NX compatibility with Lightroom

[Makaha]

Hi,
Received a copy of NX software with my D3''.I currently do selective editing in PS3 but file sizes dramatically increase.It seems that NX has selective editing without the file size.My question is can i set up NX as second external editor in Lightroom preferences and does Lightroom recognise NX edits or should i wait for release of version 2 of Lightroom as it seems to have similar editing possibilities.I am very comfortable with Lightroom as i have used it since its inception.
Mark.

 

[Brad Snyder]

.... version 2 of Lightroom as it seems to have similar editing possibilities.I am very comfortable with Lightroom as i have used it since its inception.
Mark.

I'm pretty sure LR won't recognize the NX changes, at least at the Raw/Nef level. If you had to export from NX in an RGB format (jpg, etc.) that might be defeating your purpose.

As far as LR vs NX editing, is that the u-point technology? LR drew a lot of mixed review comparisons to that in the 2.' Beta release, I guess we'll have to see what the next release brings.

Grain of salt, I'm a Canon guy ( not religious, just happened that way )

 

[BobH]

I'm pretty sure LR won't recognize the NX changes, at least at the Raw/Nef level.

Does it even recognize them when you use CS3? I thought you had to save the file as a tif in CS3 for the changes to be exported back to LR?

If that's the case, then it really wouldn't be any different using NX...

 

[Brad Snyder]

True, perhaps I answered the wrong question.

 

[BobH]

True, perhaps I answered the wrong question.

I don't think so, since I'm pretty sure you answered the question he asked.

I was just pointing out that as far as I know, the workflow would be the same in both cases, you'd do the edits and then save a copy back to LR. With CS3, I think it automagically stacks it with the original, not sure if it would do that using NX.

I'm just guessing here, anyone actually tried it?

 

[Makaha]

Regarding edits PS3 does stack into Lightroom with PS edits intact thats why i presumed the same would happen with NX as i like to print from Lightroom.Can anyone advise.
Mark.

 

[BobH]

Regarding edits PS3 does stack into Lightroom with PS edits intact thats why i presumed the same would happen with NX as i like to print from Lightroom. Can anyone advise.
Mark.

OK, so I guess I haven't been doing that correctly. Don't you have to save the image as a tiff in CS3 first to get it to go back into LR? If not, then what is the proper way of doing it?

 

[Brad Snyder]

Yes, just click 'Save' when done in PS3, and the edits should automatically reflect in the LR 'xxxx-edit' version. There is an option checkbox in the edit in PS3 dialog to auto-stack the original/returned edit images.

Are you doing something different/getting different results?


As to the OP, I don't think you can send the NEF to NX from LR for editing. And if you can't send the NEF, I'm guessing NX won't be much help.
I think you'll have to edit RAW independently in NX, and export an RGB type, import to LR for printing. I could be quite wrong, I don't have NX to test with.

 

[BobH]

Yes, just click 'Save' when done in PS3...

Are you doing something different/getting different results?

No, that's what I'm doing too, but the resulting image, at least in my case, is created and saved as a tiff, not an .nef file. As you mention, I can easily choose to stack it with the original.

 

[Brad Snyder]

Yes, that's correct. I'm pretty sure that LR can't send the RAW info for external edits, which I think is what will cause probs for the OP's proposed workflow.

If we could get all the mfg's on a DNG or OpenRAW bandwagon or something, that might help.

 

[BobH]

OK, so just for fun I set up Capture NX as an additional external editor.

It took all of about 3' seconds to set up. I went into external editing, and selected capture NX as the additional external editor. Use all the same settings as it has for CS3, with the exception of zip compression. I tried that, and NX didn't like it.

The end result? IT WORKS EXACTLY THE SAME AS CS3! Both files are converted to tiffs, automagically exported, the program starts if needed, you do the edits, hit save and when you go back to LR, there's the edited file, stacked with the original.

I don't see any difference between using Capture NX and using PS CS3. Both save the files as tiff, and the export and import process for both is totally effortless.

Very cool, now I can edit stuff in NX quickly and easily.

 

[Brad Snyder]

That's great. Does NX have the same functionality with Tiff files that it does with NEFs?

 

[BobH]

That's great. Does NX have the same functionality with Tiff files that it does with NEFs?

I think there may be advantages to working in RAW, but it does work with TIFF as well. Here's what the Capture NX manual has to say.

Shooting RAW has a number of distinct advantages over shooting and saving processed files. The RAW format records important archival information about the conditions under which the image was captured. This information can be used by Capture NX to make unique adjustments to enhance the image. The following are some of the camera settings and RAW adjustments that can be applied within Capture NX:

Color Mode
White Balance
Tone Compensation
Saturation
Sharpening
Exposure Compensation (Capture NX)
Hue Adjustment
Color Moiré Reduction
Dust Off
Auto Color Aberration
Vignette Control

Capture NX contains full support for Nikon RAW NEF images and can be used with any JPEG and TIFF (RGB or LAB based) files.
With JPEG and TIFF files, you can begin enhancing the files immediately by selecting one of the enhancements from the Menus.

Note that when exporting the image to CS3, it's also exported as a tiff, so you lose some of the RAW data there as well.

 

[Makaha]

In the external editor preferences you can export as a PSD file instead of TIFF but i don't think that will work for NX has anyone tried it.
Mark.

 

[wblink]

In the external editor preferences you can export as a PSD file instead of TIFF but i don't think that will work for NX has anyone tried it.
Mark.

Hmmm. I understand there is no way to work on NEF in PhotoShop?

Grin...

Then I could use Cature NX2 with the same results when calling from LR.

Better still: copy NEF, do what you want with NX an copy back.

Any comments?

 

[BobH]

Better still: copy NEF, do what you want with NX an copy back.

Any comments?

That's what I do, and here's a quick way to do it.

In LR, you choose "show file in Explorer", which opens up the folder where the file is located, with the file highlighted. I then simply double click on the file, which on my system is set to be edited with Capture NX, do what I need to do, and then save it and it's done.

HOWEVER... While this system works, it violates the spirit of Lightroom's workflow, which is to LEAVE THE ORIGINAL RAW FILES UNTOUCHED. Typical I back up the originals someplace else, so I have them, but the whole concept of LR is that you do not do anything to the actual RAW file, so all edits are reversible.

By "cheating" and working on the raw file directly, you are making edits that cannot be undone and defeating one of the main benefits of how LR does things. So, do it at your own risk... I try to avoid editing the raw files if at all possible.

 

[Steve Sutherland]

All of you need to understand that Lightroom will never be able to see or understand any changes that CaptureNX stores in the NEF files. They are proprietary commands understood only by Nikon and CaptureNX. The same holds true for Lightroom. The edit instructions that Lightroom creates will only ever be understood by Adobe products. CaptureNX will never see or understand them.

This is a fundimental truth of non-destructive editing. Unless the two companies agree to share common code, the non-destructive edits you make to files and the tools you make those edits with will forever be joined at the hip.

The only way to share edits is to flatten out the image into a common format such as tiff, or jpeg, and pass it along to the other app. But you lose the non-destructive nature of the edits at that point.

 

[Brad Snyder]

Steve, thanks for so clearly and eloquently making the point I was trying (not very well I guess) to make.