Nikon Capture does produce ood results but the current version isn't really fast (although, as was pointed out, a state-of-the-art processor with plenty of RAM helps). Since it costs more than $ 100 there's some alternatives.
BreezeBrowserPro is fast, gives good results, offers a few interesting additional features, like its image comparator or an easy way to edit IPTC data. Together with Breeze Downloader Pro you can largely automate your work-flow.
Personally I use RAW Shooter|Premium, which is very fast, gives good results and is very well maintained and supported; there's a free version available lacking some of the more in-essential (for RAW conversion) features. Although it can download from your memory card, having the benefit that RSP builds its thumbnails and previews in the background, I us Breeze Downloader Pro for downloading.
Then there's Adobe Camera RAW coming with Adobe Bridge/Photoshop CS2.
If you don't have changes to the settings recorded with your image Nikon View; OTOH you could then as well shoot JPEGs directly.
Visit COLORRIGHT to get the colors right in your digital slr.
But, but but...can I ask again? Does Nikon Capture let us print out 4-up proofs the way Photodesk does? Or does Nikon Capture only print out one image at a time as a 7x10 the way Canon's DPP does?
How about Breezebrowser, RAW Shooter-Premium, Bibble or ACR?
I too was turned off by Capture (made my G5 seem like an 8086) and use Adobe Camera Raw now. I like it but would love to be able to set the default "Use Automatic Adjustments" to OFF. Anyone know how?
If NC allows contact printing I'm not sure. My process is for my D2x, Bridge for editing and renumbering. ACR for quick conversion to jpg, similiar to PD, however I prefer the vignetting feature for adding vignettes. Old school PPA type portraiture. I now let my lab proof out in proof books instead of in house inkjets. For the finished files I use NC 4, I've not played with CO and right now I don't have time. I hope, maybe NC will be upgraded to a more batch friendly software, however for finished files before going into PS, nothing in my opinion will beat the skin tones from NC 4. I miss the ease of Kodaks PD, however using the D2x in Auto White Balance, then selecting (if necessary) Calculate Automatically under White Balance in NC has always given me the best yet from any digital camera, period. IMHO it's the way the D2x processes the color channels. Someone said to me, forget the ease of Kodaks PD when I received my D2x, so I've come up with this for now. Hopefully Nikon is listening and will bring on some new software. At one time it was rumored that Nik was taking charge of new developement?
I found after using Capture One (LE), ACR, Bibble, (all Mac OSX) Nikon Capture produces the best results with D2X files, by far. It is also the slowest! With my D1X, Capture One verse NC was negligible thus I used C1 for speed. Not so with the D2X. The files are clearly much better from NC, with little in-application work too.
So, I go from import in to Photo mechanic, make selects, then in to NC, tweak a little, then save as Tiffs for the final work in PS CS. The results are great; the workflow slow. I'm now very choosy with what I send in to NC form PM: I'm making sure my selects are tight and the right ones. The latest NC is faster than the prior version but not much. If NC was fast, had a logical and ergonomic makeover it would be fantastic!
Hope this helps.
Best,
Anthony
having messed around with various software, I have to agree with those saying that NC produces the nicest skintones, contrast etc. Yes it is slower, and yes one can probably fiddle with ACR 2 to get similiar results and take advantage of the amazing speed of ACR and its ability to very quickly produce tiffs, jpegs etc etc of each file FAST, but I still find that I prefer NC's "look"--with very minimal messing around.
My take on it is that for someone who is needing to punch out lots of files then ACR or other programs are much faster and thus saving lots of time and money, but with my work, the finals are the ones I work on, and they are not usually in large numbers, so in the end, the longer time to work a file is longer, but I am certain that I save time overall and keep my blood pressure lower with files that come out looking great and don't need messing around with up the ying yang, and we all know that that is a real pain in the keester.
Again, another aspect to remember, unless you're cranking out "slam bam thank you ma'am" files, while NC chugs away on a batch, there is always finalizing of details of each shot in PS that I do while NC chugs along, so so what if it takes twice or more as long to work on each file, there is invariably retouching etc to do on each file, so the time lost is not really lost in my opinion.
something to think about, but in the end, its like arguing about a given film developer and film with b+w, you have to make the decision of what is "good" or "excellent" for you.
all that said, it is hard to understand why NC is so damn slow, where other programs can just whizz along, this is an ongoing complaint however with Nikon software.
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