NX Discussion, Hits ,Tips & Tricks
 

Now than Nikon NX has hit the shops, I got my copy on Friday, I thought a dedicated thread may be helpful.

Unlike other full imaging programs which spawn a multitude of ' how to ' books NX will probably remain low key in that respect and most users will rely on the manual, help files and internet postings.

From other sites that I have looked at where people have posted pics with an explanation of how they got there, more time seems to have been spent slagging off the image than regarding the post as a positive contribution to the learning curve of the features of NX. This thread is aimed at learning the program, and luckily WPF is not like that anyway.

To put my posts in context I should at the outset say that I do not regard NX as a fully featured imaging program but it does contain useful features other than NEF Nikons raw conversion, that are easy to use for a ' dummy ' like me. Photoshop or other editing programs are still required to perform those actions for which NX does not cater.ction with NX.

The downside for some, other than cost, is the system requirements. Details here http://www.capturenx.com/

I am lucky in having a newish PC, 3.4GHz, with 2.0 Gig of RAM and performance varies from fast to slow. NC3.5 through to 4.4 was a killer on my laptop ( no problem on the pc ) but has never suffered the variable speed of operation issue I have encountered with NX. Hopefully I will discover this to be operator error, or it maybe down to the sequence of adjustments to the image. I am not a computer buff so will have to experiment a bit.

The first image editing post relates to a very specific idea that came from a discussion with Nikon Foxy Bob. This is something I did in the old darkroom days with traction engine pics where I printed in B&W and then coloured the brass parts by using bleach. It took ages per print applying bleach with a very fine brush. The image Gidders has in his gallery ' Something Red ' has stuck in my mind since it was posted, as it followed a similar processing style but has colour other than gold. Link here http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...ppuser=72&sl=g So it may well have had an unconscious influence in making me find a way of changing the glass lens colour in this image. Brown lenses did not work for me in a sepia image.

Don

NX first image processing Part 1
 

As mentioned in the last post the intent with this image was to convert to B&W or sepia and have the glasses frame in colour.

Due to the number of images I will spread this over 2 posts, with the follow up one detailing the process.

Images here are
1) The Origional full frame shot.
2) Thefirst patial attempt which was a straight sepia conversion and paint the glasses back in. These things are always a personal view but I did not particularly like the glasses, also thought it needed to be harder if it was to describe these dull days. Straght sepia a bit warm.
3) The final image.

Part 2 detailing the process will follow later today. Screen captures and text that makes sense takes a little longer. :)

Don

NX first image processing Part 2
 

I have done this part as four graphics so they can be printed. I hope they explain the steps in the process sufficiently.

I could do with a drink after that lot. :D

Don

An Excellent insight into how your fantastic image was produced, Don I too am using Nikon Capture NX but set in my ways I am only using it to correct, adjust and convert. My aviation photography does not require much more than corrections and minor adjustments but I shoot RAW to benefit from flexibility and believe the 12-bit representation is beneficial to the final image quality.

Below are two images, 3/4 scale Spitfire has had the sky darkened using control points. I used around half-dozen control points altering them all the same. The result is not perfect but its a start. The second Harvard image shows a natural sky on the same day. I have tried this technique on grey skies but the aeroplanes fuselage become adjusted also. Although altering the colour of the sky can be performed in photoshop it cannot be performed as easy as capture NX.

Please accept my apologies for the quality of these two as they were resized without my control.

Stephen,

Very impressed by the 3/4 Spitfire both as an image, and as a plane in its own right. I seen some superb RC models but never anything like this with a pilot at the controls.

On the 3/4 Spitfire you say you altered all six control points to the same value. Tip - initially set the area covered by the first control point quite large. It makes adjustments easier as the effect can be seen over a larger area. When happy reduce its size to what you require, this control point can now be duplicated and moved to position as many times as you require, saving individual adjustment of each one. They can be individually tweaked later if required.

In cases of adjustment to a grey sky, where the fuselarge becomes affected. Set a control point on each of the affected tones. With no adjustment they will return that area to its origional colour as in my example above. You may find you use 5 or 6 points to adjust the sky and a dozen or more straight control point drops on fuselarge to correct the colour there. These should not affect the control points that you have placed in the sky.

Have a play.

Don

Thanks Don, I'll have an experiment with darkening grey sky.

The Spitfire is a real areoplane. It was manufactured by Pearson JWE and Luck H (CAA register entry) and is type Spitfire Mk26. It weight 720kg and is lighter than the Cessna's/Pipers I am allowed to fly with my PPL. The Spitfire appears on the U.K. register as G-CCZP is a 3/4 scale all apart from the cockpit as a real size person is required to fly it!

Back to NX... if I add a control point on grey sky and change to 100% and alter brightness then add a control point on fuselage the fuselage brightness will be preserved? I will post findings later on this evening.

To see and understand the effect try it with part of an image. Fuselarge section like tailplane that has other colours and tones that will be affected by the sky adjustment. After doing the sky control point just drop a control point on any areas of the fuselarge that were affected by the sky control point. A straight drop should return it to the values it held before being affected by the sky control point. That is why you may end up with several unadjusted control points on your image.

Sunglasses shot used 7 to tint the lenses and 12 straight drops to return other areas affected by the first 7 to their origional values.

Don

Observe the two images below. I experimented with control points (CP's) as suggested above and found darkening the sky easy but effected the subject making it flat and tonally disproportionate. I added a few control points simply dropping them on top in certain places and the original fuselage began to return however, the sky began to lighten. Adding more duplicate sky points set with low brightness only the dark sky returned. It was only when I switched off control points did I realise how much a change had occurred.

This is a little frustrating but with perseverance decent results can be obtained quickly - if that not a contradiction. I.E. once you know how its done it becomes easy and fast.

Image 1 - CP's off
Image 2 - CP's on
Image 3 - finished image

Stephen,

Sorry I should have mentioned a couple of things in my previous post, then again I am still learning.

When using control points with skies a handy tip is to click on the ' View ' tab and show selection. This shows the area that will be affected depending on the size handle. It is a negative view but the area affected can be seen as you move the size handle. Very useful to prevent any hot spots due to insufficient size, particularly in a sky. Untick this to return to normal view.

You can also see how you are progressing by ' View ' Compare. This will show the origional and edited image side by side.

As you said once you know how its done it becomes easy and fast. It is easier to see and understand with images that are not too complex like those you posted above.

Don

Two quick screen captures to show ' View ' Selection and how you can see the effect by moving the size slider.

Don

Anyone interested in a free NX seminar:- see below



John Clements Nikon Capture NX Seminar
23/08/2006 Kingston

Want to know more about Nikon Capture NX? Then come along to a FREE seminar with John Clements and learn more
From simple navigation through its interface, to a step-by-step demonstration of the major adjustments many will use, John Clements shows why he believes Nikon Capture NX is a major step forward in attaining utmost quality through Nikon’s Total Imaging System
For more details about the seminar and to book please click here
Venue
Nikon UK Ltd
380 Richmond Road
Kingston upon Thames
Surrey
KT2 5PR
7pm - 9pm

JPEGs and NX
 

To see what can be done with a jpeg in NX I have had go at a high contrast image.

If the JPEG is converted to a NEF editing does not degrade the origional image. A major plus point is that it allows D Light to be used. In high contrast situations this can be used to draw out shadow details without sacrificing highlights.

In this image D Light was first used, followed by a series of control points. Colour picker was used in 2 areas. The burnt out side of the grey building and the sky. All other control points were tweeks. Some increased brightness, some reduced brightness and some returned the point to origional.

The idea being to show how much the origional could be changed.

Don

White Balance Tip
 

Heres a tip, rather than click 'Base Adjustments' on the edit list and choose white balance then choose single point or marquee. Pick up a neutral control point then drop it on a place ideally 18% grey but pure black or white will be okay to instantly correct colour balance. This method is much faster than click, click click etc.

NX is billed as being faster I think its faster to operate rather than dramatically faster to convert NEF's

black and white control points are also available but this is similar to changing the black and white points on a histogram but a histogram is required to find the ideal result.

NX Black, White and Neutral Control Points
 

To follow up on Stephens post. A couple more screen captures.

In the first screen capture one Neutral, a Black, and a White point have been placed.

Neutral Control Point is used to correct colour cast in the image. The manual suggests that you can place several of these on an image to correct for multiple colour casts.
Black Control Point will cause the targeted colour to become black and will affect all dark tones in the image.
White Control point will cause the targeted colour to become white and will affect all light tones in the image.

To assist in placing either the black or white point the Double Threshold box on the histogram pallet should be checked.The displayed image will then appear as grey with some pixels black and others white. This is to assist in placing these points if they are used. Attached is a screen capture to show the control available in setting either White or Black points. The effect of the selection on the normal image view is immediately visible by unchecking the ' Double threshold ' box.

Once set on the image these points can be moved, values changed, be turned on and off or deleted.

Don

Black and White conversion
 

Black and white conversion has never look faithful in my opinion especially the 'desaturate' function in photoshop. Fooling around this morning I found black and white conversion in NX, located off the filters tab on the toolbar.

Not only will this filter convert to back and white but allows control over the process (see pic 2)

The image I was viewing seemed perfect for the black and white as it could hide the bushes in the background allowing more attention to the subject.

Pic 1 - Original uneditted image
Pic 2 - Black and White conversion dialogue box
Pic 3 - Black and White conversion applied using standard settings

Final image in our gallery
http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...4&limit=recent

The more I experiment the more useful NX becomes.

I have just downloaded the free 30 day trial on Stephans recomendations as a replacement for Raw Shooters. Apart from it absoloutly kills my laptop in terms of speed (it is only a 1.4 processor with 512mb of ram). I have 2 questions:
1. Alot of my photos are not level, how do you level photos in the programme?
2. Once i have made any tweeks to the picture how do i convert the .nef file?

In answer to (1) There is a straighten tool marked as a line with arrows at each end on floating toolbar F3. I haven't used it as I straighten in photoshop but it may have the same qualities such as draw a straight line then NX will automatically straighten the photo to that line.

In answer to (2) In Edit -> preferences under the general tab you can browse for the 'open with' application. Find the application and when finished editting click file -> open with and after a short while NX will convert your NEF and open your application. Please note there is no progress indicator for this so be patient on that machine. You could also save the file as JPEG to your desktop then pick it up in any application.

NX does require 1GB RAM as a minimum so a long wait for conversion may result.

I dont mind waiting if it means good results.

Ollie,

What photo editing program do you use ?

Don

Ive been using paint shop pro 7 untill i got this software. I would use rawshooter to convert them and up the saturation. I now think i will use this software.

It is possible to save as JPEG directly from NX. I did this earlier and it took milliseconds to save, as fast as photoshop. If Ollie does this before opening another editting application his compters RAM can be used more efficiently.

Click File -> Save As -> choose JPEG and level of compression required.

I will do some screen captures to show the route and options. I agree that an NX RAW to JPEG conversion will help Ollies RAM limitations.

I have just converted a 13.2mb NEF to a best quality 5.15mb JPEG.

This JPEG can then be edited in NX. A version of that edit can also be saved as a NEF file, so this is another method of editing a JPEG without concerns of image degradation through multiple saves during the edit process.

Don

Ollie,

Four graphics with a bit of explanation that I hope you find useful.

Thinking about the limits of your laptop when it comes to having a play with NX, I suggest you do any straightening and those items in the attached edit list that can only be done on a RAW file. Then save as the absolute best quality JPEG, which will have a smaller file size than the RAW. Now re open that JPEG in NX for a play with control points etc.

As you progress through the save as you will come to a ' Save Options Dialog ' box. By default this sets Good Balance, so click the drop down and select Excellent Quality then save.

Note you can save the edited JPEG as a NEF that will retain all the edit info so you can go back to it and change anything you did previously as it will all appear in the edit list. Necessarily this will be quite a large file.

Don

I have not actualy converted any images yet with Nx as my laptop is desperatly low on hard drive space.
How do i go aout sharpening with the shaprening mask in the programme? I have had a crack at it and cannot work it out. What are the benefits of converting it to a high quality Jpeg rather than a tiff file?

Ollie,

In your case it is file size.

The helicopter image in the graphic above is NEF 13.27mb , TIFF 70.07mb, JPEG 5.15mb.

As each processing action creates an undo then with a TIFF you will quickly run out of RAM and then the pc will use the hard disk to temporarily store and retrieve this info. At this point all processing actions will slow to a crawl. I had a go with a large file on my laptop yesterday, 833MHz with 128Mb of RAM, 10Gb free space, machine just defragged. When RAM was full simple actions took over 8 minutes :eek:

I suggest you take a NEF and save that as a TIFF and a JPEG and use explorer to check relative file sizes. I have just edited the 5.15mb JPEG mentioned above and added 6 control points and saved it as a NEF. It is now 10.7mb still hugely smaller than a TIFF. Why is the NEF larger than the origional JPEG ?? .............. It retains all the edit actions that I made, and these are available to make any additions or changes you may wish the moment the image is opened. In effect non destructive editing of the JPEG from the moment it was saved as a NEF.


As to the sharpening feature I would have to have a look as I have not used this in NX.

I hope this is some help.

Don

Don,
Thank you for the file size comparison. I think i will go with a higest quality jpeg after reading that.

Large NX play pics
 

I thought it may help if I posted a couple of large starter play pics. Reposting a query relative to these helps me to understand how best to help. Any other pics to play with are welcome from users of any make of camera as NX will work with any jpegs.

The helicopter is good for assessing how to do Black, White and Neutral points. The white fuselarge side will also show up any introduced colour cast.

The big sky in pic 2 helps in setting control point size and duplicate control points.

The images are 2000 wide to give some room for a play.

Don

To answer a question on B&W points I have taken Play Image 1

Graphic 1) I have randomly dropped a black point on the rotor as that may be deemed to " look " black.
Graphic 2) The Double Threshold box on the histogram was checked, image magnified and a black point set as described in post 14.
Graphic 3) A side by side to show the effect on the image.
Graphic 4) Image view when setting black point using DoubleThreshold.

Black and White points will affect the whole image and what may at casual glance appear black, may well not be Red 0 , Green 0 , Blue 0 , Black but a very dark grey.

White point is set in a similar fashion.

Don

D-Lighting
 

Anyone new to NC4 or NX may wonder what D-Light is in the base adjustments list.

D lighting is part of the Base Adjustments and is available for all image formats.

In cases of underexposure or backlighting this can be used to draw out shadow and highlight details.

Two screen captures are attached to give an idea of what D-Light will do.

Its control box is available by clicking the arrow by Base Adjustments. A drop down menue of available options will be displayed. Click on the arrow for Light and Colour Adjustments, finally click on the arrow by D-Lighting.

This control is available in 2 flavours - Faster or Better Quality. In either flavour the sliders will adopt a default position, and the image will display the effect of that setting. If you have a large file or are at high magnification this may take a few seconds. The available sliders can then be moved to achieve the desired result which will be displayed.

When you are aware of what D-Light can do, you may find that as in this case, that you can deliberately base exposure biased towards the sky as you could draw out shadow detail in pp.

Don

Here are some screen captures from me working on a light coloured aeroplane from Old Warden. Am i setting my blackpoint wrong?

Ollie, you are not strictly setting the black point incorrectly but Don is showing the use of black and white control points. These control points have the same effect of what you are doing but they are much faster and with the aid on double threshold allow the find a suitable black area.

I suggest looking again at black and white control points in post 28

And work on another photo:

Ollie,

I do not use your method in levels and curves as it is a rather coarse way of doing it. Maybe even a bit hit and miss. The method described in post 28 is far more precise and you have the added benefit of the control handle so allowing a high degree of adjustment.

You can compare the two methods by firstly checking the ' Double threshold ' box on your straight image and taking a screen capture. Now uncheck the ' double threshold ' box and apply the adustment using the droppers in curves. Again check the ' double threshold ' box and take another screen capture. You can now compare the two captures to see how much you have affected the black and white tones.

Don

I will try that later.

Ollie I have taken a crop of your base image and had a play, and attach 2 how I got there graphics and the end result.

Looking at the histogram shows that there is quite a bit of space towards the left side that has no info. Clicking the Double Threshold box shows a few black pixels but no white ones.

As the image contains white it is necessary to move the white point slider to the right until some white pixels appear. You have two options here. You can drag the left hand handle on the bottom histogram to the right until pixels appear or select the levels and curves and use that histogram. From the graphic you can see that the ' Levels & Curves ' one is larger and may be more convenient to use. Either way same result.

Ensure you have the Double Threshold box checked and only move the slider until the first few white pixels appear. At this point you can uncheck the box and see how the image appears. If OK then fine. If not quite then either tweek the slider or OK that operation and then select White point, and you can use the adjustment slider on that to fine tune the result.

Step 2 was to set the Black point. Again it is important to use the Double Threshold and magnify the image to ensure the point you set is on a collection of black pixels. If it is half on and half off you will have to use the adjustment slider to get the desired result as the result will be too dark.
As the image had a warm tone I magnified it and found a nice grey pixel in the corner of the number 5. I paced a Neutral point here to remove the cast.

It may not be quite the result you want, but it hopefully gives an idea of how go about achieving it.

No doubt my mentor Foxy will say if my method is not correct. :D :D

Don

Thank you. I will now go and have a go and post my results tomorrow.

Pleased with NX
 

I have to say I am now pleased with the performance of NX. My system is three years old and was a little slow for Capture 4 but managed because of the output quality. NX was heralded as much faster but in my system not much so.

If I use NX with nothing else running not even Outlook or Internet Explorer it runs nicely and if I save as TIFF before closing NX and opening CS2 the performance is satisfactory. No waiting or sloping off to do other things, it is now possible to save as TIFF and close NX, open CS and open TIFF file in a fraction of the time NX too to 'open with' or pass to CS as I refer. I am quite content with this mode of operation and has put the joy back into processing. To bench mark the speed I would suggest it is as fast to save as TIFF as Rawshooter (10-20 seconds)

I am looking forward to processing in the evening as I used to.

I went to edit a photo tonight and i got the atached error message appear. Any idea how to reolve it? I have already uninstalled it and reinstalled it.

Sorry I cannot help Ollie.
I have had no such problems and my version sits quite happily alongside NC4.4.

Don

A warning to any NX users that it will not run on Microsoft Vista. Nikon are working on a Vista compatible version but its not here yet!