We've just started an FAQ for Capture NX tips, tricks, settings, and workarounds (as appropriate). We'll add the DEP setting as well as the batch processing trick to retain current NEF settings. Please offer your suggestions and ideas in this thread and then we'll incrementally add them to the FAQ. We'll also forward these items to Nik and solicit their feedback. Thanks.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Hi,

In your FAQ about Control Points you mention the fact that you can modify the mask created by a control point by using the selection tools (lasso etc). I think this will be a very powerful way of modifying control point behaviour, but so far I have been unable to use this facility. Whenever I try to use, for example, lasso within a control-point selection mask the whole mask turns red and I'm at a loss what to do next. Maybe a step by step example would help?

Nikos
A Nikonian from Athens, Greece

Actually you can not modify the mask. Not directly at least. What you can do is to add an additional mask to the Edit Step that overlays all the masks from all the points in that step.

You do so by using the paintbrush and +/- buttons next to it, along with the other selection tools on the toolbar. First click on any Control Point in that step and then the Advanced button. Check the box for "show selection" to reveal the mask for that point. Then paint away with the paintbrush. In counterintuitive fashion, what paints as red will hide the effects of all points in that step (not just the point you have selected and are viewing the mask for). Where you don't paint reveals the effects of all points in that step (not just the point you have selected and are viewing the mask for).

Odd but true. After painting, use "show selection" to view the mask for a different point in the same Edit Step and the same red painting will be there. You can change the diameter, softness and transparency for toe brush to get the results you want, but to affect only a single point it must be in an Edit Step by itself.

Jason or Rick. let me know if you've found a different solution.

I've also somehow caused (twice now I think) a weird bug where my entire image, mask and everything disappears and is replaced with white with only the red mask showing. I have no idea yet what exactly causes this or how to get out of it other than to close and re-open the image.

Bob Johnson - Earthbound Light - Nikonians Gallery
Nature Photography from the Pacific Northwest and beyond
Lots more new images!! - Weekly Phototips and Articles - RSS Feed

Thanks for the insight, Bob. The pixels selected with a control point can only be modified by interactions with other control points. On top of that, you can manually paint in (or out) regions of the image to be masked using the suite of selection tools (brush, lasso, etc).

Bob- if you can replicate the bug, let me know via email and I'll pass it on to the development team.

-Jason

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

I had the same problem.

You have to select the adjust settings first, before you click on the paintbrush. If youy don't do this, you will get the colorize palett.

I have posted a "walkthrough" of Highlight Recovery using Capture NX in the Tips and Tricks anchored post, complete with screenshots.

There are other ways to do highlight recovery-- I just chose this method as an example.

-Jason

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

i would love to see your walkthrough, but i have no idea what an 'anchored post' is.
can you give me an exact place to click or send me a link?
thanks
steve

Here's the link:

http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=16343&forum=DCForumID36

Anchored posts show up at the top of the forum topic.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Hi,

It's embarassing being stupid, but the link you provided sent me to the list of forums. Did the server changes at Nikonians mess up the link or is the first statement the problem?

Don

The software changes broke the link and because of the age of this note and the other (which is no longer an anchored thread), it's hidden somewhere in the archives. If I can find it, I'll re-post it.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Hi,

Thank you for clarifying Base Settings.
When I clear out all Base Settings, make edits, save the file and then re-open it: Base Settings is repopulated with adjustments that I never made. I then have to clear out the Base Setting adjustments again, during which the Edits that I DID make are deactivated. Finally, I must reactivate the Edits to get back to where I left off with the image.
How do I save a file exactly as I left it?
Thanks!

When you make changes to Base Settings, the little checkboxes become active, even if you have the setting at neutral (no change).

For example, I usually turn in-camera sharpening to "None". This will show as an active "base setting". For example, if you have NR turned on in the camera, but you shoot at ISO 100, the checkbox is checked because it was "active". If you open up the setting, you'll see that the NR is indeed at 0%.

-Jason

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

"...checkboxes become active, even if you have the setting at neutral (no change)".

Yes, this seems to be the case, so no major grief thus far.
I just get nervous when I see checkmarks...feel like I have to go see what I did (not) do.

I'll readjust my camera settings to try and "clean up" my Base Settings.

Thanks for your help and fast reply!

Ideas and/or Bugs:
Exposure Comp - arrow keys move in 1EV steps, should be less.
Arrow key + Shift key to make adjustments in larger increments.
Ability to arrange the base adjustments to a user preference. Some adjustments are never or seldom used.
Ability to change the order of adjustment steps or insert a step in the edit list.
A way to turn off camera sharpening when a file is opened. I use camera sharpening for veiwing on the camera but set to none for processing and use USM.Batch processing to turn off camera sharpening takes too long.

Going "full screen" for the NX window puts the lower part beneath the Windows task bar. If I minimize a picture it will be beneath the task bar.

JJ

You can change the properties of the Task Bar so it doesn't remain on top of applications.

Thanks for the suggestion.
Yes, the taskbar properties can be changed but I would like the taskbar to always show and NX is the only application I have that doesn't allow that.

JJ

<snip>
> Arrow key + Shift key to make adjustments in larger
>increments.
<snip>

Is this something that you can do in NX now or something that you want to be able to do? If you can do it now, tell me how, please. All I can do is drag that slider, or type in numbers.

><snip>
>> Arrow key + Shift key to make adjustments in larger
>>increments.
><snip>
>
>Is this something that you can do in NX now or something
>that you want to be able to do? If you can do it now, tell
>me how, please. All I can do is drag that slider, or type in
>numbers.

Rats! Snipped too much. The first part of that should have read:

Exposure Comp - arrow keys move in 1EV steps, should be less.

Jason,
In the tips and tricks section of Capture NX you state that after you make color corrections, you apply your standard USM 55/5/5. What exactly does that mean?
Vinnie

Vincent
Connecticut Nikonian
My Website

Tried to make a manual selection, but was confused about the way it worked - and the fact that I couldn't deselect (CTRL+D) like in Photoshop.

Could you explain a bit of how those selection tools wook?

/Claus

D200/17-55mm/70-200mmVR/60mm Micro/SB800 etc

I'll try to get that into our next tutorial installment.

In the meantime, you can use the "Fill" tool to select all and deselect all by toggling it with the +/- icons next to the fill tool.

If you have made a lasso selection, you deselect it by choosing the lasso tool and double-clicking on the image.

-Jason

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

I've carefully read through the comments up to now and I figured (and checked) that other programs ONLY read the changes you make in the Base Adjustment List. Changes made in the Edit List are (at the moment) NOT carried over to (for instance) Photoshop CS2. Although Photoshop states that the NEF has been edited and that the edited file is read in this is only true for the changes made in the Base Adjustment List. If you first you use Capture NX and afterwards need to do some retouching in Photoshop the only way to carry over all adjustments is to first save the file in TIFF format and then to load that file in Photoshop. I think a clear "warning" might be valid in the FAQ list.
-Jan-

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I did some further testing and the problem relates to the left over nikon files from Capture 4.4. ("Nikon NEF Plugin.8bi" and "Nikon YCC TIFF.8bi").
These files can exist in any of the following Photoshop directories:
c:\program files\adobe\adobe photoshop cs2\plug-ins\file formats,
c:\program files\adobe\adobe photoshop cs2\plug-ins\adobe photoshop only\file formats,
c:\program files\common files\adobe\plug-ins\cs2.
If you remove these nikon files from the adobe photoshop subdirectories the edited NEF file from Capture NX will be read into photoshop cs2 via camera raw and ALL adjustments are carried over. So although Capture 4.4 can co-exists with Capture NX on the same computer these (old) nikon files should be removed.
-Jan-

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I believe that the white balance and exposure are the only adjustments that ACR picks up.

JJ

As others have pointed out, ACR and other RAW converters are able to read the RAW data, "as shot" white balance, and (to a certain extent) exposure data.

Any changes that you make to a NEF in Capture 4 or NX are not read by any of the other RAW converters.

Any change you make to a NEF in a 3rd-party RAW converter are not read by Nikon Capture.

Even though Nikon Capture writes changes to the NEF file directly, it puts those tags somewhere where the other converters aren't looking. For example, if I change WB to fluorescent from the "as shot" setting of "Flash", ACR still reads the WB as "flash". Capture 4, however, will read the modified WB information.

-Jason

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

Jason, thanks for all your hard work on the Faq section.

Have you found the usm settings the same as in NC4? Something like 50/5/5 have the same effect in both?

Steve
They say the Blues is coming back
Must be something wrong with my radio

Steve

http://notfromaway.com

Thanks, Steve.

Yes, the USM tool works the same as far as I can tell.

My "default" sharpening routine is to set "in camera" sharpening to "none" and then go for 55-5-4 in a USM Edit Step. In fact, I've saved that as a preset.

-Jason

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

Thanks. I heard, I believe that other guy on your show say that once, I tried it and liked it. I thought it looked the same in NX but seems I heard someone saying it wasn't the same.

Hey, there's been a lot of comments on the resource demands of the software. Perhaps you've mentioned it but just in case...

You Coloradians have it made btw. In Maine the power grid only allows one G5 per county. After that the lights in the hospitals and orphanages start dimming. But for those pc users that are struggling, you don't necessarily need to run out and buy a new computer.

First, a lot of pc's are already bogged down by all the background software that's running which can also on occasion conflict with other running programs. Second, ram is pretty cheap right now and upgrading to 2 or 4 gigs (depending on the age of your mb) can make a huge difference in performance for graphics at a relatively low cost. As well, if you're planning on Vista you definitely want as much ram as you can get. Sure, a faster or dual processor makes a difference but for a lot of pc users a ram upgrade would make a huge difference. Even those with new factory computers...Dell, Gateway, etc. are going to find that the machine was loaded with a ton of software in the startup that really chews up your resources. I don't think NX is as slow as some think.

Last, for those deciding to go the new pc route, consider keeping your old one and converting it to a network storage device. For the cost of a pair of big hd's even an old P3 like mine can solve all your storage and backup problems and is upgradable. You can easily swap out hd's when you need more space. Its computing on a budget but it works. I'm not a Mac user but I believe an old pc used as network storage is accessible from your Mac. Jason, you'd know better on that.

Steve
They say the Blues is coming back
Must be something wrong with my radio

Steve

http://notfromaway.com

Regarding speed-- the image continues to be rendered in the background even after you first start working on it. I find for reasons I don't understand, that the image cache seems to work better after I do an initial save.

Although my system has 5GB of RAM installed, I have yet to go over 900MB with NX. I routinely exceeded 1GB of RAM used with NC4.

Hard drive space is valuable-- not just to store your images but also to improve disk cache performance. That's one reason why laptops sometimes struggle with major image editing jobs-- slower and smaller disk drives.

-Jason

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

Good info....Thanks.

Im curious about a couple things.

1, Is there a workflow process for edit multiple images like in orevious Capture? I dont see anything.

2, Also, I have noticed when opening images in NX sometime before the progress bar completes the image changes. Contrast, color balance etc changes. What is making these changes? I prefer the image unchanged. I have tuened off base settings but that has made no difference. I have looked at the camera settings and played with those with out getting the image back. Any ideas.

3, Is there a way to make changes to the base settings and keep them as the default bias when open any and all imaeges?


Thanks in advance for the advice.....

Troy

California Nikonian currently in Moab

The changes that you see are when Capture NX applies the "in camera" settings to your image-- everything the way it was set in the camera, including tone curve, sharpening, color mode, etc.

To get the most "plain" image, set your camera to use:

Tone curve: low
Color Mode: II
Sharpening: None
Noise Reduction: OFF

Or, use ACR or another RAW converter that ignores the in-camera settings.

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

After editing a raw file with Capture NX and then using "open with" to open the file in Photoshop (or Elements 4.0) do all of the changes made in Capture Nx get transfered to Photoshop? Photoshop Elements 4.0 indicates that it is opening a Tiff file, suggesting that NX is writing to a temporary Tiff file as an intermediary.

Can you confirm and/or elaborate?

JustBob

www.justbobimages.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Yes, that's the way it works. Capture NX renders the NEF file with all its changes and edits as a tiff file, then opens it in the target application.

Bob Johnson - Earthbound Light - Nikonians Gallery
Nature Photography from the Pacific Northwest and beyond
Lots more new images!! - Weekly Phototips and Articles - RSS Feed

I have several files that I have edited with the NX program and when I open with CS2 the changes I made with NX are not in the file that shows in PS.
I do not use ACR but open my files in PS with the NEF Raw software?
I still have Capture 4.4 installed on my computer do you think this software is sending the files to PS?

Thanks,

Michael Edgeton
Tucson, Arizona
www.edgetonphoto.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

If you open a NEF in Photoshop-- it still needs to be converted to a bitmap file type. This can be done with the Capture 4 NEF plug-in or ACR. Neither will read the NX Edit Steps. The Nikon NEF plug-in will read the base adjustments.

If you want to open a file in Photoshop that you edited in NX-- you need to do one of the following procedures:

A) Use the "Open With..." command from the NX file menu. You will need to set the "Open With" application to PS in the NX preferences window. This method has the advantage of not saving an intermediate file, but the filename will not be preserved.

B) Save a copy of your NEF as a TIFF or JPEG, then open that file in Photoshop. This method has the advantage of preserving the original image filename, but is not as "seamless" as using the "Open With..." command.

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

Thanks Jason for your help with this issue!

I appreciate all of your help and time you give to those of us who have less experience with software issues.

Best regards,

Michael Edgeton
Tucson, Arizona
www.edgetonphoto.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I'm begging for some help. I am unable to reproduce the brilliant saturated colors that appear when I open and image (shot with a d200 in adobe RGB or sRGB, jpeg or raw) in capture NX in other programs. I've tried converting the color profiles (to numerous types), I've tried saving the images as TIFFs and Jpegs; I've tried opening as a TIFF from capture NX, I've tried overriding the camera settings, but the images always appear more saturated in NX than in photoshop, internet explore, preview, etc.--iView and Safari, however, seem to read the color profile properly. The difference in saturation is dramatic. I've emailed nikon and they told me to contact Adobe and the other companies to ask why they're not reading Nikon profiles--come on! Any advice?

I've figured out the problem. I use 2 displays (my laptop display and a viewsonic), each with a different color profile, balanced so they look the same if their respective profiles are recognized. I drag my photo programs to the larger remote screen for viewing. Elements, Preview, and other programs recognize the profile of the remote screen and display in its colors, but NX continues to use the laptop profile, which appears much more saturated on the remote screen. I can get around the problem by disabling the laptop screen and using the viewsonic as my desktop--but now I don't get the benifits of two screens. The colors are still slightly differnt between NX and other programs, but much more accurate.

Just an additional note to say that Nikon never responded to my second request for help, which is quite dissappointing.

This is a small idea that could do with being added I think. It would be handy to be able to double-click on the browser "bar" (the dotted vertical bar that borders the browser), to make it appear/disappear. Instead of having to hunt the small +/- box at the top of the bar. On a high-res screen its a pretty small button (I'm at 1920x1200 here).

~ Gavin


...a Kiwi Nikonian!
"A flower photographer's Hell is a place of tremendous beauty where every species in the world stays in bloom in continuous perfect light and where a gentle breeze blows eternally, making sharp photographs impossible" ~ Galen Rowell
"A friend used to say, you never really own something until you've improved it!" ~ DCLipp

Good suggestion.
The only current work around is to hit the TAB key, but then ALL the menus disappear.

-Jason

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

Please forgive me if this has already been mentioned elsewhere or it appears that I'm teaching grandma how to suck eggs... I found that dragging the slider in any slider bar in the control window a pain. I discovered that when the slider bar has focus (click on it to get focus), the slider will respond to your mouse scroll wheel.

john

Where Can I get started for image editing basics.

I used to be an accomplished photographer with film, multiple formats. Did all my own darkroom work, etc...

After being away other than Point and Shoot basic family photo type of stuff - I am very excited to resurrect my photo habit with my purchase of the D200 w/ 18-200 AF zoom.

I am very impressed by the capabilities of the camera. My photo composition and 'eye' capabilities are still very good.

However, taking that digital image and doing the kinds of things I used to do in a darkroom - digitially - has been embarrasingly overwhelming.

I am very computer literate - so its purely the 'digital concept' I'm struggling with.

I have downloaded the NX trial - have ACS - just don't even know how to get started...

Where can I get started on some basics. I'm just fine at low-end tools for removing red-eye, cropping, adjusting basic image contrast,etc.

However, whether it is NX or ACS - I'm lost on just getting started.

Want to work with RAW images - high quality images are extremely important - that's why I've waited to go digital for so long.

The thought is to learn NX from scratch - maybe migrate to ACS once I understand the concepts...

Thanks!!!

Just a follow up comment to luigidk's...Has there been any self help books been published regarding using and mastering Capture NX??

I've never used Capture 4.x before and have recently used NX and found it quite impressive and can do some things better than CS2. My present workflow has been entirely CS2 based, but now I think NX has a new home in my workflow. But it would be real nice to have a "how to use NX" book to refer to. Has anyone run across such a book?

Regards,

Jeff

Hi Jeff,
It is a bit early for a NX book i think but it would certainly be usefull. An informal 'Scott Kelby' type walk through would be handy.

One small niggle i have found. I cannot delete direct from my flash card. My printer has a card reader dock that i use. In Capture 4 i can whiz through my shots and delete the horrors from my card straight away......I am unable to find a way of doing this on NX.
Any pointers?

Steve.

My Gallery...
http://www.nikonians-images.com/galleries/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=84037

- I have felt the breath of a Tiger on my face -

In general, I always copy the files to my Hard Drive before working on them.
However, I just tested this in the NX file browser, and I was able to delete an image from my CF card.

-Jason

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

I occassionally use a WhiBal for white balance in post production. I did not see an easy way to do this in Capture NX. I'm used to Capture One's "click-and-apply" white balance settings.

Can someone shed some light on this?

Jeremy,
You'll probably want to use the White Balance tool and choose the "Set Gray Point" feature. Then you get a dialog box that lets you use the eyedropper tool. The easiest way to access this menu is by going into the "Camera Settings" menu, and choosing "Capture NX" from the WB pull-down menu.

This changes the WB setting in the RAW file itself, and is probably the best way to do it.

If, however, you are working on a TIFF or JPEG, you can use the "gray point" eyedropper tool from the Capture NX palette. It's the one with three little eyedropper icons. Select the grey point eyedropper ( it's the one on the far right) and click on the WhiBal in your image.

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

Thanks, Jason, for the reply. Works just great now!

Yes, I´m a Nikonian and using a Leica (D-Lux 2) camera also. For certain situations I need a very small 8 Mpix camera with RAW-output. Nikon doesn´t have such a camera (sad! odd?).
So in my workflow I work with Adobe DNG. No other way to have both Nikon RAW and Leica RAW in one workflow with the same software. DNG makes it possible!
If I ask Nikon (in the Netherlands) why they do not support Adobe DNG they just say (a bit angry) ´NO`. No reason given. OK.
So now I ´m sure that Capture NX will not work with neither Leica Raw nor Adobe DNG. And that is very very sad for me!! (Also for Nikon! (see the PS))

Capture NX with DNG would give a super and powerfull software combination not onlt for Nikon users! But there often seem to be high walls around busineses.
If the developers of Nikon read this: yes this is a suggestion for making good software (NX) into super software (NX accepting DNG) and usable for non-Nikon users also. Great ideas are free bof charge

My question to Nikon: make NX open to DNG! It makes NX supersoftware. Now its just above average to me and other DNG users.
Second question: if Nikon doesn´t react positive to DNG (why not?), is there any computer wizard out there that is able to program some software to make Capture accept DNG (I do not ask for Leica RAW as that would be a silly question).

Thanks for thinking with me!

Johan Hahn
Netherlands

P.S. I posted this question also on another place in the Nikonians site but maybe this is a better place. I hope it reaches Nikon. In my viuew it is very competitive for Nikon to open NX for DNG (and the RAW´s of other types if possible). It gives non-Nikon users the chanmce to use NX and some will get converted to other Nikon products It´s just an idea!

JohGHahn

Johann-

Thanks for the suggestion. As for a compact 8MP camera with a RAW output, there is always the Coolpix 8800. Of course, there is a new 10.2 MP digital being announced by Nikon in 20 days...

-Jason

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

Johan,

For what it's worth, Nikon has infomed me of the following regarding Capture NX feedback:

"I am the Senior Technical Support/Quality Assurance Specialist for Nikon USA.

I am also handling all of the Capture NX issues.

You asked, "....would like to know if Nikon is interested in user feedback/enhancements..."

Does a bear frolic in the woods? Absolutely!! Your feedback is needed NOW at the 1.0 version to shape future versions!"

So it would be advisable to send Nikon your request directly at support@nikontech.com and address it to Heinrich Beck
Senior Technical Support / Quality Assurance Specialist
Nikon Inc.

Regards,

Jeff

**BUG** **BUG**

Well others might not say so but I'd definitely call this a bug. If you add IPTC info to an image and then click the "-" to close the IPTC panel, it will LOSE ALL THAT INFO YOU PUT IN! This is regardless of you clicking "ok" or saving after you have closed the panel. It seems to only save it if you "save" or "save as" with the panel open.

EDIT: It's also more than a minor annoyance that if you save IPTC batch info it doesn't make an automatic shortcut to your save like it does with the image settings batches. You have to go to the folder its saved in and open the file. Very tiresome when you have to add that same info to 100+ images. I think there should be an options checkbox somewhere that would allow your preferred default ITPC and adjustment settings to be automatically applied to every image opened, or just applied manually like they are at present (either piece by piece or through batch menus).

~ Gavin


...a Kiwi Nikonian!
"A flower photographer's Hell is a place of tremendous beauty where every species in the world stays in bloom in continuous perfect light and where a gentle breeze blows eternally, making sharp photographs impossible" ~ Galen Rowell
"A friend used to say, you never really own something until you've improved it!" ~ DCLipp

Maybe this is a Windows bug-- I don't see this problem on the Mac side.

-Jason

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
www.luminescentphoto.com

Listen to The Image Doctors

Jason P. Odell
Colorado Nikonian
Author, The Photographer's Guide series of eBooks
Capture NX, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Digital Landscapes

www.luminescentphoto.com

I've been playing around with both the Distortion Control in NX and LensFix (Kekus). I am primarily applying correction to my Tokina 12-24. The Distortion Control always defaults to 10%...
Do I have to just "wing it" and go with what looks right using the slider or is there some tried and true method for correcting lens distortion with NX with various lenses and focal lengths?

THX
Glenn

Glenn,
This may be where we as a comminity have to help ourselves. I was thinking about how I would have to make a small cheat sheet of my 5 or 6 lenses I use at various focal lengths. I'd have to shoot a couple of different calibration targets at a few different focal lengths for each lens. But then I'd be done and could rapidly add them as I edit my images.

Personally, I want to avoid photoshop and big TIFF files if I can.

Nikon hasn't done us much of a service with the Distortion Control tools in NX. But on the bright side most of us only have a few lenses to correct. Perhaps we could make an anchored post here with a small database/spreadsheet of the correction factors that work for different lense and focal lengths. I'm like you, I have a Tokina 12-24 that needs a bit of "help" at the wide end. Same for my Tamron 28-75 f/2.8.

The chair rail in my dining room is about to get a photgraphic workout..... And then something outside that is appropriate for longer focal lengths.

When in Photoshop CS2 I use PTLens since I'm on a PC. Same result as what you use on the Mac.

--Michael

D700 __ 16-35 f/4 VR __ 24-85 f/2.8-4 __ 50 f/1.4G __ Sigma 150 f/2.8 macro __ Tamron 70-300 VC
SB-800 __ SB-600
Lightroom 5

Michael,

Thanks for your input. Can you point me to a good tutorial on how to shoot "calibration targets"? I'd be interested in using the distortion control in NX instead of a plugin in Photoshop if I can...

Thanks,
Glenn

Try going to epaperpress.com and the PTlens section. Get the PTlens manual and read how to shoot distortion calibration targets.

Basically get something with naturally straight lines.

In one indoor photo I made with my D50 and a Sigma 18-200 lens, I used a n undocked palet as a straight horizon reference for rotation. Then I used the long wooden beams in the back of a sofa as my reference as I applied NX distortion correction iteratively.

Something like that is what we would have to do for all our lenses and at multiple focal lengths. Modern buildings with long straight edges or lines are a good target.

D700 __ 16-35 f/4 VR __ 24-85 f/2.8-4 __ 50 f/1.4G __ Sigma 150 f/2.8 macro __ Tamron 70-300 VC
SB-800 __ SB-600
Lightroom 5

I have recently obtained Capture NX and currently I am in the process of learning what I can do with it. Ditto for CS2.
I gather from discussions I read here that NX does not do a good job of correcting barrel distortation, compared to other programs.
I shoot with a D70s and like to use my 16mm F2.8 fisheye for close up and nature/senic shots because it gives me the greatest wide angle of all my lens.
The trade off of course is the barrel distortion. I use the lens correction in NX and find that it does a great job for me if I set the slider at around 75%. It is quick and it is easy. I do not have to crop the result because the edges remain straight and true.
By comparison, if I save the same image as a Tiff and open it in CS2 and then use CS2 to do the same correction the result is horrible.
CS2 scallopes the outer edges of the photo greatly by the time the distortion has been completed. This causes me to have to do a drastic crop on the image to be left with a straight edged photo.
I find NX to be far easier to use than CS2. Perhaps CS2 will do a lot more things than NX, but what a lot of work to accomplish this.
Am I clear on this distortion correction comparasion, or is there something I am missing here?

under the straighten tool I would like to see a grid overlay to help align my crooked pics

Thanks for sharing,

Jeff

Bonjour,

The batch save command from the browser has a strange behavior. Whatever I choose as quality for jpg, the resulting file size is always the same.

This doesn't happen when I use the same save command from the edit context.

I would like to know if it is only me with my configuration (French version) as I saw nothing about this in different forums

Thanks a lot
Claude

It's a known bug and has been mentioned in other threads.

Rick Walker

My photos:
GeoVista Photography

Download from our library of Image Doctor podcasts here

Any chance of getting the bugs drawn together into one read only thread so that there is a central point of reference if a problem occurs?

Or perhaps Nikon should be doing that. As there isn't even a manual, printed or on the disc in my copy of NX I somehow doubt they will.

Ken Bird
Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK

Ken Bird
Shropshire, UK

>Any chance of getting the bugs drawn together into one read
>only thread so that there is a central point of reference if
>a problem occurs?
>
>Or perhaps Nikon should be doing that. As there isn't even a
>manual, printed or on the disc in my copy of NX I somehow
>doubt they will.
>
>Ken Bird
>Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK

I just purchased my copy of Capture NX yesterday and in the box there is a printed manual and a quick start quide.


cpkoh
Singapore

CPKoh
Singapore
http://cpkoh.smugmug.com

You can download a PDF version of the Capture NX manual from the Nikon Knowledge Base (English and Spanish).

User\'s Manual - Capture NX

I downloaded the user's guide when I first downloaded the 30 day free trial. I noticed that they posted an updated version a few days ago. The latest version is 240 pages (the original version was 234 pages); although, the new version is 1/2 the file size of the original (go figure).

Jon D.
My Nikonians Gallery

Jon Davis
My Nikonians Gallery
My Flickr Gallery
My Epson R2880 Tips & Tricks blog

I would also like to have a thread like Tips&Tricks
where I can search if the behavior is a known bug
and if a workaround is available.

Nikon is even not telling, which bugs are solved with a new version.