On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 4:19 PM, Godfrey DiGiorgi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Sep 18, 2008, at 1:02 PM, Adam Maas wrote: > >>> Move to LR2 and you'll need PS CS3 less and less ... >>> >> As good as LR is, if you shoot one of the new Nikons it's just about >> impossible to beat Capture NX2 for quality. There's a lot of extra >> goodies in the D700 (like Picture Controls and the automated CA >> removal) that can only be taken advantage of in RAW when used with >> NX2. And NX2 does selective editing much better than just about >> anything else thanks to Nik Software's Control Point technology. > > I'm generally uninterested in one-manufacturer-only software... > > NX2 might be nice and do a good job. But with 230,000+ photos from a > wide range of cameras in my working archive, it's just not practical > to have specific software for each make and exploit it appropriately.
NX2 is both a dedicated RAW converter for Nikon users and a non-destructive JPEG and TIFF editor. It's not something I'd recommend unless you primarily use Nikons, but if you do its quite capable of functioning as a primary editor after the conversion stage for any other files. And its selective editing capabilities are far beyond LR2's. > >> The downside is NX2 is a little slow due to how it renders edits (it >> re-renders the RAW file rather than adjusting the previous render) and >> it doesn't offer LR's file management capabilities. > > Without file management capabilities, it's of no use to me at all any > more. While I like the idea of integrated file management, RAW conversion and editing software, the reality of such software has left something to be desired for me. I really liked LR as a solution when I was shooting with Pentax kit (where Adobe's ACR engine is the clear winner for IQ), but it's not up to producing the same quality of output as CaptureNX2 with Nikon RAW files. I've also found that manual filesystem organization and any reasonable photo browser works better than LR catalogs for my uses. And while I don't have 230,000 images in my library, the 40,000+ I do have are fairly significant. > > I've yet to find anything in any one-manufacturer-only software > package that I can't achieve with LR aside from specialized effects > that are not of any particular interest to me. It might take more > work, but the difference is purely a matter of degree and experience > in use. > > G NX2 is a little unique in being a true non-destructive JPEG and TIFF editor that's also a Nikon-specific RAW converter, the latter only really matters due to the support for CA removal and Picture Controls (the High ISO NR is a lot better than LR1, but I can't compare to LR2 as I don't have enough experience with the latter). Most other manufacturer software is far less capable (PhaseOne's Capture One packages being the major exception as it's also marketed as a multi-format RAW converter with robust batch capabilities). -- M. Adam Maas http://www.mawz.ca Explorations of the City Around Us. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
