Help - changing work-flow

<p>Hi, i am a long time Nikon user and for ages I have captured in Nikon RAW (NEF) and used the Nikon s/w to download, browze and edit images. I have got very used to Nikon Capture NX2 to do the final editing and printing. Anyhow now Im experimenting and intend to switch to Fuji x (x trans RAW files). A quick play this evening suggests I can open the Fuji RAW file with Silkypix (as supplied with the camera) then save as TIFF. Then open in Nikon NX2, do all the editing and save as NEF file. I believe that the Nikon s/w is non-destructive to the file.<br>

I think I need to understand....is this workflow optimum for quality? Would I achieve better quality switching to Lightroom as a total RAW developer and editing package? I dont need heavy image editing capability like Photoshop. Thanks in advance for your response.</p>

<p>I don't think you'll have any trouble with the approach you describe, but if you had a big pile of files, you might come to appreciate Lightroom's file management skills.<br /><br />One think you might look at is getting the Nik plug-ins. Color Efex Pro will add to Adobe's editor the ability to use the control points that you're probably addicted to in Capture NX2. I know I am. I still use NX2 every day, but will use the Nik plugins in Photoshop if there's some other compelling reason to be operating outside of NX2. It's a damn shame that NX2 will never become NX3. Alas.</p>

<p>Tony, I've used CaptureNX2 for years, but when it became obvious that Nikon will not develop it further, I did decide to look for alternatives. Besides Lightroom, there are many others. My workflow was much like yours, though the increasing volumes of files made me look for a solution with catalog of sorts - ViewNX2 is good for browse/rate/cull, but keywords and such is a bit a pain.<br>

When I was "leaving" CNX2, I thought I'd miss the Control Points quite a bit, but after trying several software titles, I settled on CaptureOne (which has a catalog, and the same import options as TransferNX/ViewNX offered - including automatic backup on import). Alongside all the usual tools, it has a selective color editor, which pretty much does for me what I used colour control points for, and for all others control points, it has layers with masking which for me work fine. Lightroom has pretty much the same feature-set, but personally I simply dislike the User Interface of LR (a personal opinion, so I'd still advice to give LR a try at least).<br>

For what I understand, for getting the best from the Fuji files, apparently CaptureOne still beats LR, but since I have no fuji camera, I cannot verify. Either way, it has a 60-day trial as well, so it could be worth trying.</p>

<p>Your workflow will work, with no loss of quality. Silypix is a not everybody's favourite, so I'd first check how well you get along with that (as ideally, you'd want to edit as much as possible before exporting to tiff). If you move to higher volumes, I think it is rather laborious, and not sure if SilyPix has useful batch operations. Tools such as LR and C1 make life a lot easier for that.<br>

For me... as much as I like CaptureNX2, I no longer find myself using it. Still installed to be able to export older edited files, but that's about it. CaptureOne gets me the results faster, usually easier and allows me to use one single program for the entire workflow.</p>

<p>I've gone with Lightroom for most editing and organizing. While I liked ViewNX 2 for some NEF to JPG/TIFF conversions it's too limited and I have other cameras that generate DNG or proprietary raw like Fuji's RAF. And since Nikon didn't own some critical bits of their software they can't guarantee any continuity in software development.</p>

<p>The current version of Lightroom 5 can handle Fuji RAFs directly so there's less need for Silkypix or other raw developer unless you happen to prefer them. I liked the trial version of Picture Code's Photo Ninja for my Fuji raw files but don't really want to invest in yet another standalone raw converter that isn't also a complete workflow tool. The tricky bit to converting Fuji RAFs from X-Trans sensor cameras was avoiding the boiled spinach look in foliage. Photo Ninja's rendering is excellent, and while it's not quite as fast as Lightroom it's a better overall tool than Silkypix. The best thing about Silkypix is that Fuji includes a free version with Fuji cameras, although it's limited to Fuji raw files only. The most current complete version of Silkypix is a slow sludge-kludge and wouldn't be high on my list of software to buy. If I had to buy one raw converter other than Adobe's, I'd probably go with Photo Ninja - it works well on my older Nikon NEFs too.</p>

<p>With older versions of Lightroom Adobe has a free RAF-to-DNG converter. So there's no real need to convert to TIFF just to use Nikon software on Fuji files.</p>

<p>Lightroom is not only powerful, but it is fast. You can sort, grade and adjust images much like using a light table to view and sort slides. Adjustments are completely non-destructive on all image formats, not just RAW files like NX. Often you are able to group similar images and apply the same corrections, including dust spotting, to the entire group in one keystroke. How good is that?</p>

<p>That said, Photoshop is still needed for precise cropping and resampling, and is much better at printing than Lightroom. It is somewhat awkward to apply print profiles in Lightroom, but very easy in Photoshop. Some images and media (e.g., color laser printers) work better in CMYK, which is easy in Photoshop but impossible in Lightroom.</p>

<p>In the Creative Cloud version of Adobe, preferences can be synchronized on all Adobe applications, which is very convenient when jumping between Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. You can "rent" Photoshop in its CC version for $15/month, and every program Adobe publishes for $50/mo. I believe Lightroom is the only top tier program that can be purchased outright from Adobe.</p>

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<p> You can "rent" Photoshop in its CC version for $15/month</p>

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<p> <br>

That would be wasting money. You can get Photoshop and Lightroom for <a href="https://creative.adobe.com/plans/photography">$9.99/month</a>. Don't pay more.</p>

After a few weeks of LR trial I am converted...thanks for the advice.