Start-up with Capture NX2

<p>My environment: Windows XP/SP3 with 4Gb running ok, and I treat digital images both from DSLR (Nikon D300 shooting .nef) as well as from scanned films (B&W and color with Nikon LS5000 producing .tiff).<br>

I downloaded NX2 for trial, and before the expiration date of the trial, I bought a licence, put it in NX2 and started to use the product.<br>

For a certain amount of time (a couple of months) everything went ok, but from a certain moment I have had problems with .tiff / .jpeg files (mistaking about color spaces, tools like USM or Noise Reduction not working) and at the end with the termination of the NX2 task with a diagnostic message like:<br>

1. "...operation not permitted..... division by zero"<br>

2. "Avviso (italian for advice) [34]".<br>

I called the dealer support center and they adviced me to uninstall the product (with specific tool for cleaning system registers) and install it again.<br>

After having done everything, I started NX2 and went to browse the directory where I copy the DSLR images (now there are more than 800 images), and the system started to be a kind of stuck up: NX2 was using between 45 - 53 % of the CPU time, and the browser wasn't showing any preview of the thumbnail of the images.<br>

I left it working, but at the end of the day I had to turn of the PC; this morning I have started to work with NX2, and everything "seems" to be ok.<br>

Does anyone have met such situation or can give me explanation/advise ?<br>

Thanks.<br>

Mauro</p>

<p>Mauro,<br>

Generating 800 thumbnails cost time, and the browser in CNX2 can be very slow at that. Smaller folders will help.<br>

A somewhat nicer solution (I think) for browsing, tagging, sorting etc. is ViewNX 2. It's faster than CNX2 for browsing pictures, it's easy to see photos quickly full screen and/or at 100% to check details. And it works together well with Capture NX2. So, you may want to download this free program from <a href="http://www.nikon.it">www.nikon.it</a>, and use it instead for the 'workflow' part for Capture NX2.</p>

<p>Thanks Wouter.<br>

I understand your consideration, but what seems funny to me is that I had to shut down the computer while NX2 was still "working" at 50% of CPU time, and now everything looks OK, also the DSLR images directory (the thumbnail are correct).<br>

As for ViewNX2, I tried it, but I had similar problems.<br>

Anyhow, my keypoint is that I have to use keywords (as in IPTC Metadata) becasue the film images are a lot more than digital (over 2,000) and not only mine: images coming from a period of years from 'early '40 to late '70.<br>

I have Adobe Bridge, wich I intend to use as cataloger and the best tool to retrieve image with KEYWORDS, which is very important for me.<br>

Any other suggestion ?<br>

Thanks.<br>

Mauro</p>

<p>My NX2 was working just fine until I decided to load down the latest version. However, from then on I have had problems with it - shutting down every time I try to delete a pic or make a new folder. I then tried to download the older version from the net, but they keep defaulting to the newer one - damn it. I have read of many people having problems with NX2 - a shame cause it is actually a great little program. I use it in conjunction with photoshop and Lightroom 3.<br>

All the best in your quest!</p>

<p>Philip</p><div></div>

<p>Mauro, understand; I have no experience with Bridge, but for finding images per keyword, the Nikon software is not too great for sure. I'd seriously consider working with much smaller folders. For Adobe Bridge, it won't matter whether it's all spread among folders with just ~100 to 300 images, but for CNX2, it makes a great difference in my experience.</p>

<p>As for what happened, with the 50% CPU usage... well, Capture NX2 has quirks. Lots of quirks. I stopped worrying about it. Mine crashes occassionally, or suddenly I can only use the menu, but not any icon... it's a temperamental program, but the results are worth it (to me, at least, for sure with D300 high iso NEFs). When things stop working in CNX2, try to clear the cache; this can be done from the preferences. Often, something goes wrong there causing mysterious strange effects on the program.</p>

<p>Clear your thumbnail and working cache areas. If possible put the cache and the work you're doing on different drives. I use NX2 daily, on a range of machines including a wimpy laptop and some seriously overpowered workstations. It behaves better on Win7 than it did on XP, for me. Do try breaking your large projects up into folders with smaller numbers of files - it does help as NX2 (View and Capture, both) work to manage those thumbnails. It does sound to me like you have some fouled up files in Capture's cache.<br /><br />Edit -> Preferences -> Cache Settings<br /><br />Oh, and using View NX2 as a front-end browser for Capture NX2 is a very workable idea. If you never use Capture's file browser for a given browser, and only launch files into it for editing, your machine will have less to chew on, even though you'll have both apps running. I do most of my image scoring/triage in View, editing in Capture, and batch processing to output files in Capture. Once in a blue moon I'll open up some other sort of pixel editing program to do something fancy (delicate cloning, text, borders, etc).</p>

<p>Wouter,<br>

I have some knowledge about sw and how it works, and this is why I have caches on disk D:\ and not on C:\; your suggestion seems pretty good, and if I ever will get into troubles, I will try your suggestion. As for functionalities, I find results with NX2 at least as good, and often better, than what I have obtained with CS3 used for a couple of years, therefore I wil try to have NX2 working at the best.</p>

<p>Philip, I have received from the Italian Nikon dealer, when asked about the problems I was experiencing, the links to:<br>

1- Regsweeper: it's a smal product that cleans all register entries of NX2 that are left from the standard uninstall Windows procedure<br>

2 - the link to NX2 vers. 2.2.6: it's from Europe Support Center; I don't know where you are writing from, therefore I don't know if your product key is valid for this download (sometimes sw vendors do make difference in between USA, Europe and other markets); the link URL is : <a href="https://nikoneurope-it.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/47611" target="_blank">https://nikoneurope-it.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/47611</a> <br>

Hope might work for you.<br>

Thanks.<br>

Mauro</p>

<br />

<p>Matt,<br>

I haven't read your answer befoer my 11:01 response: it looks like I was right !<br>

It's hard for me to reduce directories' dimension splitting images on different directories; BTW, often the same subject comes from bothe digital and films shots, and working out a directories' strycture will lead me to have a mess after six-ten months. <br>

I ama going to try ViewNX2, and see how I can manage the situation, that now is already a probem; the fact is that Adobe Bridge seems to be able to work with very largtefile, able to handle keywords and is a good "front-end" from where opening an image directly into NX2.<br>

I will let you know. Thanks.<br>

Mauro</p>

<p>Mauro I had similar problems with NX2 which were recently posted on this forum. I wrote, and emailed, Nikon UK raising the issues after the technical support guys were unable to help me solve the problems. However, Nikon UK did not respond at all and I was forced to write a personal letter to the President of Nikon Corporation in Japan. This resulted in an apology from Nikon Europe for the lack of response. However, I doubt if anyone will get Nikon to admit that there is a problem with the software.<br>

I have now moved to Photoshop CS5 which is very stable and does not constantly fall over the way NX2 does. Ocasionally I use NX2 U Point Technology for convenience but I am happy I made the switch as it has vastly improved my workflow.<br>

If you wish to write to Nikon Europe direct, I can give you a name and address of the senior manager who wrote to me. It might not solve your problem but it might 'help' Nikon to do something.<br>

Best of luck </p>

<p>Frank,<br>

the response from the Italian dealer is ok, and I have given them documentation in another situation, hoping that this will lead to better and more stable products in a near future.<br>

I have experienced problems with CS3 and with Adobe, and I don't want to go to CS5, unless I will be compelled by a real and definitive impossibility to treat my images with NX2 which seems, if "treated" correctly, to give great results not only with the .nef, but also with scanned films, both B&W and colors, and with delicate functions, like the automatic retouch brush (healing brush in CS) which is fundamental to recover old B&W film images.<br>

So, to the next.<br>

Thanks.<br>

Mauro</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Mauro, like Matt said, getting your cache settings set correctly is extremely important for NX2 and for View NX. There are two cache settings for NX2; one for ViewNX. You need to optimize all of them your your pc and its hard drives. <br>

My practice is to use View NX as the browser for NX2 like Matt describes. I do this on different pcs--running XP pro (old laptop) and Win 7. I find that this works better than the browser in NX2.<br>

Do an Internet search for "cache settings NX2 After the Shoot". This book, NX 2, After the Shoot, is a very good book on how to use NX2.<br>

Make sure you have almost no programs running in the background. These will slow down your pc. One of the biggest is probably your anti virus program. You can disable it while you are running NX2. I now use only Microsoft Security Essentials.<br>

Joe Smith</p>

 

<p>Joseph,<br>

thanks for the advice; I'll be right after the book; aside of the book, would you please tell me what settings you are working with (for XP Pro)? User's experience is often better than any other things.<br>

I have these settings in Preferences > Cache Settings Window:<br>

- 2876 MB Space used for thumbnails<br>

- Use cache for images: checked<br>

- Save in cache memory the files saved in the editor: checked<br>

- Limit cache dimensions: checked<br>

- dimension choosed: 40 GB/1379 Images.<br>

Can these settings work ?<br>

Thanks.<br>

Mauro</p>

<p>maybe... Save in cache memory the files saved in the editor: uncheck</p>

<p>Did you update NX2 to the latest version? the previous versions were not as stable. For all your metadata needs, use photomechanic... it's way more cool. I nearly never use the browser in CNX2 as it insists on creating the highest quality thumbnail possible and takes much time and CPU.</p>

<p>I use vista sp2 and CNX2 almost never crashes with camera NEF. It does crash more with 70mb film scans and many adjustment steps. I've never had a problem with color profiles but the settings are tricky (there is no ask for mismatch option).</p>

<p>Indraneel,<br>

I have a workflow directory structure that fit with all I have to do, and on which tipe (.nef vs. .tiff from scan) of images, therefore I avoid to "trouble" chache managment of NX2.<br>

As in a previous post, Philip experienced problems with the 2.2.7 version, but I am going to use this version unless I get very serious problems.<br>

As for images dimensions, I never go over 35 mb of the .nef (beause I shoot in 14 bpc mode), and the scannned images I never go over 25 mb, therefore files dimensions shouldn't be an issue, and I have never had problems that I could relate to the dimensions of the files.<br>

Thanks.<br>

Mauro</p>

<p>Mauro,<br>

I just checked my settings. First, the settings are dependent on the size of your internal and external hard disks on your XP Pro pc machine. Mine is a laptop with only 2 GB of RAM and one internal hard drive, drive C which is only 70GB RAM. These are very small by today’s standards.<br>

My settings are the same as yours except for these:<br>

Browsing 15 MB. <br>

Editing, 18.21 GB or 224 images, due to the small size of my C drive and other programs on this pc. If I used this machine a lot for NX2, I would add a fast external hard drive, probably 500 GB, and devote all of it to cache.<br>

For others, I use View NX2, ver 2.1.2 as my browser for NX2. For NX2, I am using version 2.2.7.<br>

I have a friend of mine who uses Photo Mechanic to do his keywording of his NEF images. He adds the info directly into the NEF files, not into sidecar files. I might switch to this program one of these days.<br>

Joe Smith</p>

<p>Joseph,<br>

I have been working with the settings I wrote in the June 26th post, having changed only the "Save in cache memory the files saved in the editor" that now is UNCHECKED.<br>

I have the impression that not asking NX2 to do funny tasks (like Saving Versions, etc.), the product is working fine and with good performances and results: final printings with my Epson R1800 (calibrated with the Spyder3) are quite satisfying, both for color and B&W images.<br>

As for keywording, I am using Adobe Bridge (also as browsing). opening from there into NX2 the images I have to treat; I have been using for more than 2 years >Bridge (and Pshp CS3) so that I have already keyworded so many images that I really don't know how to export all those settings to PhotoMechanic: other people have told me about that product, but for the above reason I think I will go on using Bridge until problems.<br>

Thanks<br>

Mauro</p>

<p>Mauro, I would leave the "Cache Files Saved" box checked. This way if you go back to that NEF file, it is there already processed and ready for use--like printing or another edit step. If you do not Save it, when you go back to it, the program has to recreate all of the edits again. This takes time.<br>

I do agree that once you have finished with a big batch of images, you can Clear Cache so you have max space available for your next batch of new images. <br>

You did not say whether your pc is a laptop or a desktop. If you can add another fast internal drive to your pc or an external hard drive with a fast interface like FireWire to hold the NX2 temporary data, your pc will run the fastest. You do this by going to Edit, Preferences, General and change the location for Temporary Data. This technique works for temp files for all programs.<br>

Joe Smith</p>

 

<p>I run NX2 and CS5 on Win 7 on a three-year-old HP computer and they NEVER crash. Having 8 gigs of memory probably helps but I've run the different versions of NX and NX2 on XP and Vista platforms, too and seldom have had any problems. BUT, with the older machines and OS one had to be patient as far as waiting for thumbnails and image loading.</p>

<p>Thanks for your indications.<br>

After the reinstall of NX2, I have just had one problem, but the dump of th memory (in Application Event Visualizer) has showed that the problem was mostly about .NET.<br>

My pc is a desktop Intel 2 Duo 2.6 Ghz procesor, with 4 Gb of RAM; the desktop has 2 HDD: C:\ (system, 150 Gb) and D:\ (data, 250 Gb), and I have 3 external drives SATA USB2 for backup and other usage.<br>

I modified in Preferences both cache and temporary files to 2 directories in D:\, and open images for editing or whatever else from Bridge CS3, wich runs well and is a very good tool for handling directories, that have a large nummber of images, with keywords criteria .<br>

Thanks for the suport.<br>

Mauro</p>