It’s a browser that can edit Nikon NEF/NRW files in a rudimentary fashion. Nikon Capture NX-D is quite simply not a professional product. Retro design might work for a camera like the Nikon Df, but when it comes to software we want professional features. To suggest any similarities between Capture NX2 and Capture NX-D other than NEF editing would be laughable.Īm I being a little harsh here? Yes. In fact, this product should have just been called View NX3, because that’s really what it is. It cannot be considered as anything other than a front-end to Photoshop or another pixel editor. In fact, Nikon’s FAQ page reads more like a list of omissions rather than a list of features.Īt the end of the day, Nikon’s Capture NX-D is clearly built as a browser with basic NEF/NRW file editing functions. It also won’t let you save a JPEG or TIFF file in NEF format for non-destructive editing, which was a useful feature of Capture NX2. It won’t read files from other manufacturers (no surprise there). There are a few other things Capture NX-D won’t do. Nikon has also made it clear that Capture NX-D will not offer Control Points in the future… they are dead. That means all the work you did over the years in Capture NX2 is basically lost if you move to Capture NX-D, although Nikon has indicated it may try to support display of Control Point adjustments in the future. If you had Control Points in your images, Capture NX-D will not show their effects. Not only that, but Capture NX-D does not display edits made in Capture NX2, except for those in the “Develop” section. Gone are brushes, gradients, and Control Points. Nikon has also removed all forms of local adjustments in Capture NX-D. Edits made in Capture NX-D are saved as Nikon-unique sidecars, so Capture NX2 (or any other program) won’t read them. Any edits applied via the “Adjust” panel in Capture NX2 are not visible in Capture NX-D. That means if you used Photo Mechanic as a front-end to Capture NX2, you’ll no longer see accurate previews of files edited in Capture NX-D. Because adjustments are saved as sidecar files, the embedded JPEG previews are not updated anymore. Aside from the LCH editor, which is an excellent tool (and has been around since Nikon Capture 4), there is not one compelling “must have” adjustment tool in this list. Gone are all the “pro” tools that we had in Capture NX2, including high-pass filter, monochrome conversion, and Photo Filters, and the Auto Retouch Brush. Tone (brightness/contrast and shadow/highlight protection).When it comes to the editing tools, you’ll find that Capture NX-D only offers the following corrections: The use of sidecar files significantly speeds up batch processing, because files no longer need to be manually saved during the editing process. You can also use the WB eyedropper directly from the browser’s grid view, as well as the editing tools. You can browse images in folders, apply color labels and star ratings, and filter images in the browser based on those ratings and certain EXIF data. From a file-management perspective, there is no catalog/database function. Unfortunately, that’s about where the new “features” end.Ĭapture NX-D is built a lot like View NX2 a file browser with a built-in editor. Capture NX-D is certainly faster than Capture NX2, and it has adopted the use of sidecar files to store edits and metadata. Part of the reason Capture NX2 was slow was because it rendered NEF files fully at any zoom level, and because file changes were written directly into NEFs. One of the biggest complaints about Capture NX2 was its speed, or should I say its lack thereof. Unfortunately, it is clear to me that this new product is more notable for what it lacks than what it offers. Public beta testing is something Nikon has been reluctant do to in the past, and it’s something I applaud them for. I downloaded the beta of Capture NX-D to see what it would do. Called Capture NX-D, this Nikon RAW converter is being offered for download while in beta form. I made this screen capture before the beta software stopped working on my Mac Pro.Īlong with the Nikon D4s announcement, Nikon yesterday also announced a long-awaited upgrade to Capture NX2. Nikon Capture NX-D: A return to 2004 RAW editing workflow.
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