Capture NX and ACR/CS3

[Bob G]

Since upgrading to CS3 I've hardly used Capture NX as I had taken a liking to ACR within CS3.
Played with this image in Capture NX today and there seemed to be more range particularly at the highlight end. (i.e. the rising sun in this instance has less flare than others shots I processed in CS3/ACR.
Now I know they are 2 totally different pics. and this is simply a subjective evaluation.

Capture NX


ACR/CS3

[iluxa]

Have you upgraded to the latest version of ACR?
Have you played with "recovery" slider in ACR?

I was using Capture NX for a long time and I thought it was the best RAW converter for Nikon, especially because of U-points... until I upgraded to the latest version ACR.

[Steffen]

I've been thinking about getting Capture NX for some time now. It appears to have some features absent from most other RAW converters, i.e. real CA fix-up for lenses like the 10.5 FE. I know that Bibble Pro can patch up CA as well, but it's more fudging it, rather than pulling the channels into proper alignment for the lens used. Another nice touch of CNX is the ability to automatically remove dust bunnies based on a dust reference image obtained from the camera.

What I'd like to know is, can Capture NX write changes back to NEF? I'd like to stick to my current RAW workflow, and it would be nice if I could use Capture NX as a pre-processor if and when I need the features I don't get otherwise.

Cheers
Steffen.

[iluxa]

What I'd like to know is, can Capture NX write changes back to NEF?

Yes, it can. Capture NX has non-destructive editing for NEFs. It writes all changes back to NEF, however only Nikon software can read these changes from NEF. So if you open it later in Photoshop you will find it as "non-edited".