Upgrade to Photoshop CS2 or buy Nikon Capture

[avril]

Have just purchased D200.I only have a copy of Photoshop CS. In order

to make full use RAW from the new camera I would need to upgrade to

CS2 which can accept the download to read raw from D200.The dilemma is

do I upgrade to CS2 or buy Nikon Capture 4.4? I have used PS for the

simplest of tasks but haven't gotten my head around curves and other

more complex features.I know it is a steep learning curve and have

done a great deal of reading on sites such as luminouslandscape .com

etc.As a temporary measure I can use conversion to the DNG format.

When I was younger I did a lot of work with B/W and am keen to reurn

to that area as well as get to grips with colour . What choice would

you make? I suppose I could wait and see what "Adobe Lightroom "

offers? Many thanks in advance.

[avril]

Sorry -it may have been more appropriate to place this in the Digital Darkroom forum.

[jc5066]

CS2 and/or both. Do you have Nikon View? It came free with the D100's. I don't think they included it in the D200's, I'll have to go look in my box.

 

I use View to transfer images plus you get a nice big thumbnail to review images. This is the sole purpose of Nikon View. IMO CS2 does a better job of converting and controlling the RAW features.

 

I use CS2 to open, convert, and edit.

[jon_noble]

This is a tough decision. I have both and i find both of them good. However, CS2 is good for manipulation but Capture is better for RAW conversion.

 

Just as the previous poster said capture is very very slow. On my system (2.2Ghz Sempron, 1GB Ram) it just seems to do nothing most of the time.

 

For critical raw conversion i would use Nikon capture. Batch processing - Pixmantec Rawshooter. leave CS2 just for manipulation. I despise cs2 raw conversions. soft all the time

[kuryan_thomas]

For the record, you don't need CS2 just to process D200 raw images. You can use Adobe's

free DNG converter to convert the D200 NEFs to DNGs, then process the DNGs in CS. It's a

two step process, but it saves some money.

 

If cost is not an issue, then as others have said, I would look at buying both.

[kuryan_thomas]

Oops, I just realized Peter already made this two-step recommendation earlier. Sorry for the

unnecessary post!

[dennis lee]

I agree completely with what Jon said and would like to add that CS2 comes

with Adobe Bridge which has become an indespensible editing tool for me.

 

I've heard that NC is better at the raw conversions, but I haven't tried it yet

myself. I download with Nikon View for the thumbnails and then go straight to

Bridge.

 

Adobe put out a book back when I started with PS4, it was called 'Classroom

in a Book.' it's not a Photoshop bible describing every feature and action but it

will give you hands on examples to work with, gradually progressing until you

have a very solid foundation of the tools and layers. It is EXCELLENT. I only

wish I could remember half the tricks it gave me. It's really a fun and easy way

to get into PS. I'm sure there is a current version.

 

So, I like CS2.

 

Dennis

[joseph_smith3]

Most people with D 200 or a D 2x and who shoot RAW use NC first for initial stuff, save the file as a TIFF and then go into PS2. I use just NC, ver 4.4. It gets the job done for me. Right now I do not own any version of PS. My digital workflow is somewhing like the one at this link: http://www.cleanimages.com/DDBlog-NikonCaptureAndThe%20D2x.asp Joe Smith

[paul_casi]

I open NEF in View and do about 90% of post in Capture -- I use PS CS for cropping and difficult problems. The d200 is so much easier than the D100--all of 100 shots needed work.

 

PaulC

[arkin_kora]

I often had numerous problems with Nikon software on my Mac whether it was Nikon Capture trial version or the Nikon viewer.

 

I do not like PS, has too many features, takes a lot of time to learn the program, couldn't get proper colors and sharpness in RAW format with D100 & also does not give full access to WB data with D2X.

 

I use Phase One's Capture One for raw processing, it does such a great job. Would strongly recommend the free trial version. They also have a limited edition.

[Richard Williams]

If you're using the DNG workaround, then you already have full control over raw processing. The CS2 upgrade will just give you the option of omitting the DNG step, and of course CS2's additional features (which you may or may not need). One thing worth doing is carefully comparing the quality of conversion between ACR (using your existing workflow) and Nikon's converters (try the free Nikon View download, or the trial version of Capture). This should help you decide whether Capture is worth buying. Note that Capture NX will be released soon, so you might want to hold out for that.

[michael-luthi]

why dont you try Rawshooter Essentials, its free, supports D200, allows a lot of adjustments and then you do your other adjustments with photoshop....

Rawshooter Essentials can be downloaded from www.pixmantec.com

[frank_meeker]

Bibble 4.5 0r 4.6 (for intel-equipped Macs) is a great alternative to NC. There is a pro version

and a lite version. There is also a free trial that one can try. It seems to be a much faster

converter with a faster workflow that NC. After buying the last 3 versions of NC, I've gone to

Bibble and never looked back. www.bibblelabs.com (both Mac and PC)

 

Regards,

 

Frank M.

[lex_jenkins]

Bibble Pro now includes Noise Ninja, a much more effective noise reduction utility than the useless tool in Capture. And the most recent update promises quicker and easier tweaking. I just downloaded a demo so it'll be interesting to see how well it works.