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I'm beginning to wish I'd never bought a Nikon digital camera. I
downloaded a trial of Nikon Capture NX and it must be one of the worst
pieces of software I have ever had the misfortune to use. It is so
depressingly slo-o-o-w that I thought: I know, I'll save a NEF file as
another version at a very low resolution and make all the changes I want
and then apply those later to the high-res version. Hah! This POS
software won't let me do it! I resize a NEF file and then, for example,
try to make some lighting adjustments and hey presto, this STUPID
software discards the low-resolution image and insists on reverting to
the high-res image even though it has been saved as a different file,
closed and then re-opened! This is so utterly pathetic that I want to
sell the Nikon and buy a Canon - unless anyone can warn me that Canon
software is equally as pathetic as the Nikon rubbish?

I'm so glad I have encountered a trial version first. If I had paid
money for this terrible dunceware I'd be incandescent!

Sorry if this is a bit of a rant, but I'm up against a deadline and
really don't have the time to wait days for Nikon Capture to render the
simple changes to my NEF files...

"11" <> wrote in message
news:455105de$0$18054$...

> I'm beginning to wish I'd never bought a Nikon digital camera. I
> downloaded a trial of Nikon Capture NX and it must be one of the worst
> pieces of software I have ever had the misfortune to use. It is so
> depressingly slo-o-o-w that I thought: I know, I'll save a NEF file as
> another version at a very low resolution and make all the changes I want
> and then apply those later to the high-res version. Hah! This POS software
> won't let me do it! I resize a NEF file and then, for example, try to make
> some lighting adjustments and hey presto, this STUPID software discards
> the low-resolution image and insists on reverting to the high-res image
> even though it has been saved as a different file, closed and then
> re-opened! This is so utterly pathetic that I want to sell the Nikon and
> buy a Canon - unless anyone can warn me that Canon software is equally as
> pathetic as the Nikon rubbish?
>
> I'm so glad I have encountered a trial version first. If I had paid money
> for this terrible dunceware I'd be incandescent!
>
> Sorry if this is a bit of a rant, but I'm up against a deadline and really
> don't have the time to wait days for Nikon Capture to render the simple
> changes to my NEF files...

The only problem with NX I've found is that it will not work properly with
less than 1GB ram. (Wheras 4.x would happilly chug along on 0.5GB ram)

Another thing I've learnt is that it likes you to make adjustments in a set
order.

Resizing should always be the *last* thing you do, as if you resize first it
will UNDO the resize if you go back and adjust the white balance.

It took a bit of getting used to, but no I can see no reason to resize
first, and just remember to do this as the final task.

Now I've got used to NX I would not want to go back to 4.x.

Cheers Adrian www.boliston.co.uk

Nikon NX is indeed a resource hog. If you want to use it in conjunction with
Photoshop (both programs open simultaneously) you actually need 2 gbs of
RAM, or can use the extra time for bathroom breaks.
Of course if you don't read the instructions, fail to save files properly
and keep making the same mistake repeatedly I guess that too is a problem
with the software and not you.
NX is overpriced but is actually a very usable raw converter in conjunction
with PS. It opens images with a default setting that provides a more zowee
(higher contrast/saturation) factor than the Adobe converter and the global
controls, particularly the adjustment points, are very usable.

11 wrote:
> I'm beginning to wish I'd never bought a Nikon digital camera. I
> downloaded a trial of Nikon Capture NX and it must be one of the worst
> pieces of software I have ever had the misfortune to use. It is so
> depressingly slo-o-o-w that I thought: I know, I'll save a NEF file as
> another version at a very low resolution and make all the changes I want
> and then apply those later to the high-res version. Hah! This POS
> software won't let me do it! I resize a NEF file and then, for example,
> try to make some lighting adjustments and hey presto, this STUPID
> software discards the low-resolution image and insists on reverting to
> the high-res image even though it has been saved as a different file,
> closed and then re-opened! This is so utterly pathetic that I want to
> sell the Nikon and buy a Canon - unless anyone can warn me that Canon
> software is equally as pathetic as the Nikon rubbish?
>
> I'm so glad I have encountered a trial version first. If I had paid
> money for this terrible dunceware I'd be incandescent!
>
> Sorry if this is a bit of a rant, but I'm up against a deadline and
> really don't have the time to wait days for Nikon Capture to render the
> simple changes to my NEF files...

I also found NX unworkably slow, and the image quality not good enough
to accept the slowness. Maybe it has to do with lack of memory. At any
rate, you can use any of several other converters to do the job:
a) Raw Magick Lite (cheap, strange interface, one of the best image
quality-wise (as it should, given that a single file takes around 5 min
on my machine--the interface isn't that slow, though; only the final
conversion itself).

b) Adobe Camera Raw (I don't like it, hard to get what you want, not
very good image quality)

c) Silkypix (I tried the trial version, liked it very much, I think the
same price as NX, faster, you may not like the interface)

d) Capture one (the one I use, fast interface, reasonably fast
conversions--less than a minute per file, but it doesn't matter as you
can continue working on other files while it converts).

e) Rawshooter essentials (I don't know if it is still available). Free,
conversion OK, but colours dodgy and NR both heavy-handed and
impossible to switch off.

f) Bibble Pro: Very fast, comprehensive range of controls (well, maybe
too many).

I am sure there are others I forget and/or haven't tried. In short, you
can use some other converter: None will have a slower interface.

acl wrote:

> I also found NX unworkably slow, and the image quality not good enough
> to accept the slowness. Maybe it has to do with lack of memory. At any
> rate, you can use any of several other converters to do the job:
> a) Raw Magick Lite (cheap, strange interface, one of the best image
> quality-wise (as it should, given that a single file takes around 5
> min on my machine--the interface isn't that slow, though; only the
> final conversion itself).

You might want to try a dual Xeon. NX flies on this system.







Rita

Adrian Boliston wrote:
>
> The only problem with NX I've found is that it will not work properly with
> less than 1GB ram.


And this is one reason why I consider it to be poorly written software.
Good coders would write a program that will work in half a gig or less.
After all, the NEF files themselves are only about 6 megs! There are
tons of photo editing packages out there that can happily edit images
ten times that size with complex layers and alpha channels on older PCs
with 500Mb of memory. So why can't Nikon produce software that can do
the same? Bad coding is the obvious answer.

> Another thing I've learnt is that it likes you to make adjustments in a set
> order.


And this is another reason why I consider it a very poor piece of
software. Again, it's sloppy coding. Elegantly written software would
allow one to work in the order one requires.

> Resizing should always be the *last* thing you do, as if you resize first it
> will UNDO the resize if you go back and adjust the white balance.


This is EXACTLY the problem with forcing us to use the program in order.
I NEED to work on a low resolution image FIRST, (so that this bloatware
can actually do something in under a month per image... ). THEN I want
to save these settings as a preset and apply them later to the high-res
image while I go and have a coffee. (Note to Nikon: If you're going to
write bloatware then at least allow people to work in a way that allows
them to actually get things done!)

Nikon is not following a standard computing convention here. If I save a
TIFF file at 72 dpi then re-open it, it stays at 72dpi. The NEF files
don't. NEF is a bit like the old Harry Enfield character saying, "Oh you
don't want to do it like that..."

> It took a bit of getting used to, but no I can see no reason to resize
> first,


Please see above.

I think it's a shame that I would have to buy a brand new PC with tons
of RAM, just because Nikon can't write a decent piece of Windows
software. This is the only piece of software that runs so badly on my PC
which, when I bought it a few years back, was one of the fastest
machines available at the time.

I must say that Capture NX looks like a kludgey port of, I assume, Mac
software.

Thanks for your post Adrian.

Cheers,

bmoag wrote:
> Nikon NX is indeed a resource hog.


tell me about it...

If you want to use it in conjunction with
> Photoshop (both programs open simultaneously) you actually need 2 gbs of
> RAM,


Ouch!

> Of course if you don't read the instructions, fail to save files properly
> and keep making the same mistake repeatedly I guess that too is a problem
> with the software and not you.


If many other software makers can write software that can cope with
images ten or twenty times the size of NEF files without needing to buy
a new computer with tons of RAM, why can't Nikon?

NEF is a closed proprietary format, so would I be wrong in assuming that
one might actually be forced to use Capture if one wants all the
features? I'm new enough to this digital malarkey to be able to walk
away from Nikon and change to Canon if their solution is any better - it
might actually be cheaper than a new PC if I sell the Nikon and buy a
Canon!

acl wrote:

> I also found NX unworkably slow, and the image quality not good enough
> to accept the slowness. Maybe it has to do with lack of memory. At any
> rate, you can use any of several other converters to do the job:
> a) Raw Magick Lite (cheap, strange interface, one of the best image
> quality-wise (as it should, given that a single file takes around 5 min
> on my machine--the interface isn't that slow, though; only the final
> conversion itself).
>
> b) Adobe Camera Raw (I don't like it, hard to get what you want, not
> very good image quality)
>
> c) Silkypix (I tried the trial version, liked it very much, I think the
> same price as NX, faster, you may not like the interface)
>
> d) Capture one (the one I use, fast interface, reasonably fast
> conversions--less than a minute per file, but it doesn't matter as you
> can continue working on other files while it converts).
>
> e) Rawshooter essentials (I don't know if it is still available). Free,
> conversion OK, but colours dodgy and NR both heavy-handed and
> impossible to switch off.
>
> f) Bibble Pro: Very fast, comprehensive range of controls (well, maybe
> too many).
>
> I am sure there are others I forget and/or haven't tried. In short, you
> can use some other converter: None will have a slower interface.


Many thanks for your helpful post, acl. I'll look into your suggestions.
As I'm new to this, I had assumed that I was kind of forced to use
Capture because of the NEF format being closed to other developers, but
if this is not the case then that'd be great news.

>

11 wrote:
> acl wrote:
>
>> I also found NX unworkably slow, and the image quality not good
>> enough to accept the slowness. Maybe it has to do with lack of
>> memory. At any rate, you can use any of several other converters to
>> do the job:
>> a) Raw Magick Lite (cheap, strange interface, one of the best image
>> quality-wise (as it should, given that a single file takes around 5
>> min on my machine--the interface isn't that slow, though; only the
>> final conversion itself).
>>
>> b) Adobe Camera Raw (I don't like it, hard to get what you want, not
>> very good image quality)
>>
>> c) Silkypix (I tried the trial version, liked it very much, I think
>> the same price as NX, faster, you may not like the interface)
>>
>> d) Capture one (the one I use, fast interface, reasonably fast
>> conversions--less than a minute per file, but it doesn't matter as
>> you can continue working on other files while it converts).
>>
>> e) Rawshooter essentials (I don't know if it is still available).
>> Free, conversion OK, but colours dodgy and NR both heavy-handed and
>> impossible to switch off.
>>
>> f) Bibble Pro: Very fast, comprehensive range of controls (well,
>> maybe too many).
>>
>> I am sure there are others I forget and/or haven't tried. In short,
>> you can use some other converter: None will have a slower interface.
>
>
> Many thanks for your helpful post, acl. I'll look into your
> suggestions. As I'm new to this, I had assumed that I was kind of
> forced to use Capture because of the NEF format being closed to other
> developers, but if this is not the case then that'd be great news.

Photoshop CS2 has a NEF plug-in, and gives you the option of using this OR
the Photoshop's own RAW setup when you load a NEF image. (It defaults to the
Nikon plug-in, so you have to remove this from the plugins folder to use
Photoshop RAW). I still occasionally use the outdated version 4.2 Nikon
Capture software with only 384 MB of ram, but prefer Photoshop.

Dennis.

On Wed, 08 Nov 2006 09:33:27 GMT, in rec.photo.digital "Dennis Pogson"
<> wrote:


>Photoshop CS2 has a NEF plug-in, and gives you the option of using this OR
>the Photoshop's own RAW setup when you load a NEF image. (It defaults to the
>Nikon plug-in, so you have to remove this from the plugins folder to use
>Photoshop RAW). I still occasionally use the outdated version 4.2 Nikon
>Capture software with only 384 MB of ram, but prefer Photoshop.

I believe you mean the Nikon software installed the NEF plug-in when you
installed it. It is not part of CS2. All the Nikon programs I've tried in
the past (Capture, NikonView, PictureProject) had this annoying default
behavior. This plug-in provides only the most minimal of adjustments and
makes question why bother.
--
Ed Ruf ()
http://edwardgruf.com/Digital_Photog...ral/index.html