Nikon ViewNX

[Saddlebreds4me]

Hi!

I hope it's ok to ask software questions in this forum - can anyone speak to their experience with Nikon's ViewNX program? I've spent most of the evening reading my manual for my new D700 and getting familiar with the layout of it, et al - and I loaded the ViewNX software on my Mac (haven't opened it up yet) - any feedback on it? To be honest, other than viewing the photos, I am not sure what else it can do.

Thanks in advance!

 

[sabbath999]

Basically it is a RAW converter/picture viewer.

I don't use it, I use CaptureNX and iPhoto... I also have both Aperture and Lightroom, but I don't like either of them as well as iPhoto (your milage may vary).

 

[Saddlebreds4me]

Thank you sabbath999 for your response - I have a couple of follow up questions...

OK...WARNING - POTENTIALLY STUPID NOOB QUESTION COMING UP!

I've been approached by a couple of magazines in my horse world to use some of my photos in their publications (Yeah!) I know I need to send them the highest possible resolution photos I've got. Am I better off sending the publication the photo straight from my card? prior to Aperture, or iPhoto or Lightroom (I've got all three) ever sees the photo downloaded into the program? My understanding is that once you import your files into any program that the resolution drops. And should I be shooting in RAW?

Is this accurate?

Sorry to sound like such a beginner, but this is the beginner forum...right?

Thanks!

 

[tirediron]

Am I better off sending the publication the photo straight from my card? prior to Aperture, or iPhoto or Lightroom

Absolutely not. No matter how skilled or careful you are, how good your equipment, no image right out of the camera is ever as good as it could be. At the very least it will probably need minor exposure tweaks, a levels/curves adjustment and minor sharpening and of course a cropping to the customer's desired size.

My understanding is that once you import your files into any program that the resolution drops.

Yes, and no. Some formats such as .jpg are what is termed a "lossy" format. That is, each time you open, edit and then save the image, you do lose some data, and thus some quality. .nef and .tif are non-lossy formats. If you are shooting for a commercial client, you should always shoot RAW, do you initial edits in a good RAW handler (Capture NX2 or Lightroom), then export to .tif for final adjustments in Photoshop, and finally save as a .jpg if required, for the client.

 

[sabbath999]

You can find out what they want by asking them their preferred format.

If you do a search for raw vs. jpeg in this forum you will find more information than you would ever want on that subject...

You will want to make your picture as good as you can before submitting it. If you have questions, post a copy of it here and you will get plenty of opinions... perhaps a few of them even useful.

 

[Saddlebreds4me]

Thank you both - I've been learning a tremendous amount this past week with my D700 and from what I've been reading here on this forum.

This is one shot that the magazine is looking at - I have this in ViewNX but I'd already put it into Lightroom prior to the install of ViewNX.

Here is what it is from Lightroom: I'm told this resolution would never "cut it" in a print magazine. What do you more seasoned people think? Thanks again in advance!

 

[chrisburke]

you really should send the full size image to the mag... do your edits, do your crops, all that fun stuff, then export it at full resolution (at least 240dpi) i've done lots of graphics (not photo) work for magazines, and they want the biggest possible file you can give them... that why shooting in raw is great, because the images are huge.. also in doing work for mags, i can tell you that if you send them a pic with your little watermark there, they wont print it... typically magazines will give credit under the photo...

so no, the picture you posted is not what you should send to a mag.. send the full size image (i assume you exported this from lightroom but did a resize on the export??)

OH, and if you have Lightroom, theres really no need for ViewNX... just take it off your computer... no point in having them both

and to the guy who said he likes iPhoto more than light room... you must not do much editing... saying that you like iPhoto more than LR is like saying you like a Pontiac more than a Benz... but i guess your entilted to your opinion

 

[sabbath999]

and to the guy who said he likes iPhoto more than light room... you must not do much editing... saying that you like iPhoto more than LR is like saying you like a Pontiac more than a Benz... but i guess your entilted to your opinion

I've only processed 25,000+ pictures this year... I must have have absolutely no idea what I am talking about.

Generally my shoots are in the two to three thousand picture range per shoot.

I use iPhoto for the basic processing... if they need real work (which most don't, prolly 95 percent don't get anything more than cropped & sharpened which is absolutely, positively not one bit better or faster in LR than it is in iPhoto because each photo needs to be (IMHO) sharpened to taste)... and the rest of them get moved over into CaptureNX where I do my post.

About one or two pictures per shoot get moved into Photoshop for various odd reasons (generally for cloning out some thing annoying).

My workflow is sacrilege around here... anybody who doesn't drop to his knees at the alter of the Adobe Corporation is a heretic... , but my wife and I take a LOT of photos and frankly I couldn't care less what people think of the software I use... feel free to check out one of my websites to see if my head is up my arse when I am talking about this stuff.

I switched back from LR and from Aperture after trying them out, and figuring out that I can do the same work faster and better organized in iPhoto. The iPhoto tools are nearly identical to Aperture... they use the same exact filters and math for processing, the same rear end software as well. Sue me.

Thanks for allowing me to be entitled to my opinion.

 

[chrisburke]

^^^
i didnt mean to offend you.... i was actually more complimenting than anything saying that you must not need to edit much, meant you must take the pictures right so that you dont have to fix them in a program like LR... some day I hope that all i have to do crop, but until i'm there, i will stick with LR so i can fix my mistakes.

 

[Saddlebreds4me]

you really should send the full size image to the mag... do your edits, do your crops, all that fun stuff, then export it at full resolution (at least 240dpi) i've done lots of graphics (not photo) work for magazines, and they want the biggest possible file you can give them... that why shooting in raw is great, because the images are huge.. also in doing work for mags, i can tell you that if you send them a pic with your little watermark there, they wont print it... typically magazines will give credit under the photo...

so no, the picture you posted is not what you should send to a mag.. send the full size image (i assume you exported this from lightroom but did a resize on the export??)

OH, and if you have Lightroom, theres really no need for ViewNX... just take it off your computer... no point in having them both

and to the guy who said he likes iPhoto more than light room... you must not do much editing... saying that you like iPhoto more than LR is like saying you like a Pontiac more than a Benz... but i guess your entilted to your opinion

It's funny Chris because in the horse world - the watermarks/signatures are very commonplace - the norm if you will. I don't care if they remove it, my name underneath is just fine with me.

The other funny thing about it - it took me SO damn long to figure out how to watermark and sign my photos - and now I need to remove it! I find that humorous.

A question for you and anyone else...so when you say I should shoot the largest size photo - does my "L" setting for size cut it? I don't want to tell you how long I spent reading my manual last night - but I was a little confused as to the quality setting and size setting. For what I do, I was told to keep the size on "L" and the quality setting to "Fine". Any feedback on that? Remember - I am, for the most part, shooting horses, in perpetual motion (unless I'm doing head shots or something like that).

And totally OT, but how's that beautiful baby of yours doing? Are you or your wife getting any sleep?


Thank you!

 

[chrisburke]

L should be the largest size... i'm not totally familar with the d700.. but my 40 and 50 are both set to L which is the largest.. so I assume its the same with the D700... however, Fine isnt the biggest... raw is...

in all honesty, I dont feel bad for the amount of time you spent reading your manual... its a good thing... i believe everyone should take the time to read their manual, as it tends to answer most basic questions you have.

whether your shooting moving or still, you should still shoot in Raw and L because that is going to give you 1. the biggest possible image to work with (this is great if you want to blow a shot up and hang it on the wall.. you can make a bigger better quality print with a full size image, than you can a smaller one) and 2. raw gives you freedom to mess up.. with raw images, you can change your white balance in post processing if you accidentially had it on Auto and it did a bad job... there are numerous other reasons why shooting in raw is a good idea, if you just do a search for raw vs jpg here on the forum, you will find many of the reason.

and thanks for the comments on my baby... he's great.. and a pretty good sleeper.. he has his nghts, but for the most part, he's pretty good

 

[ANDS!]

If you are shooting in RAW format there is NO "size" option. Why would there be, its a RAW file. It is when you TELL the camera to render the RAW file at a certain resolution/quality that it converts it to the JPEG.

 

[Saddlebreds4me]

Ok, thanks so much guys - I really appreciate the information! And yes, I've even dog-eared and used a highlighter in my manual - and yes, the most basic questions can be answered, you just have to have the patience to get through it!

I've got my camera with me at work today, I'm going to run out and make sure my settings are on RAW - and Fine - you can shoot in both at once...which I am not used to having that choice (or if I had it before I didn't know it! LOL)

 

[Sw1tchFX]

You did have the choice with your D70.

Like what was said, if you're going to be published, you shouldn't' be dodling with jpeg, which is what L, M, and S are.

Shoot RAW, that makes the L,M, and S options superfluous and do post in whatever raw converter you like and photoshop or whatever photo editing program you use right now. Send them the file, a W-9 and that's it.

Well, I don't know about the W-9, I assume you are getting paid. Right?

 

[Saddlebreds4me]

Thank you Sw1tchFX - I didn't know I had (or still have) the option on my D70s - that is very helpful information.

For this particular article I am donating my photos - it's for a rescue organization and I'm trying to help our breed.

I have Aperture, Lightroom, iphoto, and Photoshop - so far, I like Lightroom the best for the simple fact that it is seemingly easy to use and that's what I need right now.

Many thanks again for your comments.

Oh I almost forgot! Don't know if this is something anyone can answer for me - I didn't find it in the manual...yet.

When I press my shutter button down half way - in the display area where you would normally see how many photos you have left on your card - "r06" appears...can anyone tell me what this is? It seems to do it all the time and doesn't change with mode or any of the other settings. Again, I looked in my manual until my eyes were blurry - couldn't find it. Thanks!