New free Nikon software NX Studio

Ton14

Nikon released NX Studio in early March 2021. It is very comprehensive and free. I like it now, it is much better then NX-D with ViewNX-i and because I'am Dutch I like "free of charge" .

I have just installed it and can easily test it, because for the RAW files, a subfolder is created with the name "NKSC_PARAM", in which the photo adjustments are stored. Capture One does the same and creates a subfolder "Capture One" for this.

The joke is that this allows me to test NX Studio alongside my Capture One, as the adjustments simply exist side by side.

"Quote Nikon about the program"
NX Studio combines many existing features of the current ViewNX-i* imaging software, and Capture NX-D image processing and editing software. These include detailed editing functions such as Picture Control, white balance settings and exposure correction for RAW files. NX Studio allows users to view, process and edit images in one application. In addition, the software includes colour control points that allow users to adjust colours within a specified range, and has a retouching brush function for advanced correction.The intuitive menu structure is laid out for a smooth workflow, improving the overall response speed for each function and enabling a quick editing process for both photos and videos."
The intuitive menu structure is laid out for a smooth workflow, improving the overall response speed for each function and enabling a quick editing process for both photos and videos."
"End quote"

I thought this info might be helpful and hope that users of NX Studio gives there thoughts.

WestEndFoto

I am going to get it to, mostly to work on video files from my Z7ii and upcoming Z fc bodies.

PB_PM

Cannot beat free, okay it’s not free, the price of it is likely built into any Nikon camera you buy. Still better RAW conversion and noise reduction than Adobe. Will give it a go, NX-D wasn’t bad once you got to know how to get the most from it. Just wish Nikon would hire some people who are better on UI, this looks like open source software from the mid-2000s.

Dredden85

I have Capture NX2. How does this new software compare?

mhedges

Couldn't really say. It's free so I'd say download it and give it a try. Capture has been discontinued and I'm not sure how many of the recent cameras and lenses it supports.

IanG

Hello from France.

I have a question related to Lightroom - yes, I know - before you start screaming "wrong thread"....

I have just tested Nikon NX Studio on some files shot this week for a theatre company - VERY low light (turning at 6400 ISO most of the time) and frankly I'm amazed at what the dematrix used in CameraRaw has missed. Night and day, literally.

I've used LIGHTROOM for many years and am very happy with it organising all my rubbish, editing and sending albums to my website etc. but with these results from NX Studio I'm looking for a way to integrate this into my LR setup. Personally I also find the fine-tuning in LR easier to use (perhaps as I'm not yet used to NX Studio...)

Would it be reasonable to use NX Studio to dematrix the RAW files and directly output as TIFF then input the TIFF files as 'RAW' into LR and continue?

Any ideas people? Many thanks in advance

Ian

ggbutcher

IMHO quite reasonable. Take this with a grain of salt as I'm not a commercial software user, but exporting a Neutral profile TIFF from NX and taking it to whatever software you want that has the tools you like is a decent approach.

IanG

Thanks for your comment.

My only hesitation is the size of the TIFF files (8 times that of the originals), and obviously the processing time. Still, I'll try to establish a sequence when I next have a shoot (tomorrow!) and see A: how long it takes, and B: how much disk is eventually used.

Once processed through to jpeg, the TIIF could be deleted I guess....

ggbutcher

You could try compressed TIFF if NX supports it, or 16-bit PNG...

That's the essential downfall of relying on two programs in your workflow - an intermediary. As you suggest, you could learn NX sufficient to do most of your images, and save the intermediate export to LR for problem images. Or, learn LR sufficient to handle your high-ISO images - it's not that incompetent a program.

IanG

It does (well 8bit TIFF)

As it is, my LR solution works pretty well for me - it's just that I was really surprised by the quality of the image output from NX, and being essentially a very lazy photographer, wanted an easy way out...

ggbutcher

Hmmm, just 8-bit? Just as soon use JPEG. Generally, you want to preserve high bit-depth through all the edits.

I downloaded NX when it first came out, but abandoned it after 15 minutes when I found it was missing key capabilities I need, particularly using custom camera profiles. What I do know NX will have that none others do is a manufacturer-measured set of color primaries and a profile that applies them to good effect, but this is not hard for third-parties to re-create. Oh, same thing for lens corrections.

I don't use LR, but I've read enough of the docs to know that it is capable of rendering the quality you need. That's probably your best bet, getting LR to do what you need...

IanG

Well like I said previously, I've got LR to do pretty much what I need so I probably won't 'change' but I will test a bit as the 'out of camera' results were quite impressive.

Thanks anyway