Dear Nikon - your loyal fans are waiting for some news on NX2

<p>Dear Nikon,<br>

Please tell us what's going on with NX2.<br>

We, your loyal fans and customers, would like to know when Capture NX2 will be ready to work with Lion. Alternatively, perhaps you could tell us when you are hoping for NX3 to come out.<br>

Just so we've got some idea and can stop trawling the web for clues.<br>

Thanks,<br>

Spencer.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Maybe more useful to actually send this to Nikon?<br>

My experience with their UK service (following an issue in View NX 1.1.something I had) was very good. They won't tell about NX3, but they might actually tell something on when to expect an update that will fix this problem for the Mac users.</p>

<p>What problems you have with Lion?? With me it works well....</p>

<p>NX2 was released in June of 2008. That's three and a half years ago. (That's an eternity in software years.)<br>

They have put out minor bug fix patches, new camera support, and, if I recall correctly, they put out a minor update 4 months after snow leopard came out to address some minor compatibility issues. They've done the same to address Windows compatibility issues. But they have never announced software product plans in the years that I've been following - including any making any directional statements regarding the Capture line.<br>

But Nik Software (partially owned by Nikon) has taken the best parts of NX2 and made them available as lightroom/aperture/photoshop plug ins (Viveza and CFEX). Nik follows the normal routine software update cycles of new releases roughly every 12-24 months on every product except NX2. <br>

Meanwhile, Nikon's software competitors (Lightroom, Aperture, Photoshop, Capture One, etc) are marching down the path of progress much more quickly with regular and significant updates. So even if NX3 were released today, the competition is just moving faster with better and better products.<br>

On top of that, Nikon's big plants in Japan and Thailand are heavily damaged. No, this shouldn't impact software (Nik is in San Diego), but it will keep Nikon's management focussed in rebuilding its manufacturing capability.<br>

I, like many others, wish for NX3, but sadly, the writing is on the wall here. Plain for everyone to see. <br>

Keep in mind that NX2 incorporates the code of the original Capture - so that your old images edited with that old software will still open in NX2. That old code is mired in ancient software technology, and my assumption is that they don't want to invest in rewriting that. <br>

I love that NX2 actually edits my NEF files. AFIK, no other product will do that. They will edit my NEF files, but store the result to a new file. I love that I don't have to use import my images into a proprietary catalog before I can work on them (as does Ligtroom and Aperture). I love the integration with Photomechanic. And I love control points and the CFEX plug ins. But I hate that NX2 is embarrassingly slow with D3x files. So, everyday, I think that I should be using something else going forward, but I keep using NX2. <br>

Ron </p>

<p> </p>

<p>I too like NX2 as my processor for my D300s and D 700 NEF images. I use it on win 7 64 bit systems and it has a tendency to freeze from time to time for no apparent reason. At the Sunday session of the Nikon School In Houston, TX last Sunday, NX2 froze and crashed during a processing demonstration done by one of the instructors. It was a "silent embarassment" for NX2 unfortunately. Joe Smith</p>

<p>Dear Nikon,<br />Please tell us what's going on with NX2.<br />We, your loyal fans and customers, would like to know when Capture NX2 will be ready to work with <strong>Windows</strong>. I mean work not freeze... <br>

P.S. Sorry! I could not resist... LOL</p>

<p>Hi all !<br>

I actually use my MacBook Pro, running with OS Lion, and working with Capture NX2 v: 2.2.8.<br>

And all is working really smooth without any problem.<br>

Denis.</p>

<p>MM Dear Apple... when will you please make your new OS versions backward compatible ...</p>

<p>Sorry, could not help myself either.. :-)</p>

<p>C.P.M., I was just about to say the very same thing... </p>

<p>Hi, I'm just hoping that Nikon will read this - they should be - and take pity on us and tell us what's actually happening. If they're going to release an update in two year's time, or cancel altogether - I just want to know either way.<br /> It seems like a reasonable thing to ask. Doesn't matter what the news is - just tell us what's going on.<br /> Finally, good luck to those who have actually got it working. My machine, which is a replacement from Apple, came with Lion: I didn't upgrade. The message I see is 'OSX no longer supports Rosetta".<br>

I'd prefer to avoid rebuliding my machine ... and still have the quality I paid for when I paid for the software.<br>

Thanks for all the suggestions and comments; Nikon? It's your turn now.<br>

Cheers,<br /> Spencer.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>PS<br>

Hi <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=5189561">Wouter Willemse</a>,<br>

Of course, you are right. I don't have the details of anyone at Nikon. If you do, or know someone who does, please send it through and I will get in touch ;)<br>

Cheers,<br>

Spencer.</p>

<p>According to Gartner as of August 2011, Apple has about 10.7% of the PC market in the U.S. - less in most other countries. Developing for any operating system is difficult - expensive and time consuming, Apple/Mac OS X included. Any company that is developing primarily for Windows and secondarily for Mac OS X - especially a company producing niche software like Capture NX2 - has to be expecting to make sales to only a relatively small percentage of Apple's 10.7% market share. That small percentage has to be localized in a dozen or more languages as well. Expensive, expensive, expensive, with very little chance of profit from OS X sales.<br>

If you're solely an OS X developer, no worries. But if your software development structure is built primarily around Windows, porting/coding/developing for OS X at the same time is a massive loser.</p>

 

Thanks Howard.

 

They already develop the software - and were doing so before Apple had 10% of the market I would imagine. My question is about whether Nikon are going to continue supporting it.

<p>My only beef with NX2 is that you can't run it long from the Viewer NX2, after a few processed files, it crashes and burns.....</p>

<p>Spencer, I sent an email through their support website, nothing special and no special contact. Just create an account on the site: https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/list. Like any normal customer can do, and you should use that path. Because, simply: you encounter a problem with their software. They have support for that. Use it. It sure can't hurt to try, no need to assume it won't work without trying. Maybe they've got a nice workaround.<br>

And no, there is little use in escalating this to managers etc. in Nikon; I've got quite a lot of experience working in support (similar kind of) and such actions typically do not yield more than following the normal paths.</p>

<p>I would not assume Nikon reads the messages here, nor do I think they are obliged to do so. People on forums tend to talk about what doesn't work, so the image of a product tends to be skewed towards the negative. Companies cannot really base their planning on that; second, while p.net is large, but on a global scale peanuts - and Nikon sells quite a lot. So, putting it up here and hoping that will get Nikon moving - I am sorry to say, but not likely.<br>

But if their support departments get plenty messages about CNX2 not installing on OS X10.7, and having to deal with disappointed and angry customers a lot because of it, it is far more likely they will take action. Because it costs money and decreaes customer satisfaction measurably. That, they do care about. So, for that reason alone: inform their support department.<br>

And basically, that goes for all the complaints in this thread. If you want to see development on CNX2, inform Nikon, raise the issue with support. It may not be a miracle cure, but it is more likely to solve something than only describing your problems with the software here.</p>

<p>On a positive note, and to balance the view on the software a bit: my CaptureNX 2 just works. On Windows Vista. According to "the internet wisdoms", that OS does not work, and CaptureNX2 would always crash. Well....there you go.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"I would not assume Nikon reads the messages here, nor do I think they are obliged to do so."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Personally, I would assume the exact opposite. Any company that doesn't monitor what's being said about it on its dedicated forums would be either arrogant or stupid, and I don't think that Nikon is either of those things, corporately speaking. Whether they act on the free and candid feedback they receive is another matter.</p><p>There are certain forums where the icy blast of a company "schill" is regularly felt in the responses. You've surely read posts from people who seem to know far more than they should about the technical background or specifications of a product? Defensive and overly positive stuff that only an insider to the company would know for sure.</p>

<p>Joe,<br>

You're right, I did not write that very well (morning coffee not yet consumed). My point was what you said: <em>Whether they act on the free and candid feedback they receive is another matter. </em></p>

<p>A big problem I see facing Capture NX2/3 is the increasing use of Lightroom in the community. The fact that Lightroom can't see the raw edits made in Capture NX2 complicates the workflow if you feel you need to use both products. I never could get comfortable with Lightroom3 despite seeing the advantages it brings to photo management. I use Photo Mechanic instead, which does see the edits made in Capture NX2 (though unfortunately does not ID edited raw files). I learned to love Capture before trying to like Lightroom, so this works for me. If you love Lightroom and then try to like Capture NX2/3, I think that the results will be different.</p>

<p>Steve - if you like the Photomechanic/NX2 workflow, which I love because it doesn't tie me to a proprietary database, then you might want to look into Capture One. It appears to be a solid product. I've downloaded the 30 day trial, but have not played with it enough to know if will work for me. I do wish NIK would make plug-ins for it. <br>

The biggest hurdle I have with Capture One is the price tag. At $399 USD, I'm concerned that it will never reach enough unit sales to firmly establish itself as a contender in this space. Having said that, I think it's shortsighted to reject this product based on price alone. If one were to do the math, it would probably come out to a dollar per hour of usage per year. Seems like a small price to pay for a major productivity boost.</p>

<p>I asked a Nik Software rep about NX3 at the Photo Plus Expo a couple of weeks ago and he told me that they haven't even begun work on it. Apparently Nikon hasn't even asked them for an update. I was pretty shocked...its been too long already for an update and NX2 is starting to feel really slow compared to similar software. The rep thought that it was possible to make EFEX 4 work on NX2.</p>

<p>Hi again,<br>

Rodeo Joe is thinking what I'm thinking - that the people at Nikon are probably going to read this - or have an outsourced social media 'consultant' prepare reports for them on the things that people are saying about their products and services on the web.<br>

Joe and Walter are both right in saying that Nikon aren't obliged to act. However, if enough users make comments and start conversations like this one - Nikon are more likely to act.<br>

In this case my, hope is that act means 'tell us what's happening' - even if it's bad news.<br>

Cheers,<br>

Spencer.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I still have NX2 installed on an old Dell laptop that uses win XP Pro, a 32 bit operating system. Ver 2.2.8 rarely if never crashes on that pc with its limited 2 GB RAM. It crashes on my win 7 64 bit system with over 4 GB of RAM. I use View NX2 as a browser on all machines and trigger NX2 from View NX2. I have always wondered why the older/less ram system is more stable than the newer system. There is almost nothing else on the newer system as it is devoted to just photography. Joe Smith</p>

<p>Hi Joe,<br>

I also used NX2 on XP Pro / 2GB RAM, then on Vista 64 Ultimate / 4GB RAM and now on Win7 64bit / 12GB RAM. Honestly on Win7 is the best performance but stll crashing sometimes. The worse was on Vista 64. IMHO Win7 deserves the upgrade. The system uses less resources and the overall speed of the system is much improved. (I upgraded first the software then I added 8GB of RAM on the same machine... so I observed what was the difference between the two systems on the same hardware).</p>

<p>Apparently Nikon is preparing Capture NX 2.3 which is 64-bit. It is probably a matter of months away.</p>