october 2012 and still no news for capture nx3. I really like cnx2 because I know it well and can do post-processing quickly. however, none of the great new nik plug-ins for sharpening etc. work with cnx2. So the first time in years I am considering moving to lightroom. Any news if there will be cnx3 soon?

>>So when I select 'Raw' on my D7000, then select 'Set Picture Control-Neutral-Sharpening' and increase the sharpening to say '9' then increase ( or decrease ) the saturation, brightness and contrast, I end up with quit a different photo when viewed next to a photo taken without these adjustments.
# Am I seeing a Raw photo or what? Which photo is Raw? <<

Depends on where you are viewing...
- On the LCD of thye camera, you are looking at a "small Jpeg" witch is included in your RAW file.
- When looking in CaptureNX you are looking at a representation of the RAW file with all setting applied. Thos settings can be changed because the original full rRAW file is still there, but there is a section in the file that contains the settings which are applied by Capture NX2. Here you find the main advantage of Capture NX2 for Nikon camera's : the settings get carried over , and get shown in Capture NX2..
- When importing in an other RAW development program ( Adobe Photoshop, DXO, Lightroom etc.) you will get a presentation of the basic RAW file with no settings applied, then you can change / apply settings witch will be saved with the RAW file, in a separate library. Thos settings you can change again because the RAW itself is not changed.
- When converting to DNG by Adobe DNG converter, all initial settings arte lost, and you need to make nesw settings through an Adobe program witch understands DNG. Your RAW file changes ( slightly) by the conversion process.
- All raw can get "Developed" towards a TIFF or JPEG ( or some other exotic formats). WHen those files are "adjusted"then they are realy changed. This process is needed to be able to print, or publish ( On the internet..) your pictures. every change from here on to the JPEGS or TIFF files causes some loss of IQ mostly.. But the RAW are not changed..

earthsea said:
# Am I seeing a Raw photo or what? Which photo is Raw?

You cannot "see" a photo as a Raw file, is just that, a file

It has to converted into a image, by software such a Lightroom or NX2

Lightroom can be set, to adjusted its output, to match the adjustment you originally set in your camera , but the RAW or NEF file is not change. The big advantage with RAW is, if you do not like your original "adjustments", you can change them in post production . If you shoot jpegs, you cannot go back to the origianl RAW data

I think NX2 works the same way

I

This sure is a tricky subject to get ones head around!
So when I select 'Raw' on my D7000, then select 'Set Picture Control-Neutral-Sharpening' and increase the sharpening to say '9' then increase ( or decrease ) the saturation, brightness and contrast, I end up with quit a different photo when viewed next to a photo taken without these adjustments.
# Am I seeing a Raw photo or what? Which photo is Raw?
My understanding of a Raw photo is that it is just that, a -Raw- photo, no adjustments.
After making adjustments in Picture Control in the camera then Adjustments in VeiwNX and Develop and Adjust in NX2,
# Is the photo always Raw through all these processes?
Cheers.

Capture NX2 maintains the original file and all subsequent edit steps. At any time you can go back to the original NEF if it is only processes in Capture NX2 or Nikon View NX2.

When you make edits in Capture, there is a user setting that determines when edit steps are applied. Normally they are applied with each step so you can see what you are doing.

Within the original NEF file is a basic JPEG that is used to render the image shown in the LCD and display thumbnails. If you use Capture, that basic JPEG is replaced with a larger JPEG - thus the reason why the file size changes after an edit. Some programs - like Photo Mechanic - can extract a copy of this JPEG making for very quick JPEG creation.

Capture does not use sidecars or separate files or instructions that need to be attached to the file - there is a single file. If you have versions of edits in Capture, Capture can carry all of those edit steps as separate versions in the single edit file.

All of these programs have proprietary editing software, so it makes sense that other programs can't pick up those edits and interpret them. The Adobe programs do not pick up the Nikon supplied interpretation of the RAW data but rather apply their own version. Sunny daylight has different values in Photoshop and Capture. That can be an advantage for a particular product, or a disadvantage with compatibility.

Yes, I watch a explanation video from Adobe on Lightroom, its catalog and xmp.
So basically, all software are doing uncompatibles changes, except if you stick with Adobe (lighroom+bridge+photoshop and xmp)...
And basically, CNX2 is the slowest, because it rewrites the NEF for every change! Even if it doesn't touch raw data inside. What a pity...

rdunnell said:
... If you "edit" a raw file in most of the packages, the changes will not show up in other packages because the original file is not touched. So they are all "compatible" in the sense that they do not touch the file and ruin it for other programs, but if you want to work on the image in one program and then another you will have to export to another format and work on the exported file (TIFF etc).

Going a bit off-topic here, but here's a little tip for lightroom users: This is an option under the Catalog settings (metadata tabs) - "Automatically write changes into XMP".

What this option does is that any time you modify a RAW picture in lightroom instead of just saving the changes to the catalog database it will actually create a separate *.xmp file. That file can then be used with Photoshop (and other compatible software, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Metadata_Platform for a list).

I love that setting, because it allows me to forget about catalogs. I don't really "catalog" my pics, i just use lightroom to sort out the keepers and tweak/post process them a bit, the normal pics then get converted to med-resolution jpg's and only the keepers are kept as RAW (saves a lot of harddisk space). So once i am done processing a shoot i remove the pics from the catalog. The thing i like about that is that i have no need to backup/manage the catalog database (just need to backup the picture files, a simple file-copy is all that is needed).

And if i need to go edit a keeper again then i can just quickly drag the file into a catalog again and they will show exactly as i left them the last time (with all changes read from the xmp file).

I believe that the NEF format is designed to always keep the original RAW data intact. Any modifications done to a NEF file, if saved as as NEF, reside as a series of processing instructions for the original pixel data. The RAW file format actually has a the Bayer pattern of Red, Green and Blue pixels. The RAW processor first converts this to a set of colored pixels. If there are is other information in the NEF file such as WB, contrast changes, whatever, these reside in the NEF file as processing instructions to apply to the RGB pixel data extracted from the RAW data. As spraynpray says, whenever you save the image as other than an NEF, you might lose the ability to revert back to the original. This is certainly the case with jpegs, TIFFs can incorporate some processing data as can photoshop files. In order.

...and exporting the file (whatever format - jpg, tiff, etc) incorporates - permanently - those changes into it. So, if it goes on from program to program being changed, the original raw file remains untouched and can be re-edited from the beginning (import from camera) or the end (exported to other editors) as you wish.

Your question "Does a .NEF file changed by another program etc" is not valid because you export it in a different format from Lightroom, not a NEF.

I don't know what Capture NX does but the other programs (Lightroom, Aperture etc) do not change the image data inside the file. They keep a catalog with the changes that you made, and then apply those at display or export time. So, the image inside the raw file is always the same as it originally was. In the case of Lightroom, and I assume others, you can export a sidecar file which contains all the changes you made to store alongside the original file if you don't want to keep it in the catalog, or want to send it to someone else as a raw file.

If you "edit" a raw file in most of the packages, the changes will not show up in other packages because the original file is not touched. So they are all "compatible" in the sense that they do not touch the file and ruin it for other programs, but if you want to work on the image in one program and then another you will have to export to another format and work on the exported file (TIFF etc).

Yes, but the question is "Does a NEF" file changed by a software can be changed by another.

Is NEF editing compatible between software or every software write its own proprietary editing data in the NEF ? Which are compatible ?

a RAW file is not an image. it is a bunch of information which can readily be turned into an image.

RAW files can always be reverted to "as shot".

Shoot RAW and live
Hate RAW and die
A wa he woooy he woooy

Let's make all this one thread and it is here

http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=6536

If I understood well how CaptureNX2 is working, it changes NEF settings inside the file, not the raw data itself. So everything can be changed/reverted later.

How does other software like Lightroom4, Aperture3, CaptureOne6 perform? The same way ?
Does it means a NEF modified by CNX2 (changing Picture Control for example), can be seen and changed again by another software? And then changes can be seen in CNX2 ?
Or does they use different approach? (incompatible ways)

So cool ! Thanks Nikon... a pity, as ViewNX2 looks more handy for some operations (more modern also, if I can use this word for it...) than CaptureNX2.

KrisB said:
EDIT: the issue is not clear, it seems that D800 NEF modified by CaptureNX2 doesn't allow these settings to be changed on View NX2. Doing more tests.

This is by design, and goes for all camera types and software version numbers of ViewNX en CaptureNX. You can't edit NEF files in ViewNX once they are modified in CaptureNX.

On my Mac, I have View NX2.3.2 and Capture NX2.3.1.
They don't let me change Picture Control and other things from white balance from D800 NEF files.
It's working with D7000 NEF files.

Even, they don't show which Picture Control has been used for a particular NEF, but for D7000 NEF the picture control name is shown and can be changed for modifying the image WB.

I can change other settings, but not that.

Anybody having a clue?
Thanks

EDIT: the issue is not clear, it seems that D800 NEF modified by CaptureNX2 doesn't allow these settings to be changed on View NX2. Doing more tests.

Apparently we still don't have any word on Capture NX3. I talked with a Nikon dealer recently who had actually seen a pre-alpha Capture NX3 demo nearly a year ago but apparently there are contractual issues between Nik and Nikon. I heard from a different source that Capture NX3 required a complete rework of the software design for the next step, but at that point would be extended to cameras beyond Nikon.

Sorry about the long post here - but we have some incomplete information about a comparison of Capture and other programs.

I don't use Lightroom ( I have LR4 - just no real need to use it) - just View and Capture for 99% of my images. I use CS5 on about 1% of my published images - mainly for cloning. I use Photo Mechanic for keywording and batch resizing. I have the Color Efex plugin from Nik and use it within Capture. I have Silver Efex from Nik and use it as a stand alone program.

Our local camera club did a side by side comparison of Lightroom and Capture a year ago. We found both programs would handle more than 95-98% of the editing process of a full time pro. Each has places where you might want alternate programs, but for most photographers it is a matter of choice and personal preference not capability. If your workflow is built around earlier Adobe software, the learning curve may not justify a switch. For most people, a 30 day trial is a very poor way to evaluate the software. You simply won't be far enough along the learning curve to understand the full capability and workflow.

First understand that Capture is for editing individual images that need an advanced edit. For downloading, rating, browsing, and quick edits View NX2 is preferred to Capture. View NX2 edits to the image are applied globally. In View, you can adjust White Balance, Picture Controls, and make other global edits to exposure, saturation, contrast, brightness, highlight protection, shadow recovery, etc. View NX2 handles resizing, JPEG creation, and can be used as a RAW converter. View handles some batch edits but can be a little slow. I use View NX2 for processing images from events and other high volume activities. Only 1-2% of my shots go into Capture NX2 for detailed editing.

Capture NX2 provides two groups of edits. The Develop section was developed by Nikon and mirrors many of the camera settings. Steps in the Develop section are applied globally. The Develop section has some unique capability to make adjustments to the RAW file that cannot be made to processed files like JPEG, TIFF, etc. It's the section where you have the opportunity to adjust white balance, choose and adjust Picture Control settings, adjust Active D-Lighting, or use moire reduction. It also includes the quick adjustment tools that are in View NX2.

The Adjust section of Capture NX2 was largely developed by Nik. All edits to NEF images are maintained as a list of editing steps. At any point in time you can go back to any editing step and make changes or remove the effect. Groups of edits can be retained as Versions - so a single image might have a list of versions that include B&W, Color, and other treatments. The edits are kept in a single NEF file. The original NEF file includes a small basic JPEG. The edited NEF file includes a medium sized JPEG as part of the file - kind of like a sidecar but with no need to manage the location as it is fully embedded. Photo Mechanic is able to extract and use a copy of this embedded JPEG.

Capture includes a wide range of editing capabilities and the ability to apply those edits selectively. The software is known for the U-point technology developed by Nik, and smart selection tools to make any edit to just a specific part of the image. Many of the editing tools are basic edits applied in a very controlled manner. For example, Control Points can be used to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, color channels, or white balance to specific areas of an image with a unique user interface. Or you can use other selection tools - gradients, vignette, brush, or area selections to apply an effect. Capture has some special tools that are unique. D-Lighting applied selectively can be a very nice addition to shadow recovery. And Capture provides both High Pass and UnSharp Mask methods of sharpening which can both be applied selectively. The integration of Color Efex is very nice - Color efex edits are completely integrated with Capture providing the ability to apply edits selectively.

The latest version of Capture NX2 is significantly faster than earlier versions. It's a little slow with the large files of the D800, but for normal image processing is quite adequate when used for a single image. The latest version probably cut processing time in half compared to earlier versions.

Capture is not a graphics editor. It has a small but functional cloning tool - a healing brush. Capture does not handle major cloning. It does not support combining multiple images. And it does not handle watermarks or putting type on an image.

Capture NX2 is as close to a full pixel editor as Nikon and Nik could produce with a very user-friendly interface. Capture supports a wide range of workflow approaches. I know of a Canon Explorer of Light that converts his images and uses Capture NX2 for processing instead of Lightroom and Photoshop. There are lots of advantages of Capture but the straight forward interface and speed of editing can be pretty compelling. And if you like the Nik products, you will probably like Capture.

JForhan said:
Here is what I would try:

1. Download/install AppCleaner (cirrent ver. 2.0.6) from FreeMacSoft dot net
2. Download/install Cache Out X (Current version 5.0.5) from trilateralsystems dot com
3. Verify and repair your "Macintosh HD"
4. Use AppCleaner to remove LR and CNX2
5. Run Cache Out X
6. Have you installed any new RAM/HDD and not update PRAM or System Controller?
i. If you have google how to reset PRAM and/or system controller
7. From a terminal look for any directories or files from CNX2 or LR
Check Applications, /Library Application Support & /Users/<your ID>/Library/Application Support - Remove them
8. Re-install LR and CNX2

HTH

Later,
Jeff

Thanks you for sharing
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Maybe that's it, since I don't use any Nikon software at all - transfer directly from the CF card using Lightroom (both 4 and 4.1).

Here is what i think what happened to mine.

At the beginning I transferred the file NOT using nikon transfer, (no issue) hence i wasn't aware that there were any. Later on i transferred other sets using Nikon Transfer 2 (had older version installed at the time) and these files are broken (they are viewable but not editable and not able to be converted to any other type i.e jpeg etc).

DutchNikon said:

CS5 does not support CameraRaw 7 which is needed for the D800, for this you need CS6 , LR4.1 or Elements 10 .

Nope, Photoshop 5.1 (part of CS 5.5) opens D800 NEF's just fine. However, if you're trying to launch Photoshop from Lightroom 4.1 you do get a warning about camera raw differences, but it will still open.

Now I'm not saying that CS6 and CR7 won't do a better job with them, but they do open with the older versions.

Tethered shooting does NOT work with LR 4.1 though (big nasty bummer surprise there).