My D800E arrived today no Capture NX2 software

[habsphoto]

<p>I'm bummed I've spent the day playing wit this stellar Nikon D800E camera. Hunted down some tough moiré prone subjects, and then got home and inserted the included disc to find out that Nikon ViewNX2 is included but it won't reduce the moiré. Only Nikon CaptureNX2 will fix that and that's $140 bucks extra. <br>

After writing a blog about how many new cool parts of the camera I found, I had to go back and update the last paragraph to warn people that it's not the complete package I expected from Nikon. I uploaded full size photos to my flickr photo stream too if you want to get a feel for what a 7360 pixel wide image looks like. It's a WOW to see even with the lame photos I took today.<br>

I can't believe that they bundled it for free in the UK. Were other countries also not comped CaptureNX2 with their D800Es? Let me know. <br>

The blog is here: http://schafphoto.typepad.com/1k-words-on-photography/<br>

And the flickr photo stream photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schafphoto/sets/72157629490955922/<br>

Stephen Schafer, HABS, HAER, HALS Photography, Ventura California</p>

 

[eric_arnold]

<p>well,it certainly produces a large file.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>For what it's worth I'd agree that Nikon should include a fully functional version of Capture with their flagship and next-tier dSLRs like the D3, D4, D700, D800. I've believed that since the D2-era dSLRs. If they want to clinch the market that'd be the way to do it. They can't do more than they've already accomplished rebounding from last year's natural disaster that impeded production. Or about the price hikes forced by the economy that's taken top shelf lenses beyond the reach of many of us. But including fully functional software with the top and second tier dSLRs would make very good business sense now.</p>

[Jerry_]

<p>Nikon may have more work to do with the software engineering needed to make Capture NX2 work right with the larger-sized image files. </p>

<p>Along with a extra bit of $$$s for the corporate chain to use in May for the bonus season in Japan.</p>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>You do realize that the UK price for the camera is much higher than the US price?</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>To me, $3000 for the D800 is a major bargain. For that kind of specs, I would expect at least $4000. As I said many times, the D800 kills the D3X completely, and the D3X was going for $7000 to $8000 in the last 3 years. In comparison, the 5D Mark III is $3500. I hope that we are not giving Nikon ideas to raise prices.</p>

<p>You can always download NX2 for a free trial. Personally, I can only wish Nikon could develop software as well as they make cameras. I have NX2 but rarely use it. Adobe photo software is far superior.</p>

[Kent Shafer]

<p>The Adjustment Brush in Lightroom 4 has a moiré slider. Alas, I have no D800E files to try it on.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<blockquote>

<p>Nikon may have more work to do with the software engineering needed to make Capture NX2 work right with the larger-sized image files.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Actually, to my surprse: no.<br>

DPReview had sample D800 NEFs on their site, so I downloaded one (41MB) to see how CNX2 would cope with it on my relatively old system (Core 2 Duo 2.13GHz, 4GB RAM, Vista 32-bits). It ran absolutely fine. Apart from operations that always tend to be sluggish (like apply unsharp mask), it ran about as fast as it does with my D300 files. I was pleasantly surprised there.<br>

Batch operations might be slower, as you'd be writing a lot of large files. But zooming in/out, white balance etc., CaptureNX was far more responsive than I imagined.</p>

[lachaine]

<p>You can afford the D800 but you can't afford the 140 bucks for Capture NX?</p>

[elliot1]

<p><em>"You can afford the D800 but you can't afford the 140 bucks for Capture NX?" </em> I don't believe that is the point. It really should come with it (IMHO).</p>

<p>I may be wrong (and hope I am wrong) but I believe the only way to reduce moiré after the fact is to blur the image. which is how cameras eliminate it in the first place. Until someone tests the cameras and software we won't really know for sure.</p>

[nsfbr]

Elliot, the key here is that (and I hope I'm right) if you do it after the fact in software, you can do it selectively. With the

during capture glass filter approach there is no way to do that.

[ariel_s1]

<p>As Shun mentioned, the D800 is relatively inexpensive for what you get, both compared to previous Nikons and compared to the competition. You knew that the D800E has no AA filter, which is its selling point. I wouldn't go out and buy a BMW M3, and then expect BMW to give me a credit card to use at the pump because it uses more fuel than a regular BMW. It was an understood aspect of the product. If you are in the business of shooting moire-heavy subjects, you should have gotten the "base model" D800. Buy yourself CaptureNX2 or Lightroom 4, which both cost about $150. Either is cheaper than the cheapest lens you'd consider buying for the D800E anyway. They don't include the software because it would raise the price of the camera, and not everyone wants to use Nikon software. I don't. I see including CaptureNX2 with every high-tier Nikon as pointless as including a 50mm f/1.4 with every high-tier Nikon. You don't know if I need it, so don't make me pay for it. Give me the option to go out and buy it myself, if it's that big a deal. And as mentioned in the blog, Steve had to go out and hunt to find bad enough moire. Even so, it's not that bad, and it likely isn't even visible at the sizes that most people will print.</p>

[angkordave]

<blockquote>

<p>To me, $3000 for the D800 is a major bargain</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Not where I live; $3750 was the price I was quoted for D800 in SE Asia where wages are far lower than US Or Europe. I borrowed a Canon 5D Mk 2 a couple of weeks ago and I was impressed. Canon supply the software free of charge. It may not seem important but its the principle that matters.<br />I'm going to Canon for full frame now as the price of 5D2 is around $1900; now that is a real bargain!<br>

As I have to buy a full set of FX lenses; a D800 and FX lenses is just not affordable I'd rather have a a 5D2 and have a better budget for decent Canon glass, as 21MP is more than enough. I'll still keep my D300S kit for wildlife though.</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>Steve, you'll have to try much harder than that to induce Moiré in 100% crops. Moiré occurs when the detail in the subject is close to the pixel spacing of the camera. The smallest of those shutters is about one-tenth of the height of the frame, right? Therefore it'd need nearly 250 corrugations to equal or exceed the number of pixels representing it - and it's not even close I'm afraid.<br>

Besides, the focus would have to be dead on the shutters, and you might even need to open up wider than f/8 to avoid diffraction softening of the image. Also, if you don't want moiré; why'd you buy a D800E?</p>

<p> </p>

[richard_thomas9]

<p>Great blog and thanks for sharing but I believe I have seen enough "100% crops" from the D800/D800E. I would be more interested with the AF capability both in low light and sports. </p>

[elliot1]

<p><em>"</em><em>can do it selectively"</em> You can do that now with Photoshop. Again, it is my understanding from what I have read that you are better off not having it (Moiré) in the fist place rather than correcting if afterwards (which is apparently a lot more difficult to eliminate). I agree with Rodeo, if Moiré is going to be a concern, don't get the D800E.</p>

[joseph_smith3]

<p>I have been a Nikon Capture user for many years, now using the windows 64 bit version, which is far superior to all of the other versions I have used. I also have Adobe Lightroom 3 which I purchased in Dec 2011 and am now in the beginning stages of learning how to use it along with the NIK Vivesa plug in that has the same U point technology that is built into NX2. Aside from the catalogue features of Lightroom 3, I am not finding many basic image processing steps that I cannot accomplish in NX2. I am a great believer in knowing how to use at least one RAW processor very well. Only you can determine which one will work best with the way your brain wants to process images. Our brains are all different. <br>

I think Nikon stopped offering Capture for free after the D 200, but I am not sure. You can always try it out by downloading the latest version fron Nikonusa.com. I believe the latest version for windows is version 2.3.1. The latest version of Nikon View NX2 is 2.3.1.64 bit. Based upon my results with the software, it sure is worth the price I paid for it, which was about $125 as I recall.<br>

Joe Smith</p>

<p> </p>

[zafar1]

<p>I checked your first picture. I see color moire on shop shutters. I imported in LR4 and applied moire brush with some clarity adjustment. Here is the before/after comparison.<br>

Original screen capture at http://smu.gs/HYIXVz<br>

<img src="http://www.zkfotos.com/photos/i-CJFDn23/0/M/i-CJFDn23-M.png" alt="" width="600" height="406" /></p>

 

[nigel fraustbyte]

<p>Sneeze..Sniff..Sneeze. Poor fella.</p>

[nsfbr]

<p>Steve, is there any chance of getting an NEF of that first image? There is quite a bit of moiré on the doors and I'd like to see how CNX2 handles it. I hope that isn't a problem, but understand if it is.</p>

[Mike D]

<p>Check all the documentation in the D800E box very carefully for a code that will open NX2 after you download a trial. Many years ago I purchased a Nikon DSLR (D2X?) that also claimed that it came with NX something but I didn't see a CD in the box. After complaining to Nikon (they didn't have a clue), I saw a post advising other buyers to look for the code in the supplied documentation. I found it and it worked. Just a thought.</p>

[habsphoto]

"Also, if you don't want moiré; why'd you buy a D800E?"

 

I bought a camera that was marketed to professionals as the sharpest FX SLR to date. The promotional material explained the potential

for moiré because of the AA filter change. I do not remember the ads reading " super sharp but may have moiré, which can be controlled

in post with Nikon software which is sold separately".

------

For anyone who is on the fence about the D800 or D800E. If you shoot RAW... Remember you can always make the D800E photos

blurrier but you can't make the D800 photos sharper. That is my reason. Someday I'll take a good photo and then I'll be glad I had every

pixel. My tude about the add-on-surprise software wasn't about the money.

 

-steve schafer

[greg_alton]

<p>The serious issue with Nikon not including the NX2 software is that it is the 'factory' software that allows users to most closely match what they would get out of the camera in jpeg. A lot of users get poor results with other RAW processors - granted, they probably don't know how to use the software properly, but it is in Nikon's interests to ensure users get the best results out of their cameras - in order to sell more cameras. Only Nikon has the 'secret sauce' in NX2, and holding it back only makes their cameras look worse. I've seen it many times (and it still bugs me, too), where a user opens a raw file and it looks worse on their camera.<br>

Someone above said that if they included the software it would only raise the price of the cameras. Not really - the fixed cost of developing the software is the same, including it with the cameras would add pennies at most. Yes, they would give up a bit of income (marginal compared to the millions of cameras they sell), but gain the advantage of improving the reputation of their cameras. I think it's remarkably short-sighted to not include NX2 for free.<br>

The comparison should really be with Apple - NX2 is really only useful with Nikon cameras, and that's their core business. Include the software for free and build your cameras' reputation.</p>

[Dieter Schaefer]

<p>For a case of bad moire and ways to fix it in post processing - have a look at this: http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00W8gC?start=0</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>We have had similar discussions before when the D300 was introduecd with NX included for a while. As a software engineer by profession, I can tell you that software development is expensive and therefore cost is high. Unfortunately, it is also easy to copy and steal so that it may appear to be cheap.</p>

<p>If Nikon throws in NX2 with every D800 and/or D800E they sell, the cost will be factored in and that would be around an additional $100 just for the sake of simplicity. For example, if the D800 is $3100 instead of $3000 and the D800E $3400, they are still very resonably priced. Now, all of a sudden those pros who are buying one each of the D800 and D800E or getting a few D800 as backup, they will be paying for multiple copies of NX2. Worse yet, most of us already have NX2. People would have been paying extra for no reason.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, Nikon software is nowhere as good as its competition. Even though I have NX2, I rarely use it. Regardless of whether NX2 is included, I think most people prefer Adobe or others anyway. If you don't have NX2, like Adobe software, there is a free trial. If you like it, pay for it. Software may not be a solid subject you can hold in your hands, but it is not cheap and is certainly not free. People should be glad that they are not forced to pay for multiple copies when they buy multiple Nikon DSLRs. You know, when Amazon.com gives you "free shipping," it is not really free; shipping cost is already built into the overall price.</p>