RAW file format

[Gdad]

Yes CS3 and Lightroom will both work with current upgrades. It really irritated me Adobe does not support their older programs (CS2) with RAW upgrades and basicly forced me to upgrade to CS3 after getting the D300. I realize you can open the files in NX or Lightroom and then convert them to something else and then work in CS2 etc. etc. but it's just another irritating step x10000. IMHO Adobe should support it's products better.

 

[barrie]

Thanks guys - just as I suspected. Guess now I have a good reason to get Lightroom!

 

[fitzperry]

Is anyone around here using Capture NX? I like that it preserves the camera settings (really illustrates how far off the Lightroom defaults are), but it's so darn slow, and I'd rather use the organizational tools that LR has to offer. I've read a few posts on other boards from people who say they're using CNX for raw conversion, converting to jpeg or tiff, and then importing those files into LR for organization. That sounds like a lot of trouble to me, but I'm not sure what else to do if I want to use CNX.

 

[DueyDooDah]

...IMHO Adobe should support it's products better.

You are talking about Adobe, right? Support? Man, you make me lol, out loud.

 

[NostalgicDad]

Is anyone around here using Capture NX? I like that it preserves the camera settings (really illustrates how far off the Lightroom defaults are), but it's so darn slow, and I'd rather use the organizational tools that LR has to offer. I've read a few posts on other boards from people who say they're using CNX for raw conversion, converting to jpeg or tiff, and then importing those files into LR for organization. That sounds like a lot of trouble to me, but I'm not sure what else to do if I want to use CNX.

I use CaptureNX and love it. The batch processes work great for me when converting during PP. I can tweak settings and convert to TIFF or JPEG all in one process. The Control Point feature is also very cool. Since the user interface is not as intuitive as say LR or CS2 or 3, there is quite a learning curve. At first I almost abandoned it because of that. But, once I wrapped my brain around it, it became pretty simple and I've come to appreciate it's features.

It is definitely a cpu/memory hog as you mentioned, though. As a result, that gave me an excuse to build myself a beefy new machine back in January. It's smokin' now on my quad-core AMD with 4GB RAM, 768MB nVidia 8800GTX, and 10,000 rpm sata drives.

 

[TinksDH]

Is anyone around here using Capture NX? I like that it preserves the camera settings (really illustrates how far off the Lightroom defaults are), but it's so darn slow, and I'd rather use the organizational tools that LR has to offer. I've read a few posts on other boards from people who say they're using CNX for raw conversion, converting to jpeg or tiff, and then importing those files into LR for organization. That sounds like a lot of trouble to me, but I'm not sure what else to do if I want to use CNX.

I use Capture NX. I don't care for its browser, or View NX for that matter, so I use Photomechanic as my ingest/rank/cull/sort/tag tool. It's a good organizer if you keep your Windows folders organized. It does NOT have the organizational tools that Photoshop Elements (or presumably LR but I don't have LR so can't comment firsthand) does.

Capture NX can be VERY slow if you have only 1gB of RAM on an XP machine. I have 2gB and it hums along pretty good now. However, it will never be as fast as LR just due to the way NX stores settings, as the settings are in the NEF as opposed to a sidecar file. I DO use the "batch save to jpeg" feature when I've taken a lot of what I would call "snapshots" and just want to get them printed out at the local minilab (good enough for DW when she wants to hold pics in her hand!). I also use the strategy of doing global edits to 1 image from a group (like WB, exposure, levels/curves, etc.) and then copying those edits to all the other images in the group. That speeds up editing time a lot as well.

Regarding how intuitive it is, as I never really adopted any PP tool before coming to NX, I don't see it any less intuitive as say PSE or any other image editing tool. Actually, the flow makes a lot of sense to me when you are in "edit" mode, as you just move from top to bottom in the toolbar on the right hand side of the screen. PSE, on the other hand, just has pull-down after pull-down and it's not really organized into any sort of workflow, at least none that I can see. I'm left-handed (right brained!) as well, so maybe THAT'S the problem! I understand that LR is organized very well from a workflow standpoint.

 

[Steve's Girl]

Is anyone around here using Capture NX? I like that it preserves the camera settings (really illustrates how far off the Lightroom defaults are), but it's so darn slow, and I'd rather use the organizational tools that LR has to offer. I've read a few posts on other boards from people who say they're using CNX for raw conversion, converting to jpeg or tiff, and then importing those files into LR for organization. That sounds like a lot of trouble to me, but I'm not sure what else to do if I want to use CNX.

I don't have NX (still trying to justify the cost since I already purchased LR). But I have been converting some of my files to TIFF in Picture Project and then importing them into LR. It is a cumbersome workflow, but I am happier with the colors. LR is a great organization tool, but I just can't seem to get the colors I want with RAW files.

 

[fitzperry]

Capture NX can be VERY slow if you have only 1gB of RAM on an XP machine. I have 2gB and it hums along pretty good now. However, it will never be as fast as LR just due to the way NX stores settings, as the settings are in the NEF as opposed to a sidecar file.

It is definitely a cpu/memory hog as you mentioned, though. As a result, that gave me an excuse to build myself a beefy new machine back in January. It's smokin' now on my quad-core AMD with 4GB RAM, 768MB nVidia 8800GTX, and 10,000 rpm sata drives.

I have 2GB, and it's still slow, and I don't have the faintest idea what 10,000 rpm sata drives are, but they sound impressive. Will it help if I close everything else when I run CNX (can you tell I'm not the propeller head in the family? )

Regarding how intuitive it is, as I never really adopted any PP tool before coming to NX, I don't see it any less intuitive as say PSE or any other image editing tool. Actually, the flow makes a lot of sense to me when you are in "edit" mode, as you just move from top to bottom in the toolbar on the right hand side of the screen. PSE, on the other hand, just has pull-down after pull-down and it's not really organized into any sort of workflow, at least none that I can see. I'm left-handed (right brained!) as well, so maybe THAT'S the problem! I understand that LR is organized very well from a workflow standpoint.

LR is well-organized from a workflow standpoint, and my brief experience with CNX leads me to believe it is as well. I also don't see it as any less intuitive than other image editors, although if PS is second nature to you, I guess the switch could be jarring. I haven't played much with the control point technology, but the idea of editing selected areas of an image without hassling with layers is very appealing to me.

I don't have NX (still trying to justify the cost since I already purchased LR).

Easy--buy a D300; it comes with it! Dh came in when I was watching a CNX tutorial the other night and gave me a little grief since I bought LR only a few months ago, but I assured him that it remains essential to my workflow. He left the room shaking his head and muttering about what a geek I've become (he's got a lot of room to talk!).

LR is a great organization tool, but I just can't seem to get the colors I want with RAW files.

I've had the same problem. I'm pretty sure in my case it's user error. My guess is that I'm too hesitant to stray much from the default settings. I've always assumed that someone who knows more than I do about this stuff set the defaults that way for a reason. Now I'm not so sure.

 

[TinksDH]

Here is some info that may help you in setting up your PC for NX...

Tips for NX

 

[Groucho]

It is definitely a cpu/memory hog as you mentioned, though. As a result, that gave me an excuse to build myself a beefy new machine back in January. It's smokin' now on my quad-core AMD with 4GB RAM, 768MB nVidia 8800GTX, and 10,000 rpm sata drives.

Oh, yeah, that gaming video card really helped out Lightroom a whole lot. But hey, if you can sneak it past the wife...

I don't have NX (still trying to justify the cost since I already purchased LR). But I have been converting some of my files to TIFF in Picture Project and then importing them into LR. It is a cumbersome workflow, but I am happier with the colors. LR is a great organization tool, but I just can't seem to get the colors I want with RAW files.

It's the camera calibrations. Try Googling a little and see if you can find some calibrations that others have done for your camera. The default Adobe colors usually have somewhat pinkish reds and a few other colors whacked for most cameras.

Still, it can be a pain. I wish there was a way to marry Lightroom's great organization and keywording portion, their great Raw conversion controls, and a different raw conversion engine, like Silkypix or Bibble, which seem to produce better colors consistently.

 

[NostalgicDad]

Oh, yeah, that gaming video card really helped out Lightroom a whole lot. But hey, if you can sneak it past the wife...

It seems as though you're on to my secrets!

 

[Steve's Girl]

It's the camera calibrations. Try Googling a little and see if you can find some calibrations that others have done for your camera. The default Adobe colors usually have somewhat pinkish reds and a few other colors whacked for most cameras.

I did this awhile back when it came up in another thread. I found some calibration info., but then couldn't remember what to do with it. I have some things written down for red hue, red sat. etc. Do I enter this info. as a develop preset in Lightroom? Or is this something I need to do in camera? Thanks!

 

[TinksDH]

Here is a link to a site that has a collection of websites with Lightroom Presets. This may be helpful. Down at the bottom of the page it has specific presets for specific cameras...

http://www.prophotoshow.net/blog/2007/11/09/where-to-get-free-lightroom-presets/

 

[GrillMouster]

Is anyone around here using Capture NX? I like that it preserves the camera settings (really illustrates how far off the Lightroom defaults are)...

That's like saying I bought these fresh, raw ingridients to prepare a gourmet meal...but I like my oven, because it makes my food come out tasting like a frozen TV-dinner.

If I wanted to preserve the camera settings, I'd shoot jpg, not RAW.

 

[TinksDH]

That's like saying I bought these fresh, raw ingridients to prepare a gourmet meal...but I like my oven, because it makes my food come out tasting like a frozen TV-dinner.

If I wanted to preserve the camera settings, I'd shoot jpg, not RAW.

Actually it's more like saying I bought these fresh, raw ingrediants to prepare a gourmet meal... and I like my oven because it makes my food come out exactly as I anticipated it will. In addition, if I need to modify my oven settings, I have enough control to do so to tailor the food to my liking.

The problem with shooting jpeg in order to preserve camera settings is that once they are "baked", you can't go back and change them too far beyond what they are, or you start to get degradation. However, if you shoot RAW and in a format that your camera settings are preserved, you have the option to go back and make them whatever you want if you don't like the way the recipe turned out. For some shooters, that is an advantage, being able to start with the "in camera" settings and going from there. For others, they could care less as they would rather start with a "clean slate" and do ALL their processing using LR, always beginning with a "neutral" image if you will. One is no better than the other - just a different workflow.

The other poster may have used inflamatory langauge when he stated that LR's default settings are "far off". I don't believe that Adobe ever stated or implied that LR's default settings mimic Nikon's defaults. I can understand why you may have reacted negatively to that comment, and hence how that influenced your reply. But to say that using NX to preserve the in-camera settings is like taking a goumet meal and making it taste like a TV dinner isn't quite accurate...! No offense intended...

 

[fitzperry]

That's like saying I bought these fresh, raw ingridients to prepare a gourmet meal...but I like my oven, because it makes my food come out tasting like a frozen TV-dinner.

It's absolutely nothing of the sort. If you take care in choosing your camera settings, then aren't they a good place to start your RAW processing?

Actually it's more like saying I bought these fresh, raw ingrediants to prepare a gourmet meal... and I like my oven because it makes my food come out exactly as I anticipated it will. In addition, if I need to modify my oven settings, I have enough control to do so to tailor the food to my liking.

Much better analogy.

The other poster may have used inflamatory langauge when he stated that LR's default settings are "far off".

I'm honestly at a loss to see how that could be construed as inflammatory. I realize that the NEF format is proprietary and that LR is, therefore, unable to preserve the camera settings. However, one of the default settings in LR is "as shot." Doesn't that imply some effort to mimic them? And even if it doesn't, what is controversial about noting that when I open an NEF file in LR it looks vastly different than it does in Capture NX?

 

[We-Luv-Disney]

Went out earlier today to Brookgreen gardens to take a few snaps. They have several different raptors and owls in their small zoo area. Great subjects for me, but the enclosures their in are not too photographer friendly, but I still took a bunch of shots to see if I could salvage some. I always shoot in RAW and it really helped this time. The original (as seen below) is washed out from the fence. After a few tweaks in PS3's raw converter its hard to tell that darn fence was there! So come on Disers, I wanna see some of your RAW miracles!!
Original Raw file...

Edited from Raw..

 

[Super]

Don't exactly know what you mean by miracles as none of these are miracles
But just some of my favourites. As you can see I like night photography and macro.
These were all downsampled from .cr2 raws from a G9 using lossless jpegs and also, 'nearest neighbour' as the downsample method.

 

[Groucho]

I did this awhile back when it came up in another thread. I found some calibration info., but then couldn't remember what to do with it. I have some things written down for red hue, red sat. etc. Do I enter this info. as a develop preset in Lightroom? Or is this something I need to do in camera? Thanks!

In the Develop module, there's a spot at the bottom of the right-hand menu to change your camera calibration. You can then save that as a preset and apply it to existing photos, you can also tell Lightroom to automatically use those presets any time it imports photos from your camera. You can even have different presets for different ISOs, if you wanted to have it automatically apply a little extra noise reduction and color boost on high ISO shots, etc.

There are definite advantages to having your raw processor use your camera's settings on import - I can't believe anyone would say otherwise. And Lightroom is not great at using those settings, and more specific to the discussion at hand, Lightroom often, by default, produces photos that look more flat and lifeless than those by other raw processors. This can be confirmed by looking at the number of people who have calibrated ACR/LR with a Gretag-Macbeth color chart and had to change the settings quite a bit.

 

[Zoesmama03]

So I decided to start playing around with shooting in RAW. I think my exposure is much much better there. But next I have to figure out how to do the RAW thing in paintshop pro 12. So far I just do curves as normal and save as jpg to share online.

BUT RAW cuts down my 2G card to 170 shots or so. I think I'm going to need a few more cards especially whenever I make it to Disney this year. I can't wait to go take my dd who will be 5 in July. She doesn't remember anything from the last time when she was 2 years 3 months. But she did really enjoy the shows last time. This time I want to do AK too with her. I know I'll need A LOT more photos than 170.

Anyone know a range for the 4G? I was told by the Ritz guy that the 4Gers do not work well with the D80 so should I stick to a few more 2G or just do JPG for the trip or switch back and forth do a card with RAW and then the rest JPG?

Oh and I also do fine quality and highest resolution because I crop and I want good print quality still.