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Author Topic: More about capture NX  (Read 19164 times)

OldRoy

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More about capture NX
« on: July 03, 2010, 05:15:28 pm »

judging by the avalanche of replies to my last question. This one should be equally stimulating. Let's see.
I just built a Win 7 64 bit box using the AMD 6-core processor and 8Gb of RAM. HDs are in non-RAID configuration for the moment - 1 x 1.5TB system, another for data and some apps. Most of the programs I use perform about as well as i expected. Except NX2, which appears to run no faster than it does on the preceding box (Intel 6600 @ 2.5 Ghz, 4Gb RAM, win xp pro 32 bit etc). In fact it could even be a bit slower. All the cores seem busy when I run a batch job although the processor never seems to get above 50%. temp files are set to the non OS drive. Increasing the magnification in the preview window seems agonisingly slow.

Anyone else have a comparison from which I can get some idea what's going on here? Form an orderly queue please.

Roy
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stamper

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More about capture NX
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2010, 04:34:11 am »

I read something yesterday - somewhere on the internet - that Nikon hasn't yet implemented the 64 bit of NX capture.

http://nikonimglib.com/cnx2/index_en_eur.html#os-windows

Run as 32 bit. I wonder how many people are trying to run it in 64 bit and complaining about the performance?

Rob C

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More about capture NX
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2010, 03:26:38 pm »

Roy

I have installed NX2 just recently and it seems to me that it is no more user-friendly than I thought NX to be some years ago. However, it seems to work all right in the sense that I can eventually end up in Photoshop doing what I want to do. As for batches -  I try to shoot as little at a time as I have to and believe that the ideal philosophy must be to think of digital as LF and trick the mind into thinking caution with the pennies, even though there are no damn pennies anywhere near it. Of course, there are people whose choices don't permit that frugality, in which case, may their gods go with them!

I sat down on the terrace with the official NX2 Guide this afternoon in an attempt to really get myself to grips with the thing: it is impossible. The reading turns into a sleep-inducing exercise despite the fact that I really want to get to the point where I can almost avoid PS altogether, not because I don't like it, but because it would simply be nice to be that capable with both alternatives.

Have you tried ignoring NX2 and going straight into Bridge, if you have it, and moving out of NEFs as soon as you can? I really have terrible doubts about the supposed claims of NX2's superiority with NEFs - and no, I've never tried it both ways to make sure, but in my heart of hearts I wish there was a single standard. I suspect there will eventually be such a weeding out.

Rob C

stamper

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More about capture NX
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2010, 04:03:29 am »




I gave up on NX2 in favour of Camera raw and Photoshop. NX2 interface too clunky for my liking. As to the superiority of NX in comparison to Camera raw then it is subjective. What I missed in NX2 was the control points so I bought Viveza 2. A lot of this debate boils down to the ..... my tool is better than your tool. An ego thing. As to Bridge then I ignore it. I use FastStone image viewer. Easy to browse without the Bridge add-ons and when I see an image I like then I press E on the keyboard and it opens in Camera Raw. With regards to performance - can't get to far off the original poster's post - I find that it is easier on the system resources than NX and trying to import to Photoshop as long as the Photoshop preferences for ram isn't set too high.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2010, 04:05:02 am by stamper »
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MarkL

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More about capture NX
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2010, 04:27:14 pm »

I think stamper nailed the reason, no 64bit support yet (still). If Nikon seriously wants to be a player in this game they really need to sort themselves out.

I use NX2 for RAW conversion and then get into PS because it is so horrible to use it drives me crazy. I come back to it because the results with NEFs are head and shoulders above ACR for pics of people and require far less tweaking of settings.
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dralph

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More about capture NX
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2010, 08:07:33 am »

Quote from: Rob C
Roy
snip

I sat down on the terrace with the official NX2 Guide this afternoon in an attempt to really get myself to grips with the thing: it is impossible. The reading turns into a sleep-inducing exercise despite the fact that I really want to get to the point where I can almost avoid PS altogether, not because I don't like it, but because it would simply be nice to be that capable with both alternatives.

snip
Rob C

For a more readable instruction book on NX2, let me suggest Mike Hagen's "Nikon Capture NX 2, After Shoot."  Unlike the manual, it is entirely readable.  

I like the control points etc., but I wanted to embrace the program for more.  So, I finally decided that I had to force myself to read a book like Hagen's from stem to stern.  It was well worth it as I now use NX2 for most of what I do, and I rarely venture into PS, except for pixel level editing, my Photokit Sharpener plug in, and for careful printing from PS.  Love those instant masks for virtually every possible editing feature in NX2.  PS would take forever to create anything like them.

There is another book on the market which if anything is more boring and less useful than the manual, Ben Long's Real World "Nikon Capture NX."  Just dull.  I could not make myself read it.  I have other Real World series books, like Fraser's book on sharpening, and this was a definite disappointment after those other good experiences.

A third book, and I recommend, is Jason Odell's ebook on NX2, "The Photographer's Guide to Capture NX2."  It comes in PDF text searchable format.  I printed it out, but that makes it inches think on 8.5x10" paper.  I use it more as a reference than a guide to learn to the program.  Perhaps it would be more easily portable and thereby easier to stick to reading it on a portable device like an iPad or Kindle.  http://www.luminescentphoto.com/ebooks.html

For initial review of photos, selecting the winners, maybe's and losers, Photo Mechanic, from www.camerabits.com, seems to be the fastest, most elegant.  I have been using it for years, happily.  Powerful for setting exif and IPTC data.  The only attribute I would give Bridge, which is clunky in comparison for full screen image review from where I sit for image review, is that right now one can do a global text search for images in Bridge whereas one does that only in directories in Photo Mechanic.  I believe the next iteration of Photo Mechanic will include that ability.
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jspicer

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More about capture NX
« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2010, 04:41:07 pm »

I recently began using ViewNX to select a photo for processing by Capture NX2, and then clicking the CaptureNX2 button in the ViewNX menu bar.  I find that I have fewer problems with Capture NX2 using this approach, rather than using Capture NX2 in stand-alone mode.  I especially notice that I get faster reponses to a color when I select a control point.  My computer is an HP Media Center PC running Windows XP with Service Pak 3.  It has 2GB of memory and a 300GB disk drive.
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kers

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More about capture NX
« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2010, 05:47:28 pm »

I use NX2 on a fast Mac and it is the same there- very poor speed (do not open more than one image at a time!) and the whole interface is 1980's.

But I still use it , for the D3x NEF-files that come out as 16 bit Tiffs are of a very good quality... or the best i can find.

I believe it has nothing to do with 32 or 64 bit- It is simply a bad piece of software that is developed around a very good Raw -converter.

The batch part is the best part.



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Pieter Kers
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OldRoy

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Re: More about capture NX
« Reply #8 on: October 13, 2010, 04:31:51 pm »

I believe it has nothing to do with 32 or 64 bit- It is simply a bad piece of software that is developed around a very good Raw -converter.
The batch part is the best part.


Yes, this is a fair assessment.
Apart from changing the eccentric, to put it mildly,  UI, the thing that would make NXn unbeatable would be the implementation of DxO style model-specific mapped lens/camera distortion correction. Why on earth can't Nikon, given the huge set of data available to them, incorporate this? There are lots of complaints about  (for example) the barrel distortion problems of the newly released F4 zooms, which would simply be eliminated by this facility. Substantial commercial edge I would have thought?

Roy




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Aristoc

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Re: More about capture NX
« Reply #9 on: November 25, 2010, 03:27:05 pm »

OHhhhhhhhhHO HO HO! The old NX2 is slow thread.

W'ell it is slow. It's the way it is programmed. So here is a little tip (or two), which I have found worked for me to keep it from crashing. It will not speed it up much, but it will help to keep it from crashing.

1. Always remember to use the 'new step' button to begin an editing step. Dont go to the top row of the window and press on the drop down menus.

2. delete the thumbnail cache archive. This archive, seems to clog up the hard disk. So delete. I can tell  you how to do it if interested. The only negative thing about this is that if you want to view your images in the NX2 folder, it will then take some time to load the thumbnails. SO WHAT. It's better that , then let NX2 slow you down or crash.

Oh yes, Make hagen's book 'after the shoot' was really helpful and has lots of tips to help keep NX2 from running so slow. Like keep the program and the editing cache folder on seperate drives.

Aristoc   :P ::) :o ;D >:( :D ;) :) :-[ :-X :-\ :-* :'(
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Frankomatic

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Re: More about capture NX
« Reply #10 on: November 26, 2010, 02:05:38 pm »

In the latest 2.2.6 version of Capture NX2 there is a fix that improves performance quite a bit.  IMO It's the equivalent of having your Photoshop scratch disk located in the user area of your OS drive even though you configured PS to place it on another drive.

Although CNX preference settings allows one to configure the location of tmp files, Nikon apparently overlooked associating the largest and most unpalatable tmp file with the user's preference setting in all previous versions.  By default, this tmp file resided in a folder in the user's area of the OS drive IN SPITE OF the user's preference to locate it elsewhere, preferably on another drive.  For windows the location of the folder is shown below (the number in the folder name will vary).

C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp\cpnx_5908_tiledata\

Depending on how CNX is being used the tmp file inside this folder (0000000000000000.tmp) may not be created, but when it is created (which is usually the case) it can get quite huge.  I've seen it range from 5gb to more than 20gb, which in the latter case used up enough free space on my OS drive to crash my system.  Needless to say, due to its location on the OS drive, even at smaller sizes performance is negatively affected, and as it grows in size the decrease in performance exponentially grows along with it.  The constant read/write accesses on the same drive as Windows pagefile.sys file, together with the loss of OS free space is a recipe for disaster.  Given Capture NX's reputation for poor performance, I'm astonished it took Nikon so long to figure it out.

In v2.2.6 the folder & file now honor the user's preference setting, and are now correctly located on the drive of his choice.  While this did lead to a marked improvement in performance, the program does lose some of its snap as more and more edits are made to an image but I guess that's to be expected.

For anyone interested, here's a link to a thread about it on another forum.....
http://www.flickr.com/groups/capturenx/discuss/72157624963120616/

Regards,
Frank
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