Nikon Capture NX2 Annoyances

[Edward Bancroft]

I use the NX2 package for most for my post processing from images in Nikon NEF RAW format. It is very well targeted at this, as it can can use the camera and lens information to correct for aberrations, lost highlights/shadows, balance, and a lot of other very useful things.

However, this package is one of the worst I have encountered for usability. Here are my main issues.

1. It is slow to load or resize an image. The Nikon ViewNX package is much quicker to do the same, so this slowness must be a peculiarity of NX2.
2. When an image is loaded into an NX2 window and the window is resized, the image stays the same size. There is not an option to automatically resize the image to fit the new window size.
3. The toolbars 'Bird's Eye', 'Edit List', and 'Photo Info' toolbars cannot be made to dock to the left of the screen with the other toolbars. Some editing sequences involve a lot of unnecessary left/right mouse movement across the screen as a result.
4. If the above toolbars are placed with the others on the left and 'Fit to Screen' is used, the left side of the image window appears underneath these toolbars, and obscures some of the image.
5. The user should be able to select the docking point of any toolbar, and not be limited to the NX2 default.
6. The toolbars can only be resized when they are undocked and always take up the whole vertical docked space.
7. Selecting a tool like Size/Resolution from a Menu, adds it to the processing list but does not open up the Size/Resolution tool menu itself.
8. User selection of the mix of tool icons in the horizontal top toolbar would be useful.

What do others feel about NX2?

I have an ongoing bug fix issue with NX2 which corrupted a NEF image file, and I want to use the momentum to see if other things can be addressed.

Ed

 

[alexkidd]

nx2 is *****, they need to hire a gui expert for a start and optimise the entire app

the only thing is that it does render raws a shed load better than LR

 

[Dangermouse]

I was just about to say go back to view but you do mention it in the thread so....never used NX2 sorry

 

[welly]

nx2 is *****, they need to hire a gui expert for a start and optimise the entire app

the only thing is that it does render raws a shed load better than LR

That's my problem with it. The user interface is bleurgh but the results are woop!

 

[psenior1]

I spent a bit of time directly comparing the way Nx2 and LR2 handles the same RAW images (portraits - head shots mostly) from my D700 using various camera profiles. For me LR2 made the images look very flat in comparison to NX2, they could be made to look near identicle but it required processing...

I now use NX2 to do basic processing from RAW, cropping and adjust exposure etc. I then convert to JPG and open in LR2 for finishing touches/colour effects and batch processing etc. Works nicely for me!

 

[welly]

I'm definitely warming to NX2. It's a little slow in places but I like how some of the functionality works. It seems to produce good results and I'm editing images myself as opposed to using one of the many hundreds of Lightroom presets I have. It definitely produces decent results and being able to use the Nikon picture controls gives me one less thing to do in post-processing. Just need to find a good way of managing and organising my images now!

 

[Edward Bancroft]

Despite the annoyances there are some very good functions. The feature that I like on the latest version is the automatic correction for lens distortion. It recognises the lens type and makes pincushion/barrel lens distortion corrections.

Picture taken using Nikon 24-85 f2.8-4.

Correction Off

Correction Automatic

Note the straightening of the crane on the right.

Ed

 

[KavKav]

I found NX2 'out of the box' a pain!:bang: However, once I had used it for a while and gradually familiarised :rules:myself with it, I became quite comfortable with it and still am although I have not learned to use all of the functions yet.

 

[LJR]

The results I've got from NX2 are great but it interface is horrid and I also miss having no digital asset management functions from within the tool either.