NX2 or Adobe Photoshop??

<p>Im new to the SLR photography and just bought a D90 with 18-105mm and 70-300mm vr lenses.... My question is im what program would i need or would be sufficiant enough for me? I mainly want to edit photos but nothing to crazy make them look more professional through a program. What programs do you guys recommend should i get Nikons program or should i get Adobe Photoshop CS4 now do i need of C24 because its extremely expensive or would something like the essentials be good enough for just photography? Thanx for the help in advance!</p>

<p>How about Adobe LightRoom? Keep in mind that LightRoom 3 beta is already available. If you buy 2 now, you'll may need to upgrade and pay again soon.</p>

<p>PhotoShop, LightRoom, and NX2 are all avaialble for a 30-day trial. You might as well download the trial and determine for yourself. Personally I am not crazy about Nikon's software, and PhotoShop is overly complicated for casual users. That is why I think LightRoom is a good option. You can start with the LightRoom 3 beta and use that for free as long as the beta lasts.</p>

<p>But only you can decide what you prefer.</p>

<p>The intermediate Adobe program called 'Lightroom' is very popular and as far as I have seen provides great functionality both in workflow/archiving and most common editing functions. Its one you will probably be told a lot to consider in response to your question and from what I've seen I agree that it may suit your needs well.</p>

<p>Personally I use the Nikon/Nik Software tools including NX2 and really like them.</p>

<p>One strong suggestion is that both Lightroom and NX2 offer 30-day trial downloads. Why don't you spend a few days playing around in each, getting a feel for them, and make your decision at that point?</p>

<p>If you do not need to do a lot of larger frame printings on a good to expensive large format printer, there's no need for PS/CS4.</p>

<p>The current NX2 is what I use day in day out for web presentations. There are occasional instances where I need fine-grain dodging/burning using layers but even these can now be done easily using U-point. D-lighting in NX2 is incredibly useful if you are into stretching the dynamic range.</p>

<p>The only issue I have with using Nikon Capture NX2 and ViewNX is that they are still not be very stable. Mine crashes and freezes occasionally on Windows7 and Vista. If I edit multiple images in one sitting, it looks like there's some memory leak somewhere and the program will run out of memory until I close it and restart it.</p>

<p>Oh, I forgot one feature which NX does not have: the ability to stitch multiple images. PS/CS4 has come a long way to do it automatically after you select the files. It can be improved further but as it is, it is already quite useful.</p>

 

<p> I just downloaded CS4 but it has many more programs to it stuff i wouldnt need similar to someone only needing word in Microsoft Office.... Im going to look into the Lightroom program you guys were speaking of. I did have NX2 trial but for some reason it shut off in a day wouldnt open again now everytime i reinstall it ..asks for a code to activate it!</p>

<p>If you are going to try LightRoom, look for on-line video tutorials by Julieanne Kost. They are free on Adobe's web site. She does a fine job and it is a good way to learn: <a href="http://www.jkost.com/lightroom.html">http://www.jkost.com/lightroom.html</a></p>

<p>Bjorn, it sounds like you got all of CS4 when you need just the Photoshop component. It is available separately, but it is still more than you probably want at this point. Lightroom should be the best single answer - even though I have not used the current version - for my purposes Capture NX2 is the best choice, with Photoshop for finishing. It is a matter of personal preferences and what you are trying to do.</p>

<p>LR has no ability to stitch images either.</p>

<p>NX2 for overall quality converting NEF files. Photoshop for all image manipulation work. Lightroom if you don't have the cash for Photoshop.</p>

<p>NX2, nothing else. Lightroom is nice for a high picture quantity workflow, but if it's about editing only, I would never spend the money (and for a complete workflow, you need Lightroom AND Photoshop, and for that money I would rather get a good lens).</p>

<p>In my tests, Nikon software still gets you better results in RAW conversion. I would go Adobe only if modifying pictures (not optimizing) would be a major issue in my workflow.</p>

<p>The proposal of our friends here is perfect: get trial versions. The problem with all of these programs is that even with a 30 day trial, you will have to learn the programs in order to get the best results. A program that is easy to handle on first sight may not get you the best results in the long run. Or the one that seems a bit strange and clumsy on first contact may result in a much leaner and faster workflow once you have come to know it.</p>

<p>Holger</p>

<p>Start with NX. If later you feel like you want more options, move to CS. I actually use both but 95% of the time use CS4.</p>

<p>NX2 is my favourite for RAW conversion and image adjustments... nothing else.</p>

<p>For image manipulation and layers work, I like to use Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. For many users I bet cheaper <em>Ps Elements</em> versions are -way more- than enough, at a much lower cost (I`ve got mine for free with a flat bed scanner). If you need the most sophisticated Ps high version features, you can buy it later.</p>

<p>I think that unless you spend many hours with trial versions, it`s difficult to know which one works for you. I remember all of them seemed too much sophisticated to me at first (now I`m missing some features on them!).</p>

<p>with you being new to SLR you may find the time it takes for post processing is more than you have to give. I do. I have an iMac and use primarily iPhoto for any quick overall touch ups and NX2 for any picture i want to really get into. I find i only use NX2 several times a month when i have a weekend with several hours free. Since i don't use it that much i also have limited knowledge about the program and it takes me longer. Once i retire, all this might change as time will become more abundant. :-) </p>

<p>Anyone who shoots Nikon's *.nef files will immedietly see the benefit of using Capture NX; you will too.<br>

NX does not do it all (That's what PS is for) but for RAW conversion, I've yet to see a valid arguement of anything better at this time. The results once you process RAW with NX is obvious..even to a novice.</p>

<p>Or another option would be Photshop Elemnts 8, will do all your editing and a lot more for a very reasonable price. NX2 is great, I use it for 99% of my images and it does everything I want it to, only using Photshop for more ambitious editing. Everyone seems to rave about Lightroom, but me personally, absolutely hate it, ive tried to get to grips with it but every time it gets used I get fed up with it and uninstall it.<br>

Another one you might want to look at is Gimp, does a lot of photoshoppy stuff, and the best thing about it is that it is FREE...</p>

<p>The biggest advantage of NX Capture is not only that it converts the raw files better, but it's the only program that recognizes your camera settings and show the picture accordingly AND it will save your NEF's with modification. I don't know any other program that does that.<br>

Now you can also add Color Efex 3.0 to NX and use pola, dream, soft focus and a lot of other filters. I have PS CS4, but I do almost all editting in NX Capture. I also have the D90 and I'm still amazed how much detail NXC is able to retrieve from dark and light parts.</p>

<p>I've been using Photoshop since version 3 to the latest which is CS4 but will highly recommend Lightroom which I now use to just edit and retouch my pictures. It's interface is really remarkable. If you have a mac Aperture is also really nice but Lightroom is still priced better. Most will probably say Photoshop but I think it has moved way beyond it's photo editing days and has become something completely different and geared more toward designers. I say this as someone who currently works as a web designer (but I have been a photographer and graphic designer in previous jobs before Lightroom was out and now can see why Adobe offers it) and 90% of my time in Photoshop is laying out design and interface for websites. I don't really use it much anymore for just photos.</p>

<p>my issue w/ NX2 is that I hate that I can only write out 70MB TIFF files from it for further processing/import by LR/PS. No, 8bit TIFF or JPG isn't an option. Also, there isn't a way to write out a modified .NEF so that it becomes the 'default'.</p>

<p>I like to use Capture One Pro 5.0, not to be confused with NX capture. I think it gives better results than camera raw (the CS4 converter) or the nikon programs. Again, available on a trial basis. I like it for details, then i open up the resulting image in CS4, it has a nice workflow arrangement too. The only thing i dont like about it is the sharpening, but i wouldn't sharpen in the raw conversion stage anyway. It depends on what you mean by 'editing' photos. All of the programs will do your basic exposure, colour correction, cropping etc if you want serious editing then photoshop is king, but you really have to use it to justify the price tag. If you want to use your in-camera settings then the nikon software is best, personally i just want either the image with no automatic adjustments in camera and as much information as possible - so i get to make all the choices, or i want a quick jpeg straight out of the camera with no post processing at all. try them all, if you are really into this part of photography then the time wont be wasted.</p>

<p>I thought I'd add this observation too. It's funny because I can almost always tell when someone who only has a photography background has been using photoshop. They tend to want to play around with all the other tools that are meant for other things and they end up with photos that look pretty bizzare, strange and unrealistic to the designer's eye. That's where we coin the phrase "Looks photoshopped."<br /> <br /> They are usually distorted montages or collages like this one:<br /> http://www.photo.net/photo/10444658<br>

or this one here: <br /> http://www.photo.net/photo/10432403<br>

I've seen a lot of them highly rated here on photo.net, colors are blown out, saturated, or sharpened so high that it may look good on screen but when it comes to pre-press or printing techniques it would look horrible, but yet a lot of photographers praise their work. I think once you overmanipulate something it is no longer a photograph. You didn't capture that. It becomes design and it shouldn't be on a site like this one which promotes photography. I believe that good photography is being able to capture an image so well that when you take it into a program like photoshop you only have to do minor tweaks like you would in a darkroom. That's another reason I recommend Lightroom, because it sticks to the tools that benefit photographers.</p>

<p>For someone who is just beginning to learn about editing and processing digital files, I think Capture NX2 is likely to provide the easiest path to successful results. The control point interface makes it very easy to get nice, natural looking images with a minimum of effort. NX2 won't do everything that CS4 will do, but it is much less expensive and has much less of a learning curve. If you use NX2 for a while and then find that you need to do more, you can always buy CS4 when you really need it and know what it will do. NX2 has a 60 day free trial, so it makes sense to start with that. Lightroom is also easier to learn than CS4, but it is less powerful in editing than NX2--Lightroom is strongest in its file management capabilities...the ability to organize many thousands of images.</p>

<p>I've been an NX user since my Fuji S2 days, years ago. Over the ensuing years and various release editions, it continues to offer the most frustrating interface I have ever used in a photo editing program.</p>

<p>While the control point technology is occasionally useful, the ends just don't justify the awkward means. If it would output a DNG I would use NX2 more (to import into LR), and then just as a default converter, which it does well. If all you want is a TIF that looks like your in-camera JPG, then it will work fine for that purpose.</p>

<p>But for me, it continues to be just another $200 I'll never see again, and that's about it. It's desktop icon is in my "unused icon" folder... t</p>

<p>This discussion piqued my interest in NX, which i used when i got my first nikon but havent used in the years since. Ive just had a look and run some tests. The control point system is quite novel and i may use it for some quick edits, like a faster but innacurate form of layer masks. More importantly, running raw conversions against camera raw and capture one, it actually does very well. I aimed to disable all sharpening, noise reduction and look at the pure raw conversion. NX managed to apply a couple of mild adjustments despite my best efforts including a little auto clipping, but the pure sharpness was slightly better than capture one, and much better than camera raw. Shame it automatically saves to a 16bit tiff, which is usually fine but something i will have to keep in mind. The layout of NX is not particulally user friendly, they could take some lessons from their competitors, but the conversion was very good. Now if i can just find a raw converter with the accuracy and control points of NX, the exposure, colour and distortion controls of Capture one, and the B&W control that camera raw allows.</p>

<p>Richard -- I have been using NX for the past couple of months (Nikon actually provides a *60* day trial) and I've been really pleased with the B/W conversion tools. Also, are you sure it autosaves to TIFF? I generally save to NEF and then export to JPEG or TIFF as appropriate. Maybe I misunderstood...<br>

You're right about the interface, although once you get the hang of it, I've found that it works very well. For most of the things I do (basic adjustments, b/w conversions, NEF conversions), it works much more smoothly on my computer than PSE or ACR. NX2 also just feels more "photographic" to me -- making adjustments feels a lot like making a print, dodging, burning, etc in the darkroom. <br>

Anyway, mark me down as a fan of NX2 -- I'll be buying it as soon as my 60 days are up.</p>

<p>I'm a beginner of few years so... I've tried Photoshop CS something and I didn't have success. My best combination is Photoshop Element 7 and lately Lightroom 3 Beta. Fits me well. About NX2, I installed the trial and, suprisingly, I can't open me .NEF file from my D300.<br>

I'll stay with Lightroom and PSE.</p>