What do you think of Nikon Capture NX vs Photoshop CS2?

Hi gang,

I just came back from Nikon School today and they talked at length about Nikon Capture NX. I have Photoshop CS2 but am far from a wiz at it. This Capture NX looked to be a lot more user friendly and did a lot of things much quicker (of course the teacher knew what he was doing). It just seemed to me that it may be worth the $140 for it. Also he said a newer version is expected in about 6 weeks right after the show.
Any views or comments?

I'm probably not a good one to listen to concerning NX because I only used it for the 30 day trial period. I decided against it. I thought the conversions were excellent, but decided against it because I thought Capture One was better overall. I am also now reconsidering NX because I'm not real thrilled with the new "upgrade" in Capture One. Whichever program I end up using however, neither will replace CS3, only supplement it. IMO, CS3 just has so much more in the way of overall feautures and capability.

Donald,

it does take some time to get used to the user interface. Once you are used to it, it is a very nice tool for Nikon shooters. As Bill said, don't ditch your CS2/CS3. With that said, I find that I can do most of my work with Capture NX. There are some good tutorials at http://www.capturenx.com/ and Nikon also have some good resources in their knowledge base.

It is not the fastest workflow you can get. If I want a fast workflow, I'll use bibble. To get the most out of my Nikon raw files, I use Capture NX.

HTH,

Andre
(edit: clarified workflow comment)

I have an use both comfortably. But I find the controls on NX courser than CS2. When fine adjustments are needed, it's a lot easier to do them on CS2. I could probably do without NX, but I couldn't do without some version of Photoshop. Without bags and bags of RAM, NX is also a whole lot slower than CS2.

Donald, I use both. NX does a far better job with straightening if needed and cropping. There are some other cool features such as LCH, very similar to Levels and Curves but it doesn't alter color.

I use CS@ or these days, CS3 next and last for adjustment curves, duotones and web preparation.

I personally don't want to give up either application.

Carol

I like to keep Capture NX (came free with the D300) on my laptop while travelling. It doesn't take up nearly as much hard drive space as CS3 and is good enough to review and process, plus to delete my many clunkers while on the road.

I like to keep Capture NX (came free with the D300) on my laptop while travelling. It doesn't take up nearly as much hard drive space as CS3 and is good enough to review and process, plus to delete my many clunkers while on the road.

I really like NX except that it's slower than molasses. But I think the conversions are much better and easier to get to than in CS2. I still have CS2 because it can do a few things NX can't, like add borders to photos I intend to put on the web, and things like that.

Edit to respond to new posts: My machine is a laptop w/1G of RAM. I do intend to add more ram soon, but every other piece of software I own operates just fine on this machine except NX.

I'll add my thoughts to the pile. NX is an integral part of my workflow. Like most tools it's not the only thing I find I need to complete the job. I find it to be a great RAW converter (obviously since Nikon share the actual curves et al with NIK). The U Point feature is excellent and saves loads of time when its circle shape is in line with what you are wanting to do. As far as speed is concerned I think one always has to look at the system of the person who is judging speed. If you lack the RAM NX will be slow for sure. Right on the box it says 256MB min (1.0GB or more recommended). Well, like all software forget the min suggestion. If you had 256MB you would do well to make yourself a tea after using any of the tools. I personally think you need 2GB to see NX do its thing. I would say that half of my total time is spent in NX (RAW work,U Point,D lighting etc) and the other half in Photoshop (NX doesn't have cloning or bandaid tools for example). That works for me. Others may find it a pain to switch programs and prefer an all in one. To each their own. Have fun creating your vision whichever way you decide to go. Pete.

To reiterate my points and amplify what Peter says, I'm sitting at an older Mac right now with a 933mhz processor and 1.25mb of RAM. Fifteen feet away sits a Mac with twin processors and 4mb of RAM. NX is painfully slow on this machine, but fast and facile on that other machine. Sad to say the other one is my wife's. I can use it when she's out, but otherwise I'm working on the slow guy. I also like the view better from my window, and my chair is a whole bunch more comfortable. See how it goes?

On the more tangible side, I depend a lot on the Selective Color controls in Photoshop rather than Curves or NX's version. I also don't particularly like the way NX displays images in a folder versus the same function in Bridge. Notice I keep saying "like." Lots of personal taste involved, but I've worked with Photoshop for over 20 years, while I've only worked with NX for a couple. Old dogs and new tricks are at the root of it all, I think!