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by Bruce Sherman on Wed Mar 14, 2018 5:50 pm
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Bruce Sherman
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I recently made a complete change from Canon to Nikon and purchased two Nikon DSLR's as part of the change. I am very pleased so far but discovered a couple of "shortcomings" with Nikon.

With every DSLR Canon provides their EOS EOS Utility 3.8.20 on a CD. One of the features of this is that it allows one to shoot remotely from EOS Utility on your computer. Nikon has a similar software called Camera Control Pro 2.0. One can get a free 30 day trial of this software but the cost to purchase is over $50.

Secondly, Canon includes Digital Photo Professional, a fully functional software to process RAW images, with every DSLR. Nikon sells their Capture NX software for over $100.

Anyone else think this is strange?
Bruce Sherman
[url]http://www.pbase.com/brucesherman[/url]
 

by photoman4343 on Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:11 pm
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Hi Bruce,

Regarding Nikon software to process RAW images from all new Nikon bodies,  it is free from Nikon. Go to NikonUSA and download Nikon Capture NX-D and Nikon View NX-i.

http://downloadcenter.nikonimglib.com/e ... w/112.html

http://downloadcenter.nikonimglib.com/e ... wNX-i.html

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-e ... tware.html

I believe there is a way to download both at the same time as the download integrates both programs. 

Check out the other info you can download from Nikon about its software.  

The Nikon RAW processor that costs money is Nikon Capture NX 2. That program will process Tiffs and Jpegs from any Nikon body. The D 800e is the last one that I know of where RAW files from it can be processed directly in Capture NX 2. 

I will use Capture NX D to process RAW files from my D 810 and D 500. I make a Tiff and take it into Capture NX 2 for additional processing use U point technology. Others take the Tiffs and process them in Lightroom or Photoshop. Or they just process the RAW file in LR or Photoshop. 

Joe Smith
Joe Smith


Last edited by photoman4343 on Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 

by E.J. Peiker on Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:50 pm
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As Joe said, you are looking at old info from years ago. If you want Nikon RAW processing software, you need Capture NX-D and it costs nothing. If you want to tether, I wouldn't dream of using either Nikon or Canon's software as Capture One is clearly without question the best tethering tool out there, not to mention the best RAW processor. Give it a try for 30 days for free. Or if you have LR, it will tether either brand as well but it's a lot flakier.
 

by photoman4343 on Wed Mar 14, 2018 7:17 pm
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Bruce, I am not sure what Nikon body you have, but for Birds in flight shots, make sure you try Group AF Area mode especially for birds flying directly toward you. In that situation I found it better than Dynamic AF mode set at d 25 on a D 500 or d 9 to d 153 depending on the body you are using. Search NSN for postings on settings for Nikon birds in flight. I just started experimenting with Group AF area mode on my D 500 and my results can be better than d25.
Joe Smith
 

by E.J. Peiker on Wed Mar 14, 2018 8:35 pm
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photoman4343 wrote:Bruce, I am not sure what Nikon body you have, but for Birds in flight shots,  make sure you try Group AF Area mode especially for birds flying directly toward you. In that situation I found it better than Dynamic AF mode set at d 25 on a D 500 or d 9 to d 153 depending on the body you are using. Search NSN for postings on settings for Nikon birds in flight. I just started experimenting with Group AF area mode on my D 500 and my results can be better than d25.
Whether or not this gives you better results than D25 depends on your precision in tracking.  The fundamental issue with group AF for this type of shooting is that by definition that mode tracks the closest thing in the frame so on a flyby, especially if it is a bigger bird, it will tend to grab the closest wingtip.  If you are good at tracking and skilled at keeping a certain AF point on a certain spot on the bird, using D25 will give you more accurate results as you can put that spot on the head of the bird and insure that it's in focus.  But certainly if you are not practiced or skilled at doing that, either group or even 3D will better for you.  I tested this extensively on the D500 both in Ecuador and in Brazil.  In group mode and 3D mode on Hummingbirds at close range with a 70-200 or big birds like Jabirus with a 500 f/4 and even with bigger terns like Large-billed Terns.  In virtually every case the image was front focused as it grabbed the closest wingtip.  But if they were flying directly at me they were great.  By switching to D25 in both cases that went away as I could put the focus spot on the eye or head and get accurate AF.
 

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