Nikon CaptureNX User Guide

%N

5SERS-ANUAL

Notices

© 2006 Nik Software, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be
reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated
into any language in any form, by any means, without Nik Software, Inc.’s prior
written permission.

Nikon reserves the right to change the specifications of the hardware and software
described in these manuals at any time and without any prior notice.

Neither Nik Software, Inc. nor Nikon will be held liable for any damages resulting
from the use of this product.

Licensed under one or more US Pats. 7,016,549; 6,836,572; 6,728,421; 6,865,300;
7,031,547; and other patents pending.

© 2006 NIKON CORPORATION
© 2006 Nik Software, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Trademark Information

U Point is a trademark of Nik Software, Inc. Macintosh and Mac OS are trademarks
of Apple Computer, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation. Pentium and Celeron are trademarks of Intel Corporation.
Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. All other
trade names mentioned in this manual or in the other documentation provided
with your Nikon product are trademarks or registered trade marks of their respec­tive holders.

i

i

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................. 1

RAW File Format Benefi ts ..................................2

Camera Relationship ..........................................3

System Requirements &
Installation

System Requirements .........................................5

Installation ..........................................................5

U Point™ Technology ............................... 9

The Capture NX Interface .....................13

Getting Started ......................................... 17

Opening Capture NX ........................................ 17

Welcome Screen ...............................................18

Browsing and Opening Images .......................19

Window Functionality Within Capture NX .....20

Exiting Capture NX ........................................... 20

File Format Differences ....................................21

How to Print .....................................................23

Batch Processing ...............................................23

The Browser ............................................... 29

Folder Menu .....................................................31

Label Menu .......................................................32

Sort Menu .........................................................33

Batch Menu ......................................................34

File Directory ............................................. 37

Camera Settings ....................................... 39

IPTC ............................................................... 41

The Edit List ............................................... 43

Base Adjustments Step ..................................... 44

.................................................. 5

Camera Adjustments ........................................45

RAW Adjustments ............................................50

Lens Adjustments .............................................52

Light & Color Adjustments ................................ 54

Detail Adjustments ...........................................57

Enhancement Steps ..........................................59

Show/Hide Triangle ...........................................60

Apply Step Checkbox .......................................60

Apply Enhancement Checkbox .........................60

Link Icon ........................................................... 60

Adjust & Filter Pull-Down Menu ........................61

Opacity Mixer ...................................................61

Selection Notifi cation Area ...............................64

Feather Control ................................................64

Versions Menu ..................................................65

Automatically Generated Versions ....................65

Manually Generated Versions ...........................65

Batch Menu .....................................................66

New Step Button ..............................................66

Working with Enhancements ..........................66

Editing Steps and Enhancements ......................66

Deleting Steps and Enhancements ....................67

Copying and Pasting Steps and Enhancements

........................................................................ 67

Linking Enhancements ......................................68

Swapping Enhancements .................................. 69

Toolbar F2 - View Tools .......................... 71

Direct Select Tool .............................................71

Hand Tool ........................................................71

Zoom Tool ........................................................ 72

Toolbar F3 - Edit ....................................... 75

Rotate ...............................................................75

Straighten .........................................................75

Chapter 1 Table of Contents

ii

ii

Crop ................................................................... 77

Toolbar F4 – Black, White, and

Table of Contents

Neutral Control Points

Chapter 1 Table of Contents

Black Control Point ..........................................81

White Control Point .........................................82

Neutral Control Point ....................................... 82

........................... 81

Toolbar F5 – U Point Technology­based Tools

Color Control Point ..........................................85

Red-Eye Control Point ......................................86

................................................ 85

Toolbar F6 - Selection Tools .................. 89

Selection Brush .................................................89

Lasso & Marquee Tools ....................................92

Selection Gradient ............................................ 93

Fill / Remove Tools ............................................ 94

The Bird’s Eye ............................................97

Photo Info .................................................. 99

Histogram .........................................................99

Watch Points ................................................... 101

The Image Window ............................... 105

The Color Picker ..................................... 109

File Menu .................................................. 113

Open Image… ................................................113

Open With... ...................................................113

Open Folder in Browser .................................113

Open Recent ...................................................114

Save .................................................................114

Save As.... ........................................................115

Revert ..............................................................116

Close ................................................................116

Print Setup… ..................................................116

Print… .............................................................117

Exit ..................................................................122

Edit Menu ................................................. 125

Undo ...............................................................125

Redo ................................................................125

Cut ...................................................................125

Copy ................................................................ 125

Paste ................................................................126

Duplicate ......................................................... 126

Delete .............................................................. 126

Select All ......................................................... 126

Flip ................................................................... 127

Rotate .............................................................127

Size / Resolution .............................................127

Change the Output Size (DPI) .........................127

Change the File Size (Image Size) ....................128

Fit Photo .........................................................128

Preferences ..................................................... 128

General ..........................................................129

Color Management ........................................130

Levels & Grid ..................................................131

Cache Settings ...............................................133

Adjust Menu ............................................ 137

Light ................................................................137

Levels & Curves ..............................................137

Contrast / Brightness ......................................141

Auto Levels ..................................................... 142

D-Lighting ......................................................143

Color ............................................................... 145

LCH ................................................................145

Color Balance .................................................150

Color Booster .................................................151

Saturation / Warmth .......................................151

Focus ...............................................................152

Gaussian Blur .................................................152

High Pass ........................................................ 152

Unsharp Mask ................................................153

Correct ............................................................154

Color Aberration Control ................................154

Distortion Control ........................................... 155

Opacity Mixer .................................................155

Noise Reduction .............................................156

Auto Red-Eye ..................................................156

Color Profi le ....................................................157

Apply Profi le ................................................... 157

Convert to Profi le ...........................................158

Control Points Menu ............................. 161

Color Control Points… ...................................161

Black Control Point ........................................163

White Control Point… ...................................165

Neutral Control Point… .................................167

Red-Eye Control Point… ................................171

Filter Menu ............................................... 173

Photo Effects… ...............................................173

Add Grain/Noise… .......................................... 177

Contrast: Color Range… ................................177

Colorize… .......................................................178

Black and White Conversion… ......................178

Batch Menu .............................................. 181

Run Batch Process… .......................................181

Copy Settings ..................................................181

Paste Settings .................................................181

Save Settings… ...............................................182

Load Settings ..................................................183

Batch Process Alert Box ..................................183

Processing Queue ......................................... 184

File Naming dialog ..........................................186

Batch Options .................................................187

Manage Settings Files .....................................187

Batch Process .................................................188

Watched Folder ..............................................190

View Menu ............................................... 195

Show All Control Points .................................195

Show Selection ...............................................195

Show Grid .......................................................196

Show Lost Highlights .....................................196

Show Lost Shadows ........................................197

Show Focus Area ............................................197

View at 100% ................................................. 198

Fit to Screen ....................................................198

Zoom In ...........................................................198

Zoom Out ........................................................ 198

Full Screen ....................................................... 198

Hide Palettes ................................................... 199

Compare .........................................................199

Compare in Browser .......................................199

Compare in Editor ..........................................200

Compare With Original ................................... 200

Window Menu ........................................ 203

Cascade ........................................................... 203

Tile ................................................................... 203

Reset Palette Location ...................................204

Bird’s Eye ......................................................... 204

Browser ...........................................................204

Camera Settings .............................................204

Color Picker ..................................................... 204

Edit List ...........................................................204

File Directory ..................................................204

IPTC Information ............................................204

Photo Info .......................................................204

Tool Bar ........................................................... 204

Help Menu ................................................ 207

Contents .......................................................... 207

Technical Support ........................................... 207

Show Welcome Screen ...................................207

About Capture NX .......................................... 208

Appendix: Short-cuts ........................... 211

Appendix: Supplied Color Profiles .. 214

Appendix:
Advisories & Additional Notices

...... 217

Index .......................................................... 227

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iii

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Table of Contents

iv

iv

Chapter 1 Table of Contents

Introduction

Capture NX™ is a powerful editing and photographic processing application
designed specifically for digital photographers. Its simple, straight-forward user
interface makes image enhancement easy, and exclusive features based on
U Point™ photo editing technology provide a fully non-destructive workflow,
which takes the guess work out of editing.

1

1

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 1 Introduction

Capture NX’s patented U Point technol­ogy gives the user a number of unique
tools, the most remarkable being the
Control Point, which is used to adjust
tone and color in an image. Control
Points allow you to work directly on the
image without the need for selections
or layers and to apply your enhance­ments globally or selectively, giving
you the power to increasingly refine
your enhancements in order to create
a natural-looking effect. Control Points
let you apply and undo enhancements
easily and quickly without compromis­ing image integrity.

When you are ready to save and archive
your images, Capture NX enables you
to save your image in the NEF file
format, which saves your image file
without degrading your image.

Control Points are a unique editing
concept that gives the user a
completely different kind of control
over color and tone enhancement in
an image. A Control Point is placed
directly on the image and its value is
defined by the user. Each Control Point

operates together with the next, affect­ing the image progressively as more and
more Control Points are applied. Select
a Control Point to adjust color or to
control the White, Black, and Neutral
points. Because the enhancements you
make are maintained separately from
the original image data and without
regard for the original file format,
Capture NX enables you to make and
change image enhancements repeat­edly without degrading the quality of
the image. Capture NX protects the
original data as well as your enhance­ments when you save your image as a
NEF file. With the NEF file format, you
can always open the image and the
enhancements, and close the image at
any time without ever degrading the
original image data.

2

RAW File Format Benefits

Chapter 1 Introduction

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:

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.

• Color Mode (Page 45)

• White Balance (Page 46)

• Tone Compensation (Page 48)

• Saturation (Page 49)

• Sharpening (Page 49)

• Exposure Compensation
(Capture NX) (Page 50)

• Hue Adjustment (Page 50)

• Color Moiré Reduction (Page 51)

• Dust Off (page 51)

• Auto Color Aberration (page 52)

• Vignette Control (page 52)

Camera Relationship

Capture NX was designed to support
all of the features of your Nikon
camera, allowing you to change many
of the settings that you applied to the
image in your camera. After opening a
RAW NEF file within Capture NX, you
can view the shooting, camera, and
exposure information of the file within
the Camera Settings Palette.

Settings that you can edit have a pull­down Menu, which gives you access to
the various controls for each of these
settings. Within the Camera Settings
Palette you are given access to a
number of adjustments that are unique
to RAW NEF files. These adjustments
can be located in the RAW section of
the Camera Settings Palette.

For more information regarding the
various controls provided within the
Camera Settings Palette, please see
page 39.

3

Chapter 1 Introduction

To display the contents of the Camera
Settings Palette, click on the
within the Camera Settings Palette.

button

4

5

System Requirements & Installation

System Requirements

Operating System

Windows XP Home Edition, Windows
XP Professional, Windows 2000
Professional

Mac OS X (version 10.3.9 or later)

Processor

WINDOWS

Pentium III 1GHz or better (Pentium 4
2GHz or better recommended)

MACINTOSH

G4, G5

RAM

256 MB minimum (1GB recommended)

Hard-disk space

200 MB required for installation

Monitor resolution

800 × 600 pixels (1024 x 768 or higher
recommended) with 16-bit color (High
Color/thousands of colors) with 24-bit
color (True Color/millions of colors)
recommended

Installation

To install Capture NX, place the Capture
NX setup CD into your computer’s
CD or DVD drive. Open the CD either
through the My Computer icon on your
desktop (Windows) or by double-click­ing on the CD icon that appears on
your desktop (Mac OS).

Double-click on the Setup icon that
appears within the window that is
displayed to begin the setup wizard.

Please note: On Windows machines,

Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.1
will automatically be installed if not
already present on the computer. The
computer must be restarted when instal­lation is complete.

Chapter 2 System Requirements & Installation

Once the setup wizard has installed
the files onto your computer, you will
be provided with options to setup your
color management preferences. The
color management settings provided
within the Setup Wizard enables you to

6

set the default functionality for Capture
NX, and can be later changed within
the Preferences.

Chapter 2 System Requirements & Installation

You are provided with two options to
set the working color space:

Use the color space of the file to be

opened as the working color space

This option causes Capture NX to
always use the profile embedded in the
image that is opened as the working
color space.

Please note: If Capture NX cannot

determine the profile of the embed­ded image, the profile identified as the
Default RGB color space will be used as
the working space for that image.

Always use the default RGB color

space as the working color space

This option enables the option Use This

Instead of Embedded Profile

the Color Management section of the
Capture NX Preferences. This option
causes Capture NX to automatically
convert the image from the embedded
profile to the profile as defined in the
Default RGB space.

within

space of the file to be opened as
the working color space option is

selected.

After you have selected the color
management options to utilize for your
copy of Capture NX, you can complete
the installation process.

If prompted to supply a product key
when starting Capture NX, enter your
name and product key.

The product key may be found on the
CD-ROM case.

Do not lose this key. It

is required when installing or upgrading
this software and cannot be replaced if
lost.

Please note: Nikon cannot guaran-

tee the operation of Capture NX when
using other Nikon software at the same
time.

You are also provided with the ability to
select the profile to use as the Default
RGB space:

Default RGB Space

Use this option to set the RGB space
that is used for your images. This
profile is used when the

the default RGB color space as the

working color space

Always use

option is selected,
or if the image’s color space cannot be
determined when the Use the color

789

U Point

A key feature in Capture NX is U Point technology. The controls powered by U
Point technology enable you to modify sections of a photo directly, without having
to go through the time-consuming process of making a mask required in other
software applications.

™

Technology

Chapter 3 U Point Technology

U Point technology powers Capture
NX’s series of Control Points: The Color
Control Point, the Black/White/Neutral
Control Points, and the Red-Eye Control
Point. These Control Points enable you
to create color and tonal enhancements
directly on the image, without first
making selections. You can also see the
effects of a Control Point immediately.

The Control Points powered by U Point
technology enable you to work with your
images without the need to perform a
complicated series of operations in a
particular order. Each Control Point works
together with other Control Points of the
same type. With every Control Point that
you apply to the image comes greater
control over specific objects in the image.
The more Color Control Points you apply,
for example, the greater control you have
over color in the image. The additional
Control Points ensure that the adjust­ments you make are being applied to the
current object only, and placing a Control
Point on an object with default settings
prevents other Control Points from affect­ing that object.

While the Black, White, and Neutral
Control Points were designed to control
the entire image globally, both the
Red-Eye and Color Control Points were
designed to control elements locally.

The Color Control Points work by
identifying an object based on a
number of criteria. When you place
your first Color Control Point, the
U Point technology identifies the
unique elements of the object on which
you place a Control Point, includ­ing its position, color, saturation, and
texture. By identifying these elements,
the Color Control Point can deter­mine the boundaries of the object in
order to affect only that object and
objects with like elements. Through
a unique mixing function, the effects
of the Color Control Point are applied
throughout the image so as to create a
natural-looking, seamless result. On the
next page you will find a series of steps
showing the original image, the effect
of the Control Point, and the selection
of the Control Point.

10

Chapter 3 U Point Technology

Step 1. A Color Control Point is placed on the sky

for greater darkness and saturation. Although this
Control Point mainly affects the sky, some of the
clouds are affected as well.

Step 2. Next, a Color Control Point is placed to
identify the clouds in the image. This new Control
Point applies only to tones in the clouds, not the sky,
and prevents the first Control Point from affecting
the clouds.

Step 1. Selection

Step 2. Selection

Step 3. Finally, Control Points are added for skin

tones and foliage. A Control Point added to the
model’s face brightens and increases the vibrancy of
the skin. Another added to the foliage darkens the
leaves and draws attention to the model.

Step 3. Selection

Before

11

Chapter 3 U Point Technology

After

12

The Capture NX Interface

Editor ( Page 13 ) Menu Bar ( Page 113-208 ) Toolbar ( Page 71-94 )

Bird’s Eye ( Page 97 ) Edit List ( Page 43 ) Photo Info ( Page 99 )

File Directory ( Page 37 ) Camera Settings ( Page 39 ) IPTC ( Page 41 )

Browser ( Page 29 ) Image Window ( Page 105 ) Color Picker ( Page 109 )

The Capture NX Interface

Capture NX’s interface was designed to put all of the important tools for enhancing
a digital photograph right at your fingertips. This section contains a brief overview
of each of the main elements that make up the Capture NX interface.

13

13

Chapter 4 The Capture NX Interface

Chapter 4 The Capture NX Interface

Editor

The main window of Capture NX, the
Editor, is the window you see when
you are editing images outside of the
Browser. Within the Editor you can
open and close images as well as access
each of the different control palettes.

Menu Bar

The Menu Bar provides access to nearly
all of the features and enhancements
within Capture NX.
chapters 20 through 28 for informa­tion on the features located within each
Menu.

Please see

Toolbar

The Toolbar is made up of five smaller
Toolbars, each containing tools that
provide similar controls. You can use
these tools to perform various edits,
from zooming to rotating the image to
applying enhancements selectively.

Please see pages 71-94 for more
information on each of the individual
Toolbars.

Bird’s Eye

The Bird’s Eye Palette shows either a
portion of the image that is visible
in the active image window or the
position of the area displayed within
the Light Table mode of the Browser.
The portion of the image or the
Browser visible in the active image
window is indicated by a red outline
within the Bird’s Eye Palette.
more information on the Bird’s Eye
Palette, please see page 97.

For

Edit List

The Edit List is the master control list
for the features and enhancements of
Capture NX. Anything that affects your
image will have an entry within the
Edit List. Every entry can be removed,
altered, or duplicated from this list.

The Edit List automatically organizes
each entry by Steps. This provides you
with the ability to turn on or off one
or more steps at any time to monitor
the effect of that step on your image.
You can selectively apply steps with the
selective tools found in the Toolbar, you

14

can place multiple enhancements within
one step by linking enhancements, and
you can create batch processes based
on the contents of the steps. You can

Chapter 4 The Capture NX Interface

also manually create new steps using
the New Step button.

The Edit List also contains a special
step called the Base Adjustments step.
The Base Adjustments step contains all
of the enhancements unique to RAW
images, as well as enhancements that
can be used to prepare your images.

For more information regarding the
Edit List and all of its uses and features,
please see page 43.

Photo Info

The Photo Info Palette displays the
information you choose to display next
to your image to help you determine
the optimal settings you want to use
for each enhancement. The Photo Info
Palette contains a live histogram, a
graphic interactive display that reflects
the statistical makeup of the image.
Additionally, through the use of Watch
Points, you can monitor the effects
of the changes you make to the color
values in the image.
page 99 for more information regarding
the Photo Info Palette.

Please go to

File Directory

The File Directory provides you with an
easy-to-access Palette which displays
the contents of an entire folder in
the Browser.
for a complete description of the File
Directory Palette.

Please see page 37

Camera Settings

By opening the Camera Settings
Palette, you can see all of the camera­generated data for the current image,
from information regarding the camera
that created the image to exposure
information. Additionally, the Camera
Settings Palette enables you to edit
a number of settings which were set
within the camera for RAW NEF image
files.
the Camera Settings Palette, please see
page 39.

For a complete description of

IPTC

The IPTC Palette provides you with a
place that you can view, add, or modify
information for your images, such as
the caption, keywords, categories, and
copyright information.
page 41 for more information on the
IPTC Palette.

Please see

Browser

Capture NX’s Browser enables you to
browse, sort, and organize your images,
as well as to rotate or apply batch
processes to multiple images simulta­neously. Images can be opened from
the Browser into the Editor to provide
additional control.
29 for information on the Browser.

Please see page

Image Window

An Image Window displays an image
within Capture NX, along with impor­tant information and controls for that
image.
information regarding the features and
functionality of an Image Window.

Please see page 105 for

151617

Getting Started

Opening Capture NX

Capture NX can be opened by selecting Capture NX from the Start Menu within
Windows or by double-clicking on the application icon in the Applications folder
within the Mac OS.

Chapter 5 Getting Started

Welcome Screen

Open Recent Image Open Recent Browser New Drag an Image Here (Mac Only)

Don’t Show Again

18

Windows OS:

Click on the Start button at the bottom
of your screen and select either All

Chapter 5 Getting Started

Programs (Windows XP) or Programs
(all other Windows versions). Navigate
to the Capture NX folder and select
Capture NX to launch the application.

Mac OS:

Double-click on the Macintosh HD
icon on your desktop and navigate to
the Applications folder. Double-click
on the Capture NX folder and then
double-click on the Capture NX appli­cation icon to launch the application.
Alternatively, if you have selected to
add Capture NX to your dock, simply
click on the Capture NX icon within the
dock to launch the application.

Welcome Screen

Upon launching, Capture NX will
display the Welcome Screen, which
lists the last files and folders that you
accessed, and give you the option
to open an image or a folder in the
Browser.

Open Recent Image

This section contains a list of the most
recent images that were opened within
Capture NX. The last image edited can
be found at the top of the list, with the
remaining images you have edited listed
in chronological steps. Double-click
on any of these images to open them
immediately within the Editor.

Open Recent Browser

This section contains a list of the

most recent folders viewed within the
Browser, with the most recent folder
displayed at the top. Other recently
browsed folders are displayed beneath
that folder in chronological order.
Double-click on one of the displayed
folders to open that folder immediately
within the Browser.

New

This section enables you to browse
for an image or folder to open within
Capture NX. Click on the Open Image
button to display an Open Image
window. Click on the Open Folder
button within the Browser to display
a folder browser window, which will
enable you to browse for a folder to
display within Capture NX’s Browser.

Drag an Image Here Section

The Mac OS version of Capture NX
contains an empty area within the
Welcome Screen labeled “Drag an
image here to open it.” Dragging an
image into this space from the Mac OS
Finder opens that image immediately
within Capture NX. In the Windows OS
you can drag an image into any part of
the Capture NX window to open it.

Don’t Show Again

Select this checkbox to prevent the
Welcome Screen from appearing when
Capture NX is launched. You can
navigate to the Help Menu at any time,
open the Welcome Screen, and uncheck
the Don’t Show Again box in order to
display the Welcome Screen whenever
Capture NX is launched.

Browsing and Opening Images

Capture NX provides you with a number
of ways of locating and opening images
in order to enhance them: you can
use Capture NX’s Browser, you can
navigate through your hard disk to
locate a file with Open Image, or you
can use PictureProject to send one or
more images directly to Capture NX to
enhance.

Using the Browser

Capture NX contains an enhanced
browser that provides you with
advanced labeling, sorting, and editing
functions. You can use the Browser to
rotate or apply batch processes directly
to one or more thumbnails, or you can
view multiple images and select the
best image from the thumbnails to open
directly within Capture NX’s Editor.

To view the Browser, click on the
button of the Browser located at the top
of the Browser frame. The Browser will
by default display the contents of the My
Pictures folder (Windows) or the Pictures
(Mac OS) folder.

displayed within the Browser. Once you
have found the image you want to edit,
double-click on that image.

If you would like to navigate to a differ­ent window other than the My Pictures
(Windows) or the Pictures folder (Mac
OS), click on the
File Directory frame. This will cause the
File Directory Palette to become visible.
Within the File Directory Palette you
are provided with a full directory list,
enabling you to navigate to any folder
on your hard drive.

button within the

Using Open Image

By selecting Open Image from the
File Menu, you can navigate to any
folder on your hard drive and open
a single photo. By default, Capture
NX will display the My Pictures folder
(Windows) or the Pictures folder (Mac
OS).

Using PictureProject

PictureProject (Version 1.6.4 and later)
supports opening one or more images
directly within Capture NX.

Begin by highlighting one or more
images within the current view of
PictureProject and clicking on the Edit
in Capture NX button. This will cause all
of the images you highlighted to open
within the Editor of Capture NX.

19

Chapter 5 Getting Started

You can then navigate within this folder
by double-clicking on any of the folders

20

Window Functionality Within Capture NX

Each window within Capture NX

Chapter 5 Getting Started

provides you with a number of different
controls for that window.

Minimize / Maximize Button

Minimize/Maximize
button

Docking button

Grip Edge

Resize Control

This button either expands or collapses a
window. In some situations, the window
cannot be collapsed until the operation
within the window has been completed.

Docking Button

This button is visible only when the
window has been expanded. This
button enables you to undock the
window, allowing that window to
float freely on your desktop. This can
be handy if you utilize two monitors
and you want to place the window on
the second monitor, or if you want to
bring one of the Toolbars closer to your
image. By clicking on this button again,
you can re-dock the window to its
default location.

Grip Edge

This edge provides you with an area to
grab and reposition the window. If the
window is currently docked, clicking and
dragging the window with this edge
will automatically undock the window
and allow you to reposition the window
anywhere on your screen. To re-dock the
window to its normal location, simply
click on the

button.

Resize Control

This part of the window enables you to
resize the window to suit your needs.
Simply click here and drag to change
the window’s size. Some windows have
a maximum and minimum size, which
may prevent them from becoming
larger or smaller than that maximum or
minimum size.

Exiting Capture NX

To close the Capture NX window and
exit Capture NX, select Exit from the
File Menu (Windows) or select Exit
from the Capture NX Menu (Mac OS).

If there are any unsaved images open,
a warning message will remind you
to save those images. If there are any
images that are currently awaiting
batch processing, a message will remind
you that you have unprocessed images
in the Processing Queue.

File Format Differences

Capture NX supports three different file
formats that can be used to save any
edited image file: the NEF format, the
TIFF format, and the JPEG format.

NEF

The NEF, or Nikon Electronic image
Format, was designed to act as the
archive file for your images. The NEF file
format saves the complete contents of
the Edit List along with the full image
information from the original image,
and all changes made to the image are
stored separately within the file. The
NEF format maintains the high level of
quality of the original file without any
loss in image quality while maintaining
a relatively small image size. NEF format
images remain nearly the same size as
the original image file, regardless of
the number of enhancements that are
applied within the image.

Capture NX utilizes a new cache system
with NEF files that helps increase the
speed of opening NEF images that were
previously edited within Capture NX.
This cache system creates a cache file
whenever an NEF image is saved which
Capture NX can use the next time that
image is opened. By utilizing the cache
system, Capture NX can utilize cache
file data to reduce the amount of data
that needs to be processed, thereby
greatly increasing the speed of opening
NEF images.
information on the cache system.

Please note: Previous versions of

Nikon Capture and PictureProject are

Please see page 133 for

not able to display enhancements that
are unique to Capture NX within NEF
files. If you would like to share your
NEF files with someone who does not
have a copy of Capture NX, it is recom­mended that you save a copy of your
image into the TIFF or JPEG file format
to ensure that all of the enhancements
that you have made are available.

NEF image files are generated by all
Nikon Digital SLR cameras as well as a
number of COOLPIX cameras. Some of
the Digital SLR cameras offer you the
ability to create an uncompressed NEF
image file. These uncompressed NEF
image files can later be compressed
within Capture NX, if you choose, to
save additional hard disk space.

Please note: Compressed NEF files

cannot be saved in Capture NX as
uncompressed NEF image files.

RAW FILE SUPPORT

Capture NX provides RAW support to
the entire line of Nikon digital cameras
that produce NEF RAW files. Supported
cameras include:

COOLPIX 5000 D1

COOLPIX 5400 D1X

COOLPIX 5700 D1H

COOLPIX 8400 D2X

COOLPIX 8700 D2X

COOLPIX 8800 D2H

D50 D2H

D70S D70

D200 D100

S

S

21

Chapter 5 Getting Started

22

TIFF

The TIFF file format is commonly used
as a standard for high-quality image

Chapter 5 Getting Started

reproduction. Saving your image to this
format will result in a file that contains
the final state of your image as you see it
on your monitor, with full image quality.
Once an image is saved to the TIFF
format and closed, you will not be able
to access the contents of the Edit List to
make any adjustments to the enhance­ments that were applied to the image.

The TIFF file format provides you with
the choice to compress the image using
a lossless compression, the choice to
save the file as a 16-bit or an 8-bit
image (RGB only), and the ability to
save the image with RGB or CMYK
data. The option to save the image as
a 16-bit file is only provided if origi­nal image was a RAW or 16-bit file.
Changing the image from 16-bit to 8­bit will make the image file smaller, but
doing so may also reduce the level of
quality of the image. It is recommended
that you create an 8-bit copy of your
image for situations in which only 8-bit
files are compatible.

Please Note: TIFF saved with CMYK
data can only be saved with 8-bits per
channel of color information.

JPEG

One of the most widely used file
formats, the JPEG file format enables
you to save a greater number of images
using the same amount of hard disk
space as the other file formats. To
create such a small file size, a form
of compression is used that irrevers­ibly affects the quality of the image.
Because of this compression, it is
recommended that you only use the
JPEG file format for images that will
be distributed electronically, or when a
small image file is required.

How to Print

Printing is very easy in Capture NX. You
can select Print from the File Menu at
any time to print the current image, or
you can select multiple images from
within the Browser to create a Print
Package. Print Packages are essentially
a collection of images printed at the
same time, often with more than one
image appearing on the same page.
Print Packages make the most out of
your printer and paper, enabling you
to create proof sheets so that you can
review and select images based on
the output, rather than the computer
monitor.

Batch Processing

Batch Processing is the automatic appli­cation of one or more enhancements to
a series of images. Typically a photogra­pher will use a batch process to apply a
predefined series of adjustments to several
images at once. Capture NX supports a
number of batch processing methods. You
can run a traditional Batch Process, select­ing a folder of images and a Settings File
to apply to those images, you can copy
and paste your enhancements from one
image to another, or you can select multi­ple images in the Browser and apply a
Settings File or paste some enhancements
directly to those images. One method
of applying a batch process is to create
a Settings File that contains a series of
enhancements to apply to your image.

Creating a Settings File

23

Chapter 5 Getting Started

Once you have selected Print from the
File Menu, you can identify how to
color manage your prints and whether
or not you want to create a Print
Package.
tion of the various settings within the
Capture NX Print dialog, please see
page 117.

For a complete descrip-

Settings Files consist of a series of
instructions that Capture NX can use
to enhance one or more images in
the future. Settings Files are created
by identifying enhancements that
you want to save from the current
image. Later, when you apply the new
Settings File to an image or group of
images, Capture NX will apply the same
enhancements with the same settings

24

to those images, just as if you had
applied them to each image individu­ally. Settings Files are often used to
apply a unique series of enhancements

Chapter 5 Getting Started

that can work for a wide variety of
images, such as applying a black and
white conversion to be used as a basis
for an additional enhancement, or
adding a warm sepia-tone to the image.

To create a Settings File, open an
image, either by using the Open Image
command or by double-clicking on an
image in the Browser.

Make whatever enhancements and
adjustments that are necessary to the
image. Once you have completed the
adjustments to the image, you can start
creating the Settings File.

Navigate to the Batch Menu and select
Save Settings. This will call up the Save
Settings dialog window, which includes
a representation of the Edit List from
the current image, complete with the
image settings. Simply check off the
different steps from this image that you
want to save into the Settings File. Once
you have selected all of the enhance­ments and steps that you would like to
apply to additional images, enter a name
for the Settings File. While it is recom­mended that you leave the Settings File
in the default folder location, since this
will make it easy to locate when you are
ready to apply a batch process, you are
given the option to select a different
location to place the Settings File.
For more information regarding the Save
Settings command, please see page 182.

How to Apply a Batch
Process With a Settings File

Once you have created a Settings File,
you can begin applying the enhance­ments from within that Settings File
to any image, either within the editor,
within the Browser, or even to a folder
on your computer.

To apply a batch process in the Editor or
Browser, navigate to the Load Settings
section of the Batch Menu and locate
the Settings File that you want to apply.
By selecting the Settings File from this
location, you will apply those settings
either to the current image in the
editor or to the selected files within the
Browser.

If you are applying a Settings File
to multiple images in the Browser,
the thumbnails for the images will
automatically become updated and
a small icon will appear next to each
selected image, indicating that it needs
to be processed. A Processing Queue
window will also appear, enabling you
to begin the batch process. Click on
the Start button to begin processing
the images with the default settings. By
default, the batch process will save the