Nikon Capture NX Software for Windows and Mac

I was one of the first to download the full-featured Nikon NX software on a trial basis in July 2006. I was immediately hooked. This is a very innovative software program that most photographers who shoot in NIKON RAW format will want.

For those not familiar with RAW format, essentially a RAW format photo file enables the photographer to make post-shot changes to a photo to a much greater extent than is possible when shooting conventional JPEG file shots. So, for example, if one wishes to adjust the exposure on a RAW photo, you can do so and the effect is essentially the same, within the range of a couple of F/stops, as though you had shot the picture that way in the first place (there are exceptions to this beyond the scope of this review). The same is true for many other settings, such as Color Mode (SRGB versus Adobe, for example), White Balance, Sharpening, etc. You can modify some of these to some extent on JPEGs, but when you do there is always a loss of data--while there is no such loss when modifying RAW files. The bottom line is that if you botch a setting shooting RAW files you are much more likely to be able to salvage the photo if you shot RAW, as compared to if you shot JPEG. If you are shooting a wedding or some other critical event where failure is not an option, only a VERY competent expert would not opt to shoot RAW, in my opinion at least.

Capture NX enables the photographer to make very significant enhancements or adjustments to RAW, or to some extent JPEG or TIFF images. The centerpiece of the program is what Nikon calls "Control Points." The program enables one to place control points at various locations on a photograph, and thereby control or modify the color of selected portions of the image. What is even more amazing is that the program also enables the user to make very fine selective adjustments to other effects, such as sharpening or D-lighting, such that only selective parts of an image will be sharpened, for example.

Other programs have offered the ability to do what Nikon Capture NX can do, but in my opinion I have seen no other program that is so intuitive, and so easy for the photographer to learn. Many photographers, especially non-pros like me, want to spend more time taking photographs and less time behind the computer in the "digital darkroom" modifying them. Capture NX is designed for precisely that--it really is very intuitive and easy to learn.

I found the NX user interface to be better than that of Capture 4.4, which NX replaces. Others have differed on this point, but I very quickly became comfortable with the more orderly layout on Capture NX.

There are a few areas in which version 1.0 can stand some improvements in future upgrades. Certain menu options stubbornly return to default settings rather than remain at the user's last (and usually preferred) setting. Despite the good user interface, there are a few areas that will stand some tweaks in future upgrades. In short, NX V1.0 has a few rough edges as first-release versions of software usually do. Nonetheless, in most respects this is a polished product that certainly is ready for "prime time," in my opinion at least.

Like Capture 4.4 before it, Nikon NX want a LOT of memory. A fast CPU and at least 1 GB of RAM is recommended.

Overall, this is a remarkable product that I highly recommend to any photographer who shoots in Nikon's RAW format.

I am an amateur looking forward to get a deep understanding of digital photography. I decided buying Capture because I consider it to be a MUST for any amateur or professional photographer. The NEF editing capabilities of Nikon Capture 4.4 are astonishing, I tried the Capture 4.4 and then decided buying its successor NX. I own a Nikon D70 with kit 18-70mm lenses. Let me point out what I consider the functions I appreciated the most in Capture NX:

- Color noise reduction! Same as in Capture 4.4, I took pictures for a birthday party and the person I was photographing was a 45 years old female with some wrinkles, all wrinkles vanished setting the color noise reduction intensity to 10. Needless to say, she was extremely happy to see that "I had taken 15 years away from her in the picture".

- All the NEF Camera Adjustment settings where you can regulate WB, sharpness, contrast, compensation and color saturation.

- Last but not least the U point functionality is simply incredible to me where basically users can isolate sections of the picture and modify those sections without affecting the rest e.g. increase color saturation for only the face without affecting the clothing, backgrounds etc. Nikon has done a great job with this one.

All the incredible features offered by Capture are shadowed by the very poor implementation of the software: user-unfriendly and terribly slow. I have a Dell Precision Workstation Dual CPU Xeon 3.2Ghz with 2GB of RAM. Takes me up to a minute waiting whenever I tried changing any parameter, when I go back and check Capture's installation requirements it makes me laugh. I use it to re-touch all my NEF pictures but because of being very slow and unfriendly (I personally find NX more unfriendly than 4.4) will make you spend considerable amount of time even if you own the fastest PC in the market.

I have to respectfully disagree with the poor review from Wrestling NX before I give my opinion. The Windows are actually not Windows at all, they are called Palettes and are not supposed to be resized, otherwise anything that needs resizing, IE the image iteself can in fact be sized or viewed in the bird's eye (awesome feature). All of the Palettes can be maximized and minimized, not uncommon with Image Editors really. Lastly, the reason it looks different was not because Nikon wanted to confuse us, but rather because the previous version (awful) was created solely by Nikon, whereas this version was a collaborative effort between Nikon and Nik Software (no relation). Smart move since Camera makers are notorious for making terrible Image Editors.

My opinion on this software is high, spent 30 days with the trial and then bought it I thought it was so good. It is very easy to make a crappy image look wonderful, and a great image look even better. Extremely intuitive, and user friendly palettes; standout features are three-fold

-Control Points as a means to edit specifics. Allows real control over the image and it is very logical to make impactful changes with this feature.

-Edit List to show you what you have done without disturbing the original. Great because you check & uncheck what you have done and see with your eye if it was the correct choice.

-Raw editing is great, no compression so your starting with great source material the way you shot it from the camera. This is really where this software shines.

I would suggest spending a little time with the manual, especially if you are mostly familiar with Photochop. This software is not a chopshop, it is for balancing, and enhancing digital photographs, this is what it is designed and targeted to do, not compete head-to-head with PS. The workflows are great and easy to understand and don't interfere with anything.

My only knock on this software is it requires at a bare minimum 1GB of RAM to flow, if you want it to really move plan on 2GB, it's a hog. But all software is bloated these days (particularly image editors) so I am not removing a star for this.

Buy and enjoy, it will improve your editing experience.

1/17/06- One MAJOR point/drawback I want to make about this software..I advanced myself into shooting and editing in RAW since I learned everything else pretty well in this software. I just want to warn anyone thinking of this software, and please PLEASE!, HEED MY ADVICE HERE. If you don't have a MINIMUM, an absolute MINIMUM! if 2GB of RAM, raw mode will crawl to the point it is so slow and innefficient it becomes not worth it. I have 1GB of RDRAM and I switched back to jpeg mode because it was awful in RAW mode. Would have loved to have had that functionality, but I am not upgrading my entire PC in order to do it. Too bad it is so bloated.

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