Nikon Capture NX

Harryb

The trial version is now available for download
http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin/nikonusa.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=kaBFdWbi&p_lva=61&p_li=&p_accessibility=0&p_page=1&p_cv=1.185&p_pv=2.298&p_prods=42%2C298&p_cats=185&p_hidden_prods=&prod_lvl1=42&prod_lvl2=298&cat_lvl1=185&p_search_text=&p_new_search=1&p_search_type=answers.search_nl

Brooks P

You can save time downloading
This was my experience with the NX Trial download.

I didn’t have Microsoft.Net on my machine, and Nikon says NX requires the DotNet Framework, so I chose the NX with DotNet option, which is 172MB in size – a large download. It started its download at around 7KB and after a few minutes gradually got up to 14KB. The download was calculated to take in excess of 6-hours. The computed time was bouncing around between six-something and seven-something hours.

I canceled the down load and went to Microsoft.com and downloaded DotNet ver. 2.0. I had a download speed of 759KB and the download took less than half a minute. It did however take about 10-minutes to installed. I went back to Nikon and download the NX option without DotNet which is 13.4KB. The download speed started out at 17KB but quickly began dropping. The download speed at the halfway mark was at 12.3KB. ended up taking about 25 minutes. Nikonusa.com needs to upgrade connect speed.

Next task is to download the manual.

JohnR

Why is this in gear and not photoshop essentials or whatever?

I downloaded the version for mac and the manual.

JohnR

Capture NX demo released
Nikon has made available the demo version of Capture NX. I downloaded it and the manuals this morning. I hear that their servers are getting hit hard so the downloads are slow?

Mac: http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin/nikonusa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=14019&p_created=1151426607&p_sid=X6hTeXbi&p_accessibility=0&p_lva=61&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTAmcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfbmwmcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1ueA**&p_li=&p_topview=1


Windows: http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin/nikonusa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=14016&p_created=1151420849&p_sid=X6hTeXbi&p_accessibility=0&p_lva=61&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTAmcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfbmwmcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1ueA**&p_li=&p_topview=1

Brooks P

I didn't start the thread, but my guess is because it is not Photoshop.

JohnR

Aahh..but it's not all just photoshop!

Photoshop Shenanigans (13 Viewing)
Photoshop, PSP, The Gimp, Workflow. It's all here.

Harryb

JohnR wrote:

Why is this in gear and not photoshop essentials or whatever?

I downloaded the version for mac and the manual.

Excellent point, I'm moving my thread and merging it with yours in the proper forum.

Dick on Aruba

I downloaded it (Windows), installed it and play with it.

It's far from "fast" but it's a hell of a editing tool. Although by far not bug-less, it does his job much better and nicer than NC 4.4

They surely have to come with an (or couple of) upgrades before my I register but I will surely.

If you used to NC 4.4, the switch is not a big issue. In less than a hour you know where to find everything and can produce great results.

I recommend to download this trial.

Dick.

TomaS

Not sure why this thread is not getting much response - this is a very interesting proogram - especially for NIkon RAW shooters.

I had no problem downloading to my desktop and again to my laptop.

It is irritatingly slow on both machines. My desktop is a Pentium D so it is no slug. Looking for Ver 1.1 to fix that. I will not purchase until then.

Some essential tools (like clone) seem to be missing. Outstanding tools for RAW workflow if you not already locked into PS.

Would love to see more feedfack on this program. Perhaps on Nikonians? Here is some: http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototip-archives.html

flyingdutchie

I downloaded it and have mixed results.

I already had .NET2.0 installed and this is being used instead of .NET1.1

1. I found some bugs: sometimes the dockable windows look odd. The bar with which you can drag the undocked windows around (on the left side of these windows) disappears sometimes. Temporarily docking these windows fixes that, though.

2. Sometimes, loading the first pic makes NX hang: I load the pic; pic is being shown; then any interaction with NX will make NX unresponsive for a couple of minutes (CPU --> 100%; NX 'not responding') and then everything starts running much better.

3. Making selections using UPoints is a little learning curve, to say the least. I still need to figure out a way to select, for example, the blue sky so that the effect i'm aiming for is applied fully for the entire sky; UPoints select circular areas. The center of a UPoint has the effect effective for a full 100%, the farther from the UPoint, the less effect(/'coverage') it has. Multiple UPoints help, but you've still got gaps with less than 100% 'coverage'.

But i just found this link:
http://nikonimaging.com/global/products/software/capturenx/nxsp/tutorials.htm

I'm going to give these tutorials a try.
-- Anton

Brooks P

You can use Control Points to protect an area so that other control points don’t effect it. Here are three pictures that show an example of using the Control Points.

Test Picture.


Control points. Three in the sky to turn it blue. Three on the bird so it won’t turn blue, and one on the feeder to protect it. I don’t know that I really need the one on the feeder. I created one in the sky and duplicated it twice, moving the duplicates across the image. The same with the three on the bird, created one, duplicated the other two. Duplicated a fourth and dragged it to the feeder. Total time involved, maybe thirty seconds. While the zone of influence is a circle, the NX program is pretty good at selecting what will actually be affected.


The results.



This was a real quick application of control points. If I was actually working on the picture I would take a little more time, but this shows that the bird is not turning blue along with the sky.

flyingdutchie

But the sky is not the same blue all over its area. It turns more and more white/gray the further it is away from the Control points. Multiple control pionts fix this, but you still get parts of the sky that not affected for a 100% by all control points (unless you put a LOT of duplicate control points in your pic)

TomaS

flyingdutchie wrote:

But the sky is not the same blue all over its area. It turns more and more white/gray the further it is away from the Control points. Multiple control pionts fix this, but you still get parts of the sky that not affected for a 100% by all control points (unless you put a LOT of duplicate control points in your pic)

I see what you mean Dutchie. But there are tools to selct an area. You can also make the zone of influence of the control point larger (or smaller) to cover the whole selection. I have not actuallyt done this, but should work better than multiple control points for things like the sky in the example above.

Forehead

Ayy, Harry!

I really am trying to get some QUAIL shots but the durned things aren't getting close enough to my house just yet. And that catclaw is way too thick for me to crawl through!

I did download Capture NX, THEN I downloaded .NET Framework 1.1 (gotta do it even if you have Framework 2.0, which I didn't).

But I was also--FINALLY--able to upload the Version 1.4 firmware for my camera, after a whole mess of failed attempts. So I can finally shoot RAW/NEF now!

I was really getting wise to the limitations of PhotoShop, PhotoExpression, and other ArcSoft products, but I'm trying to save up for a DSLR, so forget buying PhotoShop. But at around $150, Capture NX is surprisingly affordable.

Thanks for the hot tip, Harry. Try not to sweat too much down there in the Everglades!

Forehead

Yes, I discovered today this "zone of influence" of yours; as a dashed circle, you can expand or contract it with ease, but sometimes it influences an area you'd rather leave alone. So it takes a little practice!

TomaS wrote:

I see what you mean Dutchie. But there are tools to selct an area. You can also make the zone of influence of the control point larger (or smaller) to cover the whole selection. I have not actuallyt done this, but should work better than multiple control points for things like the sky in the example above.

Forehead

But for reasons not quite beknownst to me, the download instructions insist that you also download .NET Framework 1.1--even if you have 2.0 (which wasn't my problem).

flyingdutchie wrote:

I downloaded it and have mixed results.

I already had .NET2.0 installed and this is being used instead of .NET1.1

1. I found some bugs: sometimes the dockable windows look odd. The bar with which you can drag the undocked windows around (on the left side of these windows) disappears sometimes. Temporarily docking these windows fixes that, though.

2. Sometimes, loading the first pic makes NX hang: I load the pic; pic is being shown; then any interaction with NX will make NX unresponsive for a couple of minutes (CPU --> 100%; NX 'not responding') and then everything starts running much better.

3. Making selections using UPoints is a little learning curve, to say the least. I still need to figure out a way to select, for example, the blue sky so that the effect i'm aiming for is applied fully for the entire sky; UPoints select circular areas. The center of a UPoint has the effect effective for a full 100%, the farther from the UPoint, the less effect(/'coverage') it has. Multiple UPoints help, but you've still got gaps with less than 100% 'coverage'.

But i just found this link:
http://nikonimaging.com/global/products/software/capturenx/nxsp/tutorials.htm

I'm going to give these tutorials a try.
-- Anton

Forehead

You're tellin' ME! Downloading NX was so slow--as I had to download with .Net Framework 1.1--that I downloaded NX first (about 50 minutes), then .Net 1.1 (another 45 minutes, but it's about three times bigger than NX).

Along the way, I found that I can't send pictures from NikonView 6 to Capture NX, but that I'm supposed to be able to with Picture Project (which supposedly replaces NikonView 6).

So I downloaded the 84+MB Picture Project. Though I have 1-meg satellite internet, the download speed was almost a FLAT 5.6kbps (I think my FAX machine transmits faster than that!) and, after only 4 1/2 hours, I was finally able to install it :bash

I haven't yet been able to figure out how to send pictures from Picture Project to Capture NX. I have to go into NX and call up the file I want to edit until I "get a clue"!

JohnR wrote:

Nikon has made available the demo version of Capture NX. I downloaded it and the manuals this morning. I hear that their servers are getting hit hard so the downloads are slow?

Mac: http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin/nikonusa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=14019&p_created=1151426607&p_sid=X6hTeXbi&p_accessibility=0&p_lva=61&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTAmcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfbmwmcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1ueA**&p_li=&p_topview=1


Windows: http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin/nikonusa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=14016&p_created=1151420849&p_sid=X6hTeXbi&p_accessibility=0&p_lva=61&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTAmcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfbmwmcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1ueA**&p_li=&p_topview=1

Harryb

A wealth of info on NX can be found here

http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/forumdisplay.php?f=138&order=desc

Brooks P

Forehead wrote:

You're tellin' ME! Downloading NX was so slow--as I had to download with .Net Framework 1.1--that I downloaded NX first (about 50 minutes), then .Net 1.1 (another 45 minutes, but it's about three times bigger than NX).

Along the way, I found that I can't send pictures from NikonView 6 to Capture NX, but that I'm supposed to be able to with Picture Project (which supposedly replaces NikonView 6).

So I downloaded the 84+MB Picture Project. Though I have 1-meg satellite internet, the download speed was almost a FLAT 5.6kbps (I think my FAX machine transmits faster than that!) and, after only 4 1/2 hours, I was finally able to install it :bash

I haven't yet been able to figure out how to send pictures from Picture Project to Capture NX. I have to go into NX and call up the file I want to edit until I "get a clue"!

Too late now, but the download speed of .net from Microsoft was very fast. Took me less than a minute, of course I had wasted about twenty minutes trying to download it from Nikon, before giving up.

I have no problems sending pictures back and forth between View 6 and NX. You do have to go to the Icon Bar in View 6 and add NX to the list of Edit Programs.

Forehead

AHH! It's suddenly so clear to me now!

A thousand thanks!

Brooks P wrote:

Too late now, but the download speed of .net from Microsoft was very fast. Took me less than a minute, of course I had wasted about twenty minutes trying to download it from Nikon, before giving up.

I have no problems sending pictures back and forth between View 6 and NX. You do have to go to the Icon Bar in View 6 and add NX to the list of Edit Programs.

TomaS

Harryb wrote:

A wealth of info on NX can be found here

http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/forumdisplay.php?f=138&order=desc

Great link Harry! One of the posts explains how to select / limit the Color Contol Points (CCP).

Here is another link. Tutorials from Nikon....

http://nikonimaging.com/global/products/software/capturenx/nxsp/tutorials.htm

On my 3Ghz Pentium D with 4GB of RAM, the program is still way slow. Maybe it is the size of my RAW files (D200,16MB)????? It also has problems with the Wacom tablet - acknowledged by Nikon support. Version 2.0 could be a keeper.

TomaS

The 'case studies' are helpful too...

http://nikonimaging.com/global/products/software/capturenx/nxsp/casestudies.htm