ZombieKitten said:

thanks for breaking it down for me, it's easier than I thought

perhaps I should look into a 18-200...

Fauxie said:

awesome!!!

I always shoot raw, if I make mistakes with exposure, I have a second chance at it - you just have so much more data (in bit-depth) to adjust before you throw it all away to make a JPEG. I would never go back just to JPEG.

ZombieKitten said:

I'm going back to RAW from now on. I did use it in the past but it just became so impossible working with it when my old computer started struggling.

Fauxie said:

OMG, finally another NX2 addict, yay!! I absolutely love it and the Nik Color Efex Pro software, which uses the selective controls too. I also have the other Nik products, Silver Efex (which is an AWESOME black & white processor), Dfine (noise reducer) and their Sharpener. But, I have to use PS to use those other products, which is a pain in the ass. Hopefully they'll make them NX2 compatible someday soon.

I have a D60 and love it, but am dreaming of one of the newer models too.

Fauxie said:

wow love ur photos amazing.

Fauxie said:

good boy

Wait a sec though, I always use Photoshop for cloning out dust marks ( ). Will my NEF files be ok in PS? I usually do that first, then over to NX for most pp and then sometimes back to PS if I want to apply certain treatments.

Fauxie said:

you open the NEFs in photoshop via the camera raw plug-in, fix up exposure, vignetting, colours etc, then you open and keep in PSD format until you are finished with all retouching, spotting etc.

ZombieKitten said:

So I need to get the raw plug-in for PS.

I don't get the bit about opening in PSD. Didn't I just open it as a NEF file? I don't get Photoshop.

I only really want to use PS for retouching.

Will it be possible for me to do that in PS, still have it in raw format to do all my usual stuff in NX, then back to PS still raw for any treatments I may want to apply?

Will it be possible for me to do that in PS, still have it in raw format to do all my usual stuff in NX, then back to PS still raw for any treatments I may want to apply?

Fauxie said:

the plug in allows you to open NEFs with photoshop

until you save a photoshop file as something you choose, such as JPEG, EPS, TIFF, GIF etc, it will be a PSD (photoshop file) - lossless - keep your working file (with all your adjustment layers, masks etc) a PSD until you have completely finished with it.

ZombieKitten said:

Thanks, just downloading the plug-in now (got that program Jers mentioned too, though only trial version at the moment - do have the PS plug-in though).

So once I've got my image in PS there's no way I could save it back to NEF to work on it in Capture NX? I'm going to have to see what I can do to fit in with my usual workflow.

Fauxie said:

let me know what features are different - plug in vs NX

NEF is Nikon brand raw format

why can't you do the retouching last?

ZombieKitten said:

I could. I was just thinking that. It just doesn't feel right, is all, but I may have to get used to that. Removing sensor dust spots makes sense as the first thing you sort out, right? Oh well.

I just want NX for the control points mainly.

That plug in for the Optics thing Jers recommended isn't what I thought it was. For the program I have a 14 day trial, but I thought the plug-in would be a stripped down version to use in PS, but it's not, it's just some compatibility thing, I think, for working with files pp'd in Optics in PS.

Does your D700 clean its sensor dust off itself? I thought I saw that most Nikon's (from D60 onwards) now have a bunch of useful things to help with that.

Serena said:

Yep, it's great, though I must confess that though I've had NX2 for months now I'm still using NX because I'm stuck in my ways. I have some Nik plug-ins for PS too - Color Efex, Dfine, Viveza, Silver Efex, plus Fractalius which is an interesting novelty. I agree those should be compatible with NX.

Aren't control points just bloody brilliant?

Fauxie said:

YES, lovelovelove them! The program is so easy to learn well enough to get going, but then powerful enough (esp with CEP) to be able to do more complicated adjustments. Not having to worry about those pain-in-the-ass layers and masks sold me because they make me nuts!

Serena said:

I like them because you can always go back and adjust them again later on if you change your mind (for example you work on your file late at night and then the next day in daylight it looks too dark and contrasty).

ZombieKitten said:

Same with control points though, you can go back and change any of the settings for each one - saturation, contrast, hue, warmth, brightness etc. - great for making faces lighter or removing unwanted hues on white areas.

ZombieKitten said:

I could. I was just thinking that. It just doesn't feel right, is all, but I may have to get used to that. Removing sensor dust spots makes sense as the first thing you sort out, right? Oh well.

I just want NX for the control points mainly.

That plug in for the Optics thing Jers recommended isn't what I thought it was. For the program I have a 14 day trial, but I thought the plug-in would be a stripped down version to use in PS, but it's not, it's just some compatibility thing, I think, for working with files pp'd in Optics in PS.

Does your D700 clean its sensor dust off itself? I thought I saw that most Nikon's (from D60 onwards) now have a bunch of useful things to help with that.

Fauxie said:

If you have a Nikon camera, NX's NEF processor is the best for your files. When you open them in another programs, you lose Picture Control functions and they have to reverse engineer Nikon's data, since it's proprietary so it's not apples-to-apples on the RAW conversion process.

NX2 has a healing brush that works great on some things and not so hot on others. I've taken out powerlines, poles, small buildings, etc., with it nicely though.

There's no true clone tool, so you have to jump to PS for that function. From within NX2, you can do an 'open with' and have your preferences set to open it as a 16-bit tif, so it's not getting compressed between programs. The downside is that any NX2 adjustments are then made permanent in the new tif file that it creates. So I do as much as possible in NX, save the NEF and then open it in PS. If I need to bring it back into NX2, save it as an uncompressed .tif in PS, open that new .tif in NX2, make additional adjustments and then save as a new NEF. This process creates a lot of orphan files though and I really need to do some housekeeping!

Fauxie said:

that's kind of like curves isn't it?

ZombieKitten said:

Does that allow you to isolate one area based on colour? I guess it's like masks?

http://www.photonovice.ne..._point.jpg

http://www.imaging-resour...wspace.jpg

http://www.imaging-resour...ew-sel.jpg

Between those three examples you can get a decent idea of what it's like.

Fauxie said:

maybe that's more like selective colour?

I dunno!

ZombieKitten said:

Capture NX2 is seriously an awesome tool and isn't just for Nikon users. Here are some short demos from their site: http://www.capturenx.com/...index.html

Here is the info page for Color Efex Pro 3.0 that also has some demo videos.
http://www.niksoftware.co.../entry.php

They have trial downloads, y'all should give them a try!

edit to add more links:

In depth workshop on NX2, the first part is mainly class-related fluff, but the sessions have great examples of workflow and using the power of the software. It's almost two hours spread over 3 segments, but well worth the time. I have it bookmarked and revisit it occasionally. (He also discusses TransferNX & ViewNX at the beginning of the workflow.) http://www.video.bhphotov...cfa0&rf=bm

Nik software webinar archive that has informative demos: http://www.niksoftware.co...hive.shtml

There are Flickr groups for CNX2 & Nik Software also, if anyone's interested in those. http://www.flickr.com/gro...ksoftware/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/capturenx/

edited to add:

Also, fyi, the version of Color Efex Pro is cheaper for Capture NX2 than the Photoshop version. If you attend one of their webinars (schedule listed on site), they give out a 20% discount code which is usually good on all their products and a 10% discount on upgrades.)

One of the real benefits to CNX2 is that all your editing is non-destructive while it's a NEF file and you can have multiple versions of your photo in the same file, including the original. i.e., have a black & white version, along with a color adjusted one and the original. If you change your mind, delete the alternate versions and start all over using the original, with a couple of clicks.
[Edited 12/4/09 13:16pm]

ZombieKitten said:

Capture NX2 is seriously an awesome tool and isn't just for Nikon users. Here are some short demos from their site: http://www.capturenx.com/...index.html

Here is the info page for Color Efex Pro 3.0 that also has some demo videos.
http://www.niksoftware.co.../entry.php

They have trial downloads, y'all should give them a try!

edit to add more links:

In depth workshop on NX2, the first part is mainly class-related fluff, but the sessions have great examples of workflow and using the power of the software. It's almost two hours spread over 3 segments, but well worth the time. I have it bookmarked and revisit it occasionally. (He also discusses TransferNX & ViewNX at the beginning of the workflow.) http://www.video.bhphotov...cfa0&rf=bm

Nik software webinar archive that has informative demos: http://www.niksoftware.co...hive.shtml

There are Flickr groups for CNX2 & Nik Software also, if anyone's interested in those. http://www.flickr.com/gro...ksoftware/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/capturenx/

edited to add:

Also, fyi, the version of Color Efex Pro is cheaper for Capture NX2 than the Photoshop version. If you attend one of their webinars (schedule listed on site), they give out a 20% discount code which is usually good on all their products and a 10% discount on upgrades.)

One of the real benefits to CNX2 is that all your editing is non-destructive while it's a NEF file and you can have multiple versions of your photo in the same file, including the original. i.e., have a black & white version, along with a color adjusted one and the original. If you change your mind, delete the alternate versions and start all over using the original, with a couple of clicks.

I hadn't realized so many of us were into photography!!
I'm loving it like McDonalds

I hadn't realized so many of us were into photography!!
I'm loving it like McDonalds