Nikon transfer, View NX

<p>Iam very confused about the programs. I stored photos on I photo and tried to open them in Capture NX2 but it doesnt seem to be able to read the files on its own. Now do I need Nikon transfer/View NX to remedy this situation? Do i need both or just one..And what do they really do? will they act like I photo? Is one "better" than the other? P.s. Does any1 know if I can use a watermarking program for copyright purposes on the photo iam editing in Capture NX2? Thanks 4 any feedback!</p>

<p>Since Nikon Transfer and Nikon View NX are free and since Nikon View NX can handle NEF files better, you should use the Transfer to transfer NEF files to your computer and they will be automatically opened in View for adjustment and conversion to JPEG or TIFF. I don't think View NX can open JPEGs that are not imported by Transfer. View NX is designed to process only Nikon NEF (RAW) files. If you just shoot JPEG and you only have iPhoto, then I would just use the tools in iPhoto for adjustments. For family pictures, iPhoto works really well. </p>

<p>Welcome to the wonderful world of "digital workflow." :)</p>

<p>As CC suggests, it might be better to do the following:</p>

<p>(1) transfer your files using Transfer NX<br>

(2) review them initially in View NX<br>

(3) adjust, resize, and convert your photos in View NX or Capture NX 2<br>

(4) import your favorites into iPhoto later for sharing, etc.</p>

<p>I don't know much about iPhoto, but it appears to be sort of a one-way street. If you export images from iPhoto, they're not going to be in their original form. View NX simply copies your NEF and JPEG files directly to your hard drive where you can do just about anything with them including processing them in Capture NX, Photoshop, etc. This approach gives you many more options.</p>

 

<p>It seems to me that iPhoto (and Aperture as well) has separate working archives ("Library") that doesn`t allow to work in another app (except plunggins). Unless you export your archives, I`m afraid you are limited here. I don`t know if iPhoto creates a "master file" (apart from the "Library") when transfering the original archives from the camera; if so I think it could be opened directly from any other app.<br /> I never download my pics from any camera with other but Nikon Transfer (as said it`s free and works pretty well, I use it also with my Canon JPEG stuff) .</p>

<p>Which is better? I like to use Nikon Transfer to get the photos from the camera, Nikon View for viewing and organizing, NX2 for editing and resizing. NX2 could act as a viewer like Nikon View, but I prefer to use the latter. <br /> When I need specific capabilities, I use Ps or Aperture. If I`m in a hurry, I prefer to jump directly from View to Aperture (roughly speaking, the pro version of iPhoto).</p>

<p>Right now I didn`t found a watermarking or copyright writer to work directly on NX2... it`d be great to have it. I must use Aperture or Ps for this purposes, even when I`m editing in NX2 (which most of the times I prefer).</p>

<p>Both ViewNX and Capture NX can open NEFs, jpegs and tiffs from any folder. It doesn't matter how the tiffs or jpegs were created, and Transfer is completely optional (I just use the operating system to copy images from media cards to hard disks). For me, browsing a folder in VNX and using 'open with' to load a single image into CNX works well.</p>

<p>Jose / others - you should know that I recently wrote to Nik software (after speaking offline to a few photo.net members about the borders and watermarks issue) and asked whether they were considering a plug-in for this kind of 'photo finishing' that would integrate as well into NX2 as some of their other products do, for example Color Efex.</p>

<p>I actually got a reasonably lengthy response saying they had been thinking about it, they would forward my email to their product development team.</p>

<p>If that ends up happening then for me at least the Transfer - View - NX2 (+ plug-ins) will be all I wish for in post production. Caveat of course is that I'm an amateur that only does 5-10 images at a time, and don't have the bulk processing needs of say a wedding pro or something....</p>

<blockquote>

<p>If you export images from iPhoto, they're not going to be in their original form.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>In iPhoto, you have the option to export in different formats (original, current, jpeg, tiff, or png). The "current or original" export is NEF files for Nikon if shot raw, so it would seem that Capture would recognize it. If you shot in jpeg and export as "current/original", any picture viewer will be able to open it. I downloaded ViewNX, but am so used to iPhoto, decided to just use that since it's easier for me, and do post processing in Photoshop. I'd assume you could do the same thing with Capture. Photoshop has a watermark feature, but since I don't know Capture, not sure about that aspect.</p>

<p>This is very good info. I have my own confusion with all this too. Can someone please add, when you post from crop format in NX to make files for Photonet, what do you all actually resize to. I use the NX etc and had photos rejected, too big, then finally at 25% using a different program my son downloaded, they posted, but I still don't understand the optimum posting sizes using the Nikon programs. Sorry, I'm really digital dumb and this is just faling into place for me so I can't explain it better.</p>

<p>Dave, I suppose you`re refering to Capture <strong>NX</strong>... (there is View <strong>NX</strong>, too).</p>

<p>With your image on the screen, under the tab "Edit", select "Size/Resolution". Into the editing bar at right a new box will appear; click on "Change image size" and fill the width and height box. This box can be filled either in percentage (%) or pixels. Obviously you want pixels. Maximum width should be <em>under</em> 700 pixels for inline posting on e.g. the Wed Pics.</p>

<p>In the process of "saving as" .jpg, the system will ask you for the compression level or image quality. It will result in the final file size (Kb).</p>

<p>That is another issue with NX, the lack of previsualization; I`d like to see at least the resulting file size before saving, like in Ps.</p>

<p>dave, when you finish your edit in NX, save as (ctrl+shift) jpg format.<br>

go back to ViewNX, find the jpg where you saved it. either from thumbnail or in preview, right click and pick output. the middle section gives the option of saving a specific number of pixel. check the box to select that option, then type 700 into the box below. then click the "convert" button at the bottom.<br>

it will make a copy of the jpg that is exactly the right pixel dimensions to display in PN. the save-as quality settings jose was talking about, when set to the middle position (good balance) will make the file small enough to satisfy the wed pic size recommendations. </p>

<p>Dave, you can also store specific edit steps as "stored adjustments". For my website, I just made one to save for "websize"; this way you can output and resize the images in a batch process, rather than one by one.<br>

So you follow the steps Jose outlines above, and then in the right-hand size panel, you see the "size/resolution" edit-item added. Right-click, and choose "save adjustments".<br>

Now for each picture in the browser window (or a selection of multiple files), or one opened to edit, in Capture NX2, you can "load adjustment", and presto: one photo.net-sized image ready for export.</p>