Raw converters, D800E and Zeiss lens

[ed_hurst]

<p>Quick question... I notice that Capture NX 2 performs corrections based on the lens used. Does that include the Zeiss ZF.2 lenses (which have a chip to tell the camera that they have been used) or will the software only perform corrections for Nikon lenses? If the latter, will the software still do a good job, just failing to correct for the lens's failings?<br>

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Thanks!<br /><br /><br>

Ed</p>

[JosvanEekelen]

<p>I would not expect Nikon to support a 3rd party lens. Perhaps you have better luck with software like Lightroom, RAW therapee, etc. Or make your own profile; Adobe offers some support for this.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>No, the automatic correction is available only for a number of Nikkor lenses.</p>

[ed_hurst]

<p>Thanks guys. I already have access to other raw converters, but want to use Nikon's own because it seems to do the best job of extracting the most detail from D800E files. For that benefit, I am quite prepared to let the Zeiss lens correction feature go. Just hoped there was a way to 'have my cake and eat it too' :-)</p>

[ed_hurst]

<p>I presume that the files produced by Capture NX 2 will still be good in other respects, even without lens correction...?</p>

[studio460]

<p>I was about to suggest DxO Optics Pro Elite, my personal RAW developer of choice. But, I just checked--surprisingly, DxO doesn't support a single Zeiss lens for the D800E (happily, they just recently began supporting Sigma's new 35mm f/1.4 "Art" lens for the D800E).</p>

[kari_oinonen]

<p>Of the various corrections CNX2 is able to make, the automatic distortion correction is the one that need to know the lens most.<br>

Tested this just with chipped 28/2.8 Ais, a lens with very low distortion values. Because the lens is chipped the CNX2 provides auto distortion correction setting. Tested that setting. It seemed that CNX2 made corrections based on - not my manual Ais lens - but on 28/2.8 af lens. Quite naturally.<br>

It is always possible to make manual distortion correction, but it seems that CNX2 provides only one parameter here. So not possible to correct "moustache" type distortion manually like the automatic seems to be able to do. Like in the case when the correct lens in the internal database of the CNX2 package.<br>

Summary: It seems to me that CNX2 auto distortion correction gives better functionality and results with Nikon's original chipped lenses than with third party lenses, chipped or not. Simple manual distortion control is still available. Auto lateral color aberration control is based on the image analysis - no need to exif data from the chip or from the user in that case.<br>

Hope that helps.</p>