What is a good photo editing software for Nikon D300 Raw files?

[marklcooper]

I'm an amateur photographer. I purchased a D300 a little over a month ago and it did not come with any photo editing

software. All my pictures have been shot with RAW + JPEG files. Most of my pictures will be used on the web. I hope

to print a select few on my Epson P2200 for framing. The JPEG's created using the default camera settings have

been more than adequate for casual use.

 

I'm looking for software that will allow me to play with the raw files. I'd like to sharpen, brighten if needed, create

'frames' for posting on web sites, maybe a little perspective adjustment, place a copyright notice, etc. Nothing fancy. I

won't be shooting any friend's weddings. I'm looking for ease of use. I won't be doing this on a regular basis so I'll have

a difficult time developing good work flow habits. I have a modern laptop with Windows Vista, 4 GB RAM, and a

decently fast dual core processor.

 

Any recommendations?

 

Thanks in advance - Mark

[tonybynum]

Look in the box, as I recall, the d300 shipped with nikon capture. . . Us that, you paid for it already. . . .

[ronald_moravec1]

Gimp, Picasa, Photoshop Mechanic, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop CS4, Doctor Optics, Raw Therapee. Bibble,

Nikon NX2, Capture 1 & more that I can`t remember.

 

One of the two PS versions is written about most here and there is the most on-line tutorials.

 

If you want camera settings beyond WB, saturation, contrast, to carry over to the converter, NX 2 or maybe what

came with your camera would be the only choice. You can achieve the same end result however with PS.

 

I love the converter ACR with Elements or CS4. NX 2 is unique and fun to work. I suggest you do a trial of Elements

and NX 2. Both available on line free for 30 days. Don`t do both at the same time. Look at online tutorials first to

see how they work so as not to cut into the trial time.

[Matt Laur]

If you bought the D300 within the calendar/marketing window that provides a free license for Capture NX2, then you're golden. That's the tool. If you have to pay for something, then at least download the 60-day free trial from Nikon. You do need a fairly stout computer to make good use of any of these tools, so make sure you've got some disk space and at least 2GB of RAM. Look into calibrating your display, too - that really does matter.

[ann_clancy6]

there is also toneup3 which was developed speficially for nikons and cost about 20 dollars, has a free trial period and does a very good job of converting raw files

[marklcooper]

Tony & Matt - I understand the first 300,000 sold had the free software. I've checked and double-

checked my box - no free software or coupons for free software.

 

I've played with The Gimp, Picasa 3, Elements 2, and Capture NX2. Because I don't do much photo

editing I was hoping for input from folks that have gone through the learning curve on these programs

and have a suggestion as to which one is easier to use for the casual user.

 

Thanks - Mark

[keith_b1]

Adobe Lightroom is fairly easy to stumble your way through without any pre-education...ask me how I know! Works fine,

maybe a little slow, on my iBook G4 w/ 1.5G RAM. The laptop display cannot show all the subtleties in the image, but you

probably already know that.

[ronald_moravec1]

Anything requires some dedication to learn. The more it does, the more there is to learn, and the more dedicated you become.

 

As you become proficient, you will want to do more and more.

 

Do not jump around the whole program. Start with color balance, then exposure, then contrast or curve shape, then brightness.

[Carl Stone]

First, the free copies of Capture NX 2 that came with the D300 are long gone. What you did get was the 60 day free trial. Personally, I

rather like NX 2, but I shoot a D200. There is a great book on NX 2 by Ben Long, titled Real World Capture NX 2. It explains the features

and workflow of NX/NX 2 very well.

 

A pro that I know also just got the D300, and he prefers Bibble for editing his D300 images. He did some tests using NX, ACR, Bibble,

and LightRoom. Those tests showed the most detail on opening an image to come from Bibble, with NX a close second. I took one of

his images and put it through NX 2 and sent it to him. He said he liked it, but he didn't say if he thought it was better than Bibble.

 

There are a lot of choices for editing programs, my favorite for my D200 is NX/NX 2. I also have other editors, Aperture 2, LightZone,

Adobe PS CS 3, etc. For the basics I like Capture, and then if more horsepower is needed there is always CS 3. I have not tried

LightRoom because it uses the same editor that I already have in ACR 4.

[timkeller]

I got my D300 when it came out a year ago; it came with Capture NX, which has been improved through free upgrades since then. I

enjoy it and find that it does well almost everything I need. I move the image into Photoshop to remove dust spots and, rarely, to add

a frame; I'm going to start putting some watermark identification on images, and that will be done in Photoshop. Good luck, Mark.

[bruce_margolis]

Mark, obviously you don't qualify for the free NX but not-so-bad-news....... if you can find a dealer out there still selling NX 1.x, there is a free upgrade to NX2 until 12/31. Less expensive way to pick up the new version, actually less than I paid for an upgrade.

 

Much as I love the software, it won't do all the things you want it to do. It is great for converting RAW to JPEG -- and U-point is fantastic -- but it doesn't have the bells and whistles that Adobe is known for such as frames and their clone tool.

 

You might want to look at Photoshop's Elements program. The current version is pretty sophisticated, though some adjustments are 8-bit, not 16-bit. It will certainly do everything you are asking. Will it do it as well as NX2? Well..........

 

Decide for yourself. Both have free trials.

[Carl Stone]

Bruce, I have NX1, and I do NOT have any free upgrades to NX 2 coming. I don't know where you got your info, but you

should post it, because I can't find it anywhere. The NX 1 versions that I could find mentioned nothing about a free upgrade

to NX 2. I can upgrade to NX 2 for $98.

[Carl Stone]

Bruce, let me amend that by saying that you can get a free upgrade if you buy the retail version of NX 1, but it's the same

price as NX 2, and more expensive then the upgrade to NX 2. I don't see why one should now buy NX 1.

[bruce_margolis]

I'll tell you why, Carl. the price for NX1 at my local store was lower than the price for NX2 upgrade. They explained it this way.........

 

Nikon doesn't want back all those unused NX1.x boxes so they made a deal with the dealers..... Nikon would offer a free upgrade to NX2 to anyone who bought NX1. I think the dates were 5/31 until 12/31 of this year.

 

My local dealer was selling their copies of NX1.x for $90. That was less than my upgrade price, which I believe was $109 or something like that, and WAY less than the retail price of NX2 which I think was something like $180. All of this is US dollars.

 

The free upgrade comes from here........

 

http://nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Imaging-Software/25338/Capture-NX.html

[steve_bingham]

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 (?) from Walmart, etc. $79.95. It uses Adobe Camera Raw. You will need to download version 4.6 (free).

[Carl Stone]

Okay, Bruce, I didn't see any NX 1 prices that low, but I looked online. Perhaps some local dealers are discounting NX 1 to prices under

the NX 2 upgrade.

[bruce_margolis]

You might be right, Carl. In any case, I would think virtually all dealers that have remaining stock of NX1 are selling it at less than the cost of NX2.

 

If you don't have NX1 and want to buy NX2, it certainly makes more sense to pick up NX1 and take advantage of the free upgrade. If you already have NX1, the least expensive way to move up to NX2 for most people is just buy the upgrade. That's the way I did it.

[Carl Stone]

Well, NX v1 is $125 at B&H, and $170 at Amazon, I didn't pursue every link to NX v1. Maybe one can bargain over the

price, depending on the seller. I'm using the 60 day free trial of NX 2, and I'll buy the upgrade next month.

[cc_chang1]

You can download (1) "Nikon Transfer" to transfer files from you camera and (2) "Nikon View" to allow for basic

editing (exposure, white balance, etc) of your NEF files. Both are free from Nikon, and they preserve the

sharpness and color that Nikon has intended for these camera.

[joel_tomaneng2]

My vote -- Photoshop Elements. I'm currently running version 6. It address all of your concerns -- RAW + JPEG handling, Printing, Web Posting, Basic Adjustments, Copyright Notice. Most importantly, it addresses ease of use. I've tried dozens of photo editors/organizers, and found that this package addresses the ease of use situation the best. Workflow is quick/easy to learn -- I just dump attach the card to my computer and it dumps the pictures to a folder of my choice, then I spend a few minutes attaching some metadata to the phots (or not). The organizer allows you to view your photos either by a date range, as well as tags you create to organize your photos -- no need to physically move the files around. Anyhow, you can give a try by downloading the trial from Adobe. If you want to purchase, is around $80.

[steve_c.5]

Most folks on Photo.net seem to have overwhelmingly chosen Lightroom (I think some don't really know anything else is out there), but I tried it and hated it. I don't like how you have to "import" a folder of images just to work on them, and then have to export the images afterward, etc. There are alternatives, though, and way less expensive too...

 

To me, ACDSee Pro 2 is a far better designed product, and one which I use 95% of the time. I use Photoshop CS3 for more detailed editing the other 5% of the time. ACDSee is also half the price of Lightroom ($130 vs. $260), doesn't require you to import a folder of images just to work on them (you simply navigate folders like with Windows Explorer), has the best shadow/highlight adjustments in the business, gives you very fine control of RAW conversions, speeds workflow with a whole range of selectable batch processing adjustments, and does so many things well that you'd be hard pressed to beat it for the money.

 

The shadow/highlight equalizer control in the product is like a series of 9 sliders that can selectively brighten or darken specific tonal ranges, giving you very fine control of brightening or darkening areas wtihout disturbing the rest of the image. You also have this feature in the RAW converter of the program, which is not available with any other product. You can brighten those shady areas or bring back those white details that you may have thought were blown completely due to the dynamic range limitations of your camera. And, it retains the last setting for all the edit controls, so you can easily apply them to the next image, etc.

 

Download their free trial and give it a go.

[lockett_yee1]

What if you purchased your camera before 5/31? My D300 came bundled with the Capture NX software so am I eligible for the upgrade to NX 2?

[Carl Stone]

No.