Capture NX 2.2.0 update?

[OldRoy]

I just got an NPS email which mentions the update to 2.2.0. Of course firing up NX 2.1 and asking it to check for updates I get the report "no updates available".
Why am I not surprised? Or am I missing something? How hard can it be to get this right?

Anyway, I have downloaded  2.2.0 but not yet installed it as I thought I'd first enquire what other users report. One thing in the release notes that interested me was the sentence:
"An Auto Distortion correction function has been added to the Camera & Lens Corrections portion of the Edit List’s Develop section.  "

Could it be that Nikon have actually taken the lead from DxO and incorporated fully mapped distortion correction? This would be a very big improvement. If so what lenses are covered? I hoped that the information might be expanded in the accompanying PDF, but all it says is:
"This tool can only be applied to images created by digital SLR cameras
with type G or D lenses. It uses lens information recorded
with the image to correct the barrel distortion characteristic
of wide-angle lenses or the pin-cushion distortion associated
with telephoto lenses. It can not be applied to photos taken
with D100 or D1-series cameras or with PC, fi sheye, or certain
other lenses, nor is it available with JPEG or TIFF images that
were taken with auto distortion control enabled or that have
been processed using auto distortion control and saved under
a diff erent name.
To turn auto distortion control on, place a check in the Apply
checkbox ( ) and select Auto from the pull-down menu. Auto
distortion control is automatically enabled for RAW photos
taken with On selected for the auto distortion control option
available in the shooting menu of some cameras. In other
cases, auto distortion control defaults to off ( )."

Which is hardly a detailed description of the process. But maybe there's something else here that I don't understand. I'd appreciate enlightenment from someone who does!
Roy

[NikosR]

Hi,

I have just posted the below in another Nikon orientated forum also:

Have just tried it on both Win XP and Mac. I haven't tried batching yet.

New function 1: Auto Distortion (under Camera & Lens Corrections) and Distortion Control (under adjustments): These work nicely. Auto distortion seemed to work nicely with some 17-35 shots i tried. Distortion Control seems to just apply compensations for barrel / pincushion distortions based on the slider setting but does not appear clever enough for complex distortions. Auto distortion should work nicely with Nikon lenses I hope. No documentation whatsoever regarding which lenses are automatically recognised. Shoud we assume all D and G lenses?


New function 2: Axial chromatic aberration correction (under Camera & Lens Corrections). This seems to be a semi-automatic (i.e. you have to use a slider) function.  Could not see any effect with a couple of shots with the 85 1.4 I tried which exhibited minimal amount of what I believe to be axial (longitudinal) CA. I will search for any other shots I have with more pronounced amounts of axial CA.


PS. Just to moan a bit. With all this new functionality added to NX since v.1 the UI (and I don't refer only to graphical presentation but mainly to functional organisation) appears more and more arcane and user unfriendly. It's a pity really..)

[NikosR]

BTW, I know of no current cameras that have the 'auto distortion control' option in the shooting menu. Unless I'm mistakes of course. Could this point to a new camera soon to be announced?

[ifocus]

I installed it and I tested the batch processing. I am running on MAC OS X and I can say that Nikon's claim of 50% improvement seem to hold. I processed a batch of 25 NEF; it took about 10 seconds per image. The batch process being smoother is definitely a good news. Otherwise, CNX2 keeps running flawlessly on my machine. Love it. JY

[OldRoy]

I finally got around to installing this upgrade. First impression is that it's bug ridden pile of cr@p.

I have actually used it to convert a few files however today when I launch it from a selected NEF, the program opens but the loading dialog sits there doing nothing, indefinitely. Browsing the folder that the file belongs to shows me a (jpeg) subfolder but none of the NEF files. I imagine this is probably a cache problem of some sort but I'm REALLY p155ed off with this program: for a commercial releae from a major vendor, it's nothing short of abominable.
Roy
Edit. Yes a cache problem. I just hope that's the only one.

[David Hufford]

I finally got around to installing this upgrade. First impression is that it's bug ridden pile of cr@p.

I have actually used it to convert a few files however today when I launch it from a selected NEF, the program opens but the loading dialog sits there doing nothing, indefinitely. Browsing the folder that the file belongs to shows me a (jpeg) subfolder but none of the NEF files. I imagine this is probably a cache problem of some sort but I'm REALLY p155ed off with this program: for a commercial releae from a major vendor, it's nothing short of abominable.
Roy
Edit. Yes a cache problem. I just hope that's the only one.

I installed it a few days ago too and can see no improvements. It is much, much slower in opening a NEF, 2,3,4 or more seconds. It may be just some strange coincidence, but my whole computer (iMac) seems slower since I installed it. Will likely uninstall and revert to 2.1.1

[OldRoy]

drichi
It's not just your Mac. They have incorporated some state-of-the-art slowing code it seems. Interminable time to launch, huge lag before commencing batch process (notably slower than preceding version)
And yes, I have noticed a distinct slowing of my PC (32 bit XP, Quad 6600, 4gb ram, copious drive space etc.) Not had time to work out why and when yet, but it's ominous.

Also there are bizarre aspects to the UI. For example the implementation of the batch process settings file creation - which sometimes comes up with everything selected and sometimes not; in fact I haven't a clue how it's supposed to work. What is the yellow highlighting about in relation to the check boxes?

This program is a masterpiece of bad application design and horribly buggy - even if it is capable of outputting decent results.
Roy

[Rob C]

This program is a masterpiece of bad application design and horribly buggy - even if it is capable of outputting decent results.
Roy

Well, I tried the trial version a week or so ago and found it even more awkward than Capture 4 which I had abandoned. At least with Capture, you could use the safety net button - click on the eye icon - and get yourself safely into PS from whence sanity could eventually return and further work be  contemplated.

The shift to trying NX2 came about because of the new 24-70 purchase and the feeling that I owed it to the lens to give it my best shot at giving it its best chance to shine. In the event, I managed to get to the stage where I had some beautiful colours up on the monitor, had managed to do a little vignetting to taste (not that there was any problem with the file, being cropped by D200 camera format anyway), as I just wanted to see how it worked out when trying to induce darkening at the corners. Then I wanted to go into PS and that´s when the final frustration hit. I couldn´t find a way. I tried converting to TIFFs but even that failed, bringing up a notice telling me that the system lacked memory, a load of crap since I had it doubled some time ago, after having found exactly the same notice coming up with Capture 4. In the end, I just uninstalled the trial version and probably won´t be going back.

Fortunately, I still had the material in the card so I binned the entire lot of images that had passed into/through NX2 and re-used the card reader to start again.

A pity, really, and makes me wonder why there isn´t some reasonable way that Nikon and any other maker, for that matter, can´t get together with Adobe to utilise their accepted superiorty in this direction and allow software that makes transition from the one to the other a seamless and painless operation, as it had been via the eye icon within Nikon Capture 4. Now, more than ever, mutual economic help-lines would be invaluable for all.

Rob C

[Steven Draper]

I'm using NX2.2 on a Mac 2 x 3.2 MHz with only 4GB of DDR Ram 4.5.6.

I have to say that despite its slightly clumsy interface (we've been spoilt with aperture, lightroom and photoshop) I am a fan due to its ability to produce far better conversions that I can achieve in Lightroom / CR and DXO.

There does seem to be some kind of auto optical compensation. I'll run some tests in the week and compare with DxO which seems to be one of the leadersin this area, in fact it was why I purchased DxO

It does seem painfully slow to load files with several adjustments and I did have a problem with a batch conversion - all I wanted to do was make a set of Jpegs from a file full of coversions and I got a very strange result (user error???)

I do not consider NX2.2 a start to finish workflow, although for some images it does meet that requirement. But remembering its core role is a raw convertor, not a data base manager, sorter or somewhere you get really creative with levels, blends etc it does provide very good conversion with excellent colour.

It's main problem is that it provides so many user tweaks, coupled with a dated feel to the UI and the fact that I think many people just want to hit one button and have amazing pictures appear on the screen. There are several good books and guides that can help, and just playing about with various things is also a good way to learn.

Yes I wish it had a preview like photoshop and almost every other software, I wish it was faster, I wish it could convert to DNG, but to me the results are worth a little hassel.

[David Hufford]

After a few more days of use, I have found it crashes often when trying to open a D300 NEF---something 2.1.1 never did---and even if it does work, it is much slower in opening. Have not used it to batch process---I rarely use Capture NX  for that as it is more a one at a time program for me---but I can see no other advantages over the more stable 2.1.1 on my computer. I never was able to find any Nikon software that was useful on any of my machines before Capture 2.1.1. and it is being to look like I won't find any useful after...