 |   Format : DVD-ROM Publisher : Nikon Company : Nikon List Price: Our Price: Too low to display |
Features
- Full-featured photo-editing software for quick and easy image editing
- Color control points let you quickly change the colors of select images
- Automatic retouch tool for removing blemishes, dust, and other distractions
- Redesigned interface with customized workspaces and new image browser
- Supports latest versions of Windows and Mac operating systems
Product Description
Nikon NX2 SoftwareAmazon.com
Nikon's Capture NX 2 software is a full-featured, nondestructive photo-editing program that gives photographers all the tools they need to quickly and easily edit their photographs. Also available in a reduced-price upgrade version (requires a valid serial number from v1.x), the software offers such editing features as color control points, selection control points, an auto-retouch brush, and shadow/highlight adjustment.Enhancing the hue, brightness, and saturation of an image is as simple as placing a color control point on your image, then adjusting the length of the sliders. For example, color control points are a remarkably convenient way to change the color of flowers to look better against green surrounding foliage. As an alternative, editors can take a dull gray sky and add blue to change the mood of a captured scene. The selection control points, meanwhile, let you selectively edit photographs without manually outlining or masking the area for editing. Simply place a selection control point anywhere on the photograph, and then choose from almost any adjustment, including D-Lighting, Unsharp Mask, or Noise Reduction, while limiting the 'reach" of that adjustment to just the selected area.
Capture NX 2 also adds an automatic retouch tool to its image editing toolbox, allowing users to seamlessly remove blemishes, dust, and other distracting elements from photographs while maintaining the integrity of the image. And thanks to the shadow/highlight adjustment, you can easily open up shadows or recover blown-out highlights. Highlight recovery is most effective for RAW (NEF) files; however, it will work with JPEG and TIFF files as well.
The software's redesigned v2 interface includes such features as customized workspaces, an improved toolbar function and layout, improved edit list functionality, a redesigned image browser with a favorites folder, and improved image resolution adjustments. The software's holdover features from v1.x range include black/white/neutral control points, color management control, color aberration control, distortion control, a color booster, contrast/brightness adjustment, a saturation/warmth adjustment, black-and-white conversion, straighten and crop tools, and much more.
Finally, Capture NX 2 features award-winning U Point technology for precision selection and application of enhancements without complicated selections or layer masks. Designed to closely match the way photographers work with their images, Capture NX2 is easy to learn and creates the highest-quality results. Note that the software fully integrated with all Nikon software, including Camera Control Pro 2, Image Authentication Software, Transfer, and ViewNX.
Capture NX 2 System Requirements
Windows
- Preinstalled version of 32-bit Windows Vista Home Basic/Home Premium/Business/Enterprise/Ultimate (Service Pack 1) editions or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2) editions
- Pentium 4 processor or better
- 768 MB RAM minimum (1 GB or more recommended)
- 200 MB free hard disk space for installation
- 1,024 x 768 or higher monitor resolution (1,280 x 1,024 recommended) with 16-bit color (32-bit color recommended)
- CD-ROM drive; Internet connection; approved memory cards for importing/exporting custom picture controls
Macintosh
- OS Macintosh OS X v10.4.11 or 10.5.2
- PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5, Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Xeon, or better processor
- 768 MB RAM minimum (1 GB or more recommended)
- 200 MB free hard disk space for installation
- 1,024 x 768 or higher monitor resolution (1,280 x 1,024 recommended) with 64,000 colors (16.7 million colors recommended)
- CD-ROM drive; Internet connection; approved memory cards for importing/exporting custom picture controls
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Customer reviews
Great switch from Photoshop 
by .. Emily C. Kief ()
I have always been a hardcore Photoshop user and Canon shooter so I never even bothered to check out Nikon's software. After a recent photography expo in NYC, I picked up a 60 day trial of NX2. This was probably the best thing I could have ever done for my photography! The interface is easy to use and appealing to the eyes. Every tool is right in front of you and can be combined with key strokes. Plus, every edit you do is nondestructive and you can easily go back steps or even all the way to the bottom without compromising your images (this is especially important when working with JPEGs)
NX2 is a lot easier to use than Photoshop and the price is definitely significantly less. I think I have found my new favorite software!
So long Photoshop! Hello Capture NX 2!! by .. mickster ()
While I was a big fan of Capture NX, it had its shortcomings.
Long live Capture NX 2! This is far and away the easiest software I've ever used.
I can put a color control point on any area of the image to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation and color.
Now I can do the same thing for any effect. When I want to sharpen the eyes in a portrait, I can select them with 2 selection control points.
The auto-retouch brush helps me remove dust and other problems with my images.
The highlight and shadow recovery makes toning my images a snap.
The new browser allows me to rate and filter my images and the shortcuts let me get to my images fast.
This is the one tool I use more than any other whether I shoot RAW with my D80 or JPEGs with my other cameras.
I strongly suggest it for anyone-not just Nikon users and not just RAW shooters of Nikon.
Good for all digitized photos by .. T. Gabriel (Raleigh, NC USA)
First let me warn you folks. This is NOT Photoshop. For those who are interested in post processing digitized photographs whether they originated from a digital point and shoot or slr or they were scanned in from film prints or slides, this product is well worth the money. It is even worth the price Nikon charges at their web site.
I have been using GIMP and ACDSee for the last eight or so years and after using Capture NX for a month in the trial period I am convinced if you want to have a program for post processing you cannot do better. If you are rolling in money and have lots of time for the learning curve, go get the newest Photoshop and Lightroom CS4. I will check back in a year or so to see how you are doing.
If you are a professional (read: you make your living taking pictures and selling them, you are not someones Uncle Freddy who shoots birthdays and weddings because you own a "professional" camera) photographer Capture NX will probably not meet your needs but it would be worth the trial period to see. In these days of tight budgets, upgrading to CS4 is still twice the price of this software for not a whole lot more functionality.
My main reason for buying this is so that I can do selected areas of photos that have too much exposure or not enough exposure and not have to mess around with layers. I am old and tired and not even remotely interested in manipulating layers in a program that costs more than some very, very good digital SLRs.
I use a Nikon digital SLR and digital Point-and-Shoot and I use an old almost worn out Nikon FE film camera. This software does not care where the images came from. You can import from your camera if it is digital or you can import from a CD/DVD if you have your slides scanned during processing.
My only caveat regarding scanning slides is to tell your lab to scan the images at 16-bit and in TIFFs. You can accept 8-bit if 16-bit is not available or too costly. You need to have the scans done in TIFF though because it is lossless and Capture NX processes them perfectly. For post processing TIFFs do not get smaller and worse looking as you save and change and save again because there is no compression and no loss of data. JPEGs lose data with every save. You will have banding and unusable images if you have your images scanned in as JPEGs.
Valuable addition to my toolchest by .. NC Photographer (Charlotte, NC USA)
I had always resisted shooting in the Nikon raw format (.nef files) since 1) the files saved were very large, and 2) I didn't understand the advantages that would be gained by using this format. While this software doesn't address item 1 it certainly made me gain an appreciation for item 2.
The quick example changes that the package walks you through give an immediate understanding of what sort of manipulations can be made non-destructively to the image file - and for me, thaat is a key point. Rather than changing the image file itself, the software records a script of each edit made and then applies those when the image is opened later. Once a desired result is obtained, the image can be saved as either jpeg or tiff format for use in other programs or printing.
The manual provided is sometimes a little obtuse in explaining how the effects work but there is an excellent book that gives a better explanation of how to use the software in a consistent workflow mode to achieve the desired results. I would highly recommend buying "Real World Nikon Capture NX2" by Ben Long at the same time you purchase the software.
Must-have for NEF shooters. Use the right tool for the job. by .. Carl D. Antone (Austin, TX United States)
I am an expert to elite Photoshop user. I've used PS since version 3.0, and rely on it all day long to deliver professional comps, photos, renders, artifacts of all kinds. I like Lightroom 2.6, too. I've been using LR since the pre-release 0.x days. I've grown weary of ACR and Adobe's poor rendition of Nikon 14-bit NEF format.
That's where NX2 (2.2.1) comes to the rescue. Many of the previous woes this software had, the performance, interface, intuitive feel, have been extremely improved in 2.2.1.
At the core, NX2 uses Nik's U-Point (Viveza) technology to selectively control and adjust color, sat, luminance, and channel histogram parameters without using traditional layer masks. But that's not what really makes NX2 "must-have."
It is essential for any serious Nikon RAW shooter for it's native conversion and control performance. There is simply no comparison between NX2 and ACR. Even with Nikon profiles installed in LR or PS RAW Converter, you only get about 10% of the quality NX2 provides. Also, you can post-process D-Lighting, WB, Exposure Compensation, check focus points, and change camera Picture Control (even create your own on the fly.) NX2 just processes NEFs much, much better than Adobe.
That said, there is the right tool for every job. And PS is there for pixel pushing, while LR reigns as the cataloging, slideshow, publishing to the web, and printing tool. While it's a bit clunky to have to add NX2 to the beginning of my workflow, it has to be done in order to get the most out of your serious images. I give it 5 stars for performance and image quality, but the interface has some room for improvement for those who've grown accustomed to PS and LR. NX2, however, has standardized on most of the same keyboard shortcuts we all know and love from Adobe software.
This product is highly recommended for serious NEF shooters.