How to Use Nikon Capture NX2

When you buy a Nikon camera you get some software with it that allows transferring the images to your Macintosh computer. The software is adequate and works very well with most image-editing programs. However, if you don’t have an image-editing program, Nikon has Capture NX2, which works seamlessly with Nikon cameras. Capture works with NEF files, which is great for Nikon users, but it also supports RAW and other popular formats. It sells for around $180 as of this writing and has enough features for most serious photographers. Read on to discover the basics and go to Nikon for a free trial version.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Mac Computer running OS-X
• Image files
• Nikon Camera (Optional)

1. 
   Open Program

   When you first launch Nikon Capture NX2 you are presented with the menu pictured. You can simply drag a folder or an image to the new area to open the images in the image browser. You can also choose to bypass this first screen to go directly to the image browser. Some will find this screen useful since it lists all the recent activity; others will find it annoying.

2. 
   Open Gallery

   Once you open a folder or import images from Nikon Transfer, you can easily tag and sort the images in the gallery. You can apply star rating values to images, allowing you to later sort them by star rating. A unique feature is your ability to create customized filters and then sort images by filter. For example, you can assign filter one to “Chicago” and filter two to “architecture” and then only sort pictures by those custom tags.

3. 
   Open Photo

   Just click on an image to open that image and display the image editing features. Notice the image histogram and that you have the ability to select the color model and to adjust the histogram for the image. Click on the adjustments tab to make adjustments to the image.

4. 
   Adjustments

   The adjustments tab lets you make color corrections and highlight and shadow corrections to the image. Lateral color aberration is a unique correction, allowing you to make corrections to color channels. The controls and use of these settings is similar to corrections that you can make in most professional image editing programs.

5. 
   Toolbar

   The toolbar at the top of the screen is also familiar and similar to tools you find on most image-editing programs. While the tool package is not as complete compared to Photoshop and GIMP, they are adequate for most image editing needs.

6. 
   Quick Fix

   The quick fix tab is great for novices and for making quick changes to images that just need some small tweaks. Here is where you can change exposure, highlight and shadows, as well as rotation and cropping.

7. 
   Camera Adjustments

   The big plus for Nikon users and others using NEFF files is that you can make other changes to the image due to the way NEFF files are encoded. This allows you to make changes to white balance, sharpening, tone compression and noise. There are also unique tools to control axial color aberration, sharpening and red eye reduction. There are even tools to control moiré and “dust” control to reduce other image artifacts. These tools will delight most professional and serious amateur photographers, although they could prove daunting to those unfamiliar with camera and photography terms.

8. 
   Batch Processing

   The software also comes with a good tool for batch processing. Here you can identify a source or “watched folder." You can apply a settings file and a rename process, which will automatically happen to any file put in the watched folder. As an example you could set up this feature to automatically apply a color management setting to any image file placed in the folder and rename it with a specified name, then place the altered file into the destination folder. This is an easy way to assure you are backing up each image. It is also an easy way to tag a lot of images at one time.

9. 
   Photo Effects

   There are some special effects and filters to provide image effects like the sepia tone effect displayed here. This is not the strength of this program. This is not the program to buy if you want to add text and create photo artistic effects. This is software for a serious photographer who wants to be able to sort, manage and correct their images. At $180, it is an excellent value.

Tips & Warnings

• Download the free trial and try before you buy (see Resources below).
• Native NEF image editing is a plus for Nikon users.

Resources

• Nikon Capture