No new answer from nikon support, and meanwhile a new version of viewNX (and newer version of nef codecs) have been released but the problem is still there.

If you have seen the problem too and it is annoying for you and your work, please write to nikon support.. we have to let them understand that this change in rendering nef is bad.

thank you.

Hi,

Scoobysmak - it is true that in a number of cases the change isn't that bad - after all in postprocessing we frequently give color, contrast and blacks a boost. But surely not in all cases. And besides it's easier to obtain this effect in Capture than to undo it.

Dutchnikon - the link advises people with camera's befóre D4/D800 (as if those are the only two camera's around nowadays...) to set Picture Control to use "Latest color reproduction process". Which gives even stranger results. Maybe it's a good idea that Nikon gave everyone who purchased Capture a free D800 :)

I found an old download of ViewNX (2.1.1) that works fine under Mac OS Lion and gives the D700 NEF's back its normal results, so it should work fine for people owning a D90/D300(s)/D3 too. As for Capture, setting "Neutral" retrieves a great deal of shadow details that get lost in the new version of the "Standard" setting. So maybe that's a tip for people experiencing the same problem.

I admit I am a bit tired at the moment and maybe I misunderstood something but I take it the update of View and Capture does not look as good as the older versions. I have a disk so I could go back to ViewNX 2 if I had to, I believe it takes me back to version 2.0.2.

I was about 3 seconds from ordering CaptureNX 2 but this makes me a bit hesitant to do so. If Capture can't do any better than say LR4 then what was the point, the only advantage Capture would have is if you are running an older version of windows. I believe it has to be at least Win 7 or LR4 will not work (IMHO, vista doesn't count). Of course if your a Mac user you got screwed when OS Lion came out with Capture.

SkintBrit, did you go ahead and grab the discounted version or are you still waiting for CaptureNX 3 maybe?

Edit..this won't be a good test because I did not turn on a calibrated monitor to view the links posted but on the computer I used, I admit, I kinda like the newer updates better than the older versions. I know that pretty much made my opinion pointless, but if it got better my only complaint would be if I had 4 million files I had worked on in the past that are now slightly "off" for lack of a better term.

mm There is an article on the Dutch Nikon Website about the update of the changes in picture contol, the used color rendering process, and how to select a different setting for this..

Maybe there is also someting about this on the other natioal nikon websites ?

Anyways, for who understands Duths, here it s ( i guess Nikon links are ok ??) :

https://nikoneurope-nl.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/51863

It doesn't seem to be available on Nikon's site any more:
https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/list#s=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..
Strange? Maybe if you email them they can send you a link?

Thank you Spy Black for your response.
Do you know where to find this version?
And is there also an older version of Capture NX2 available somewhere? And doesn't that (uninstalling 2.3.0 and installing 2.2.x) give an issue with the license key?
Thank you.

Why not just go back to ViewNX 2.2.1 if you find the processing objectionable?

Dear ericbowles, to be honest I don't understand your reply.

I payed 159 Euro for Capture NX2 and don't want to buy another program to be able to process/convert my D700 NEFs with the right camera color profile, when Capture is designed and bought for that reason!
When an update suddenly screws that up, Nikon should fix that :(
Online I read about people working with a NEF workflow - that suddenly experienced that because of this update all their postprocessing work of the last few years had been screwed up...

How about rendering with other products that use the Nikon code - Photo Mechanic for one?

The thumbnail rendered in Capture is a larger file than the one produced in the camera.

Hi!
Any news on this issue? I discovered the same a few days ago. Both the new versions of ViewNX and Capture NX2 don't render my D700 NEF files like they're supposed to do anymore: shadows become way too dark (or completely black), and saturation and microcontrast are much higher too. It seems the updated versions of both ViewNX and Capture NX2 have lost the camera color profiles of some (older?) camera's!
I see there are Flickr discussions about this issue too. But does anybody know the answer? What does Nikon say?
And otherwise, is it possible to "downgrade" to older versions of both programs, to at least be able to convert my NEF files in the meantime until this is (hopefully) fixed?
Thank you!

I'm glad this topic has come up! I see the same problem.

Hi everyone,
I'm the reader who emailed our admin about this topic, happy to see I'm not the only one who noticed this, especially for the contrast/black point issue.. but at the same time sad that also NEF from other cameras are having the problem.

I've also emailed nikon for this, the last update is me sending them the NEF files for comparison (previously I sent them only the jpg) Now I'm waiting for an answer.

Let's hope that this issue will be recognized as an issue and will be fixed.

I have also experienced the same issue. I am using D300. I hope Nikon will post some explanation or to fix it if its really a bug.

admin said:
I received this email from a reader - has anyone noticed any differences in the NEF files rendering between viewNX 2.2.1 and viewNX 2.3.0?

Even if nikon didn't claim this, the last version of viewNX has changed something in the algorithms used to render NEF files.
This results in photos rendered much more contrasty with lots of details lost in dark zones of the photographs!

I think this is *insane* to be fair, because now all the photographs edited/rendered/converted into tiff or jpg through the new software will change. Also, this new way of rendering NEF files is different from the one used in the camera body!
It's easy to notice this thing because if you look at your photos with viewNX and press the 'RAW' key, which forces the program to re-render the file, the difference between the rendered version and the embedded jpg preview is often very apparent.

Here you can find a couple of files, the same raw rendered with viewNX 2.2.1 and with viewNX 2.3.0 (this one is the one with the _ at the end of the name)
http://web.tiscali.it/_chk_/DSC_2583.JPG
http://web.tiscali.it/_chk_/DSC_2583_.JPG

While I'm writing to you, I also let you know that d7000 nefs rendered with viewNX (also older versions) gain a light green cast, noticeable the most on red/orange subjects.

I've made few more tests and noticed that if in the picture control utility I chose not to use 'in camera color reproduction' but to use the latest one the situation changes a bit but the increased contrast remains in the new version of viewNX.

2.2.1 version gives the same result, independently from that option (this could very well be related to the fact that the d7000 color reproduction was the latest one at that time.)

2.3.0 'latest color reproduction' has a greatly lower contrast if compared to the 'in camera color reproduction' option, but is still contrasty.

You can see a couple of crops from the same file I used yesterday here:
http://web.tiscali.it/_chk_/viewNX2.2.1_latestcolors.jpg
http://web.tiscali.it/_chk_/viewNX2.3.0_latestcolors.jpg

Basically this affects everything but the embedded jpg (because that remains the same until you re-save the Nef, and in that case the preview will also be affected).

If you create a JPG from the raw using the latest viewNX you actually get darker and contrasty dark zones in the output image.
No problem to post the whole thing on the forum using those small samples i linked, if this can help few days ago I found a similar discussion on flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/groups/capturenx/discuss/72157628896505579/ ) and even if the program they're discussing is captureNX, I think that's related.

In fact what causes this seems to be also connected to the picture control utility, if I change the setting in there from 'use the color reproduction process applied in camera' to 'always use the latest color reproduction process' I get different (less contrasty) results in case of viewNX 2.3.0. (while I get the same result in viewNX 2.2.1, maybe because at that time the 'latest color reproduction process' was the d7000 one.) I've linked samples of this in the update I mention in the first row.

I've also noticed that the picture control utility option affects not only viewNX but also the nikon Nef codec, and so it affects how the windows photo viewer renders the raw (when the codec is installed). The behavior is the same of viewNX, in fact the image will be opened with 'normal color' (jpg preview) that will change to the darker version as soon as the "loading" ends (same thing happens with that light green tint mentioned in my first message).

The codec I've installed is the 64bit version, so it is newer than viewNX 2.2.1, this suggests me one more time that nikon must have changed something at some point that started to affect dark zones of d7000 shots (at least d7000 ones, maybe of other cameras).

I've always noticed a difference between how ViewNX 2 renders a NEF file and how that same NEF looks once opened in Capture NX2. Basically, when the camera records a NEF, it also imbeds a JPEG preview image that's used when you preview the image in camera and in ViewNX 2. Once you save a TIFF or JPEG from a NEF in View NX2, it looks totally different and uses a different Noise Reduction algorithm that the one used in-camera. There were also other differences as well, as you've pointed out - that I could never understand. Once you open the NEF in Capture NX2, the NEF is again rendered totally different and once again, uses a different NR algorithm. I've recently started to notice big changes in the way the files preview in ViewNX2 and how they look in Capture NX2. Big differences in contrast and even colors. I've noticed this ever since I started using these programs. Currently, I'm using View NX2 v2.2.5 and the latest version of Capture NX2.

The biggest issue for me is not the Noise Reduction algorithms differences, it's the differences in contrast, black point and color casts between ViewNX2 and Capture NX2.

I received this email from a reader - has anyone noticed any differences in the NEF files rendering between viewNX 2.2.1 and viewNX 2.3.0?

Even if nikon didn't claim this, the last version of viewNX has changed something in the algorithms used to render NEF files.
This results in photos rendered much more contrasty with lots of details lost in dark zones of the photographs!

I think this is *insane* to be fair, because now all the photographs edited/rendered/converted into tiff or jpg through the new software will change. Also, this new way of rendering NEF files is different from the one used in the camera body!
It's easy to notice this thing because if you look at your photos with viewNX and press the 'RAW' key, which forces the program to re-render the file, the difference between the rendered version and the embedded jpg preview is often very apparent.

Here you can find a couple of files, the same raw rendered with viewNX 2.2.1 and with viewNX 2.3.0 (this one is the one with the _ at the end of the name)
http://web.tiscali.it/_chk_/DSC_2583.JPG
http://web.tiscali.it/_chk_/DSC_2583_.JPG

While I'm writing to you, I also let you know that d7000 nefs rendered with viewNX (also older versions) gain a light green cast, noticeable the most on red/orange subjects.

I've made few more tests and noticed that if in the picture control utility I chose not to use 'in camera color reproduction' but to use the latest one the situation changes a bit but the increased contrast remains in the new version of viewNX.

2.2.1 version gives the same result, independently from that option (this could very well be related to the fact that the d7000 color reproduction was the latest one at that time.)

2.3.0 'latest color reproduction' has a greatly lower contrast if compared to the 'in camera color reproduction' option, but is still contrasty.

You can see a couple of crops from the same file I used yesterday here:
http://web.tiscali.it/_chk_/viewNX2.2.1_latestcolors.jpg
http://web.tiscali.it/_chk_/viewNX2.3.0_latestcolors.jpg

Basically this affects everything but the embedded jpg (because that remains the same until you re-save the Nef, and in that case the preview will also be affected).

If you create a JPG from the raw using the latest viewNX you actually get darker and contrasty dark zones in the output image.
No problem to post the whole thing on the forum using those small samples i linked, if this can help few days ago I found a similar discussion on flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/groups/capturenx/discuss/72157628896505579/ ) and even if the program they're discussing is captureNX, I think that's related.

In fact what causes this seems to be also connected to the picture control utility, if I change the setting in there from 'use the color reproduction process applied in camera' to 'always use the latest color reproduction process' I get different (less contrasty) results in case of viewNX 2.3.0. (while I get the same result in viewNX 2.2.1, maybe because at that time the 'latest color reproduction process' was the d7000 one.) I've linked samples of this in the update I mention in the first row.

I've also noticed that the picture control utility option affects not only viewNX but also the nikon Nef codec, and so it affects how the windows photo viewer renders the raw (when the codec is installed). The behavior is the same of viewNX, in fact the image will be opened with 'normal color' (jpg preview) that will change to the darker version as soon as the "loading" ends (same thing happens with that light green tint mentioned in my first message).

The codec I've installed is the 64bit version, so it is newer than viewNX 2.2.1, this suggests me one more time that nikon must have changed something at some point that started to affect dark zones of d7000 shots (at least d7000 ones, maybe of other cameras).