Nikon Capture vs Photoshop

Hi! This is the newbie with a Nikon D2X - which software do you'all recommend? Nikon Capture or Photoshop?

Thanks, Erika

Hi Erika

Welcome aboard! A nice start with a D2X...

I've only got as far as Capture 3.0 so am bit behind on that - but I always felt that Capture was very good for tweaking RAW files - and then use PS for the clever manipulating techniques. However PSCS/PCCS2 will let you do most of both in one go.

I've been very happy using Rawshooter Premium for the last few months. That does most things I need in one go - and has a very good workflow system too.

I've not used PS or Capture but I'll 2nd the motion on RAWShooter. Its very fast and you can download the 2005 version for free.

Tim - I was thinking about upgrading to the Premium version as well. What are the major benefits over the 2005 version?

Adobe Camera RAW is far superior to Capture in my opinion. With the except that Capture excels at Noise/Moire reduction.

The trick to making ACR the "perfect" RAW convertor is the Calibration tab. Using a Graytag Mcbeth Color Checker and any number of ACR calibration scripts found on the internet, you can very very accurate colors, that can not be matched.

So for the best colors, the best work flow, and the best ease of use. I'd go with ACR.

If you are shooting High ISO, capture should be great.

I haven't tried Capture NX yet, so the jury is still out on that one. I will say that if I can't calibrate it to get the spot on colors I'm used to, then forget it.

I've been delighted with the Premium version of RAWshooter. On top of Essentials it has, amongst other things, the ability to crop, straighten horizons, compare pics side by side, batch re-number - and just more tweak tools.

I find that I don't go in to PS now as often as I did - and this saves a step and time. It is very good at processing large number of pics, sorting and selecting, tweaking - then producing JPGs or TIFFs as necessary for more serious work or to email to someone. Just a neat package - and I do use it for commercial pics (admitedly topside stuff at the moment).

I figure it is well worth the difference in cost: $0 v ?$99 I think I paid. And I thought the guys at Pixmantec deserved some reward for providing a program I really like. But Essentials is good for sure.

Having tested the most popular RAW converters on the marker, I'd second the choice of RAWshooter too, in terms of speed and features, over Adobe RAW or Nikon Capture. Alternatively, I also like Bibble Pro, which is very fast, and packs lots of features. Trial versions of both software can be downloaded from their respective website.

I love the workflow and ease of use of RawShooter, but I find with my Nikon D70 that Rawshooter's colour rendition is distinctly odd, verging on bizarre - even with the optional D70 profile available at extra cost. So much so that reluctantly I have stopped using Rawshooter. (Another disadvantage of Rawshooter is that it only handles RAW files - you can't use it for jpegs, or at least that was the case with the versions I have tried).

I actually use a combination of Nikon Capture 4 and Photoshop - I only have PS7 which does not include an adobe RAW converter. NC "talks" very well to PS7. I find NC does an excellent job for most photos, giving really accurate colour, but for more sophisticated tweaking PS is invaluable, especially with some of the 3rd party plug-ins available. If I had to make do with only one program, it would have to be Photoshop for its sheer versatility.

I have tried and tried to like ACR better than Capture, simply because of the great workflow improvements. But I still end up using Capture because images are simply more vivid, sharper, with more detail brought out than anything I have ever tried with ACR. Perhaps this is because Capture may make the conversion process a bit more automatic with less tweaking than ACR, though I have spent some time trying to adjust ACR's settings. I haven't given up hope yet, but for the time being Capture has been well worth the $100.

Is there a recommended / good site for scripts / settings for the D2X with ACR? I may ultimately give it a 4th/5th chance.

If your really into digital photography and might take classes on digital editing or can read a book and work on examples for hours I think P.S CS is the way go. You can buy older versions and pay the upgrade price to get around the high cost.

The main truth is P.S rules the digital photography world as far as learning, classes etc. Nothing has more support. If you just want to do minor editing you may not need it but if you know you are going to be really "into it" committed to exploring the power available, PS would be the way to go.

Thanks everyone. I am off to a (land based) digital photo workshop tomorrow - will let you know how I do.