Real World Nikon Capture NX
by Ben Long
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Book Reviews of Real World Nikon Capture NX
Book Review: Not much more than a user manual
Summary: 3 Stars
My first impression was received when I picked up the Amazon.com box and felt how light it was. This CAN'T be it. I'm used to the REAL WORLD series containing very thick and detailed books. I was surprised by the 220 page book, and felt that $35 was probably a little steep, but looked on the bright side - a 220p book is a heck of a lot easier to tote around than a 400p bible. I put my impressions aside and dug in.
Ben divides the book into 8 chapters: 1) Intro; 2) Basic Theory; 3) Interface & Basic Workflow; 4) Preparing to Edit; 5) Basic Image Editing; 6) Advanced Image Editing; 7) Version Control and Batch Processing; 8) Output.
Basic Theory is a quick intro to terms like Raw, jpeg, white balance, non-destructive editing, and it walks the beginner through reading a histogram. The Interface & Basic Workflow chapter introduces users to the NX toolbars and defines the steps in a basic workflow as: Importing, culling, adding metadata, sorting, editing for "picks", outputting and archiving. Ben gives a brief description of each, such as "you can import your images directly from your camera using a cable connection to your computer. Nothing new here, and it has very little to do with Capture NX. However, this could serve as an informative overview for someone just beginning digital photography.
Chapter 4, preparing to edit, is a basic (very basic) overview of color management. This is, again, geared toward the beginner, and not very specific to Capture NX. It doesn't go deep, but this is a book about NX, not Color Management. So, about 75 pages into the manual we finally get into Chapter 5 and editing with NX.
In Chapter 5, Ben walks us through his recommended sequence of edits: Geometric corrections, remove color casts, adjust tone & contrast, perform color correction, final tweaks, sharpen for output. He introduces us to the tools used to make the edits and does a good job of clarifying the difference between Base Adjustments and Edit Steps and why (whenever possible) Edit Steps should be used instead of Base Adjustments. Rotating, straightening, cropping, flipping and resizing are covered, as are auto levels, auto color, and levels and curves. While most of this book is geared toward the beginner, I didn't feel that there was enough of an explanation within the levels and curves section to give a solid understanding to the beginner. If you are looking to learn NX levels and curves, you are probably better consulting a Photoshop book like REAL WORLD PHOTOSHOP CS2 and taking that understanding to the NX curves tool.
In all, I was pretty disappointed by the depth of the material. This book spends too much time teaching you how to do basic things like rotate and crop (if you can't figure out how to do this yourself, you are in trouble) and doesn't spend enough time discussing techniques like how to sharpen in NX. In fact, Ben glosses over image sharpening in about two pages by giving a brief definition of Intensity, radius, and threshold, but not mentioning how he uses these three settings to create sharper images for the web or print output.
In Advanced Editing, Ben walks through creating masks for image edits, and through color control points. Finally, the Batch Processing and Output chapters look at these features within Capture NX. Note: I've found batch processing to be very slow, but the book offers no hints on how to speed it up.
In all, I was disappointed with the content. There aren't many books available on Capture NX and it would have been great to have a comprehensive bible around this tool. Unfortunately, this book is more like an expanded version of the Nikon (Nik) manual and offers little new material to someone who has played with Capture NX and knows a little about photo editing.
Other notably missing topics are: Optimizing your PC to use NX, troubleshooting NX, any tips & tricks, creating templates or sets. Overall, for a very good software product, this is a disappointing guide.
Book Review: Worth the price and the time for new NX users...
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought Nikon Capture NX as soon as it was available, intrigued by descriptions and magazine reviews, and hoping to speed and enhance my RAW workflow. Unfortunately, the accelerating press of work, the need to get post processing done on a never-ending stream of images caused me to put off making the switch from the old Nikon Capture 4.x.x lest my fumbling and incompetence with new software slow or affect the quality of my work.
Up front I'll say that his explanation of control points (U-Point Technology, as NIK puts it) was worth the price of admission. So yes, I'm fully satisfied that I've had my money's worth out of this book. Also, I'll say that his elementary explanations of curves, levels, and histograms was worthwhile; most users of imaging software already know the information on some level, but his blunt, unadorned explanations was refreshing, and I took something of value away from reading his perceptions on these subjects.
However, unlike some other reviewers, I didn't find the book to be particularly well written, assembled, or edited. It had a rush-to-market feel to it throughout. There are references to "sidebars" that are not really sidebars; some may have been referred to but left out. At least I was unable to find a couple of them, flipping back and forth through the pages repeatedly and in vain. Also, I get tired of imaging software books written by and primarily for dedicated Mac users. PLEASE...don't get me wrong; I think Macs are wonderful. I have previously owned several. But despite the fact that artistic types and imaging professionals comprise a larger percentage of Mac users than the market as a whole it's a Windows world, like it or not. I would prefer to see Windows screen shots used and Windows keystrokes emphasized. It's niggling, but there it is.
Bottom line: If you have or intend to purchase Nikon Capture NX but haven't used it yet, buy the book and spend an evening with it. If you've already adopted the software and made it a part of your daily or weekly workflow, you probably won't find the same value.
Book Review: Far too expensive for what it is.
Summary: 4 Stars
As I have mentioned in my reviews of other books associated with digital photography, my own personal conversion from film to digital photography has been a very steep leaning curve and not all the products I have purchased were useful. Furthermore, I have been very disappointed with some of the books I have purchased.
Let me make myself quite clear from the outset, this is one of the good books but I do consider the price charged to be far too expensive for what it is. As the author of books on subjects which demand a great deal of photography and artwork on almost every page pertaining to the central subject and which, therefore, requires top quality paper, I am aware of what goes into the making of an expensive book. This product should have been marketed at two thirds of the publishers RRP! I am quite serious. To give you a comparison, my own latest work took 12 years to fully research, amend and update. As a "book" it is of far better quality that this product and retails for £15 as opposed to the £24:99 demanded by this author.
Whilst the content of this book will educate those who wish to learn the subject, I think Mr Long (or his publisher?) is guilty of saying to their potential readers something akin to "You wanna know what I know - you can pay!" It is both arrogant and sad.
Other than that, if you want to know all about Capture NX, this is probably one of the best books on the subject. Please note, I have not deducted stars because of the aforementioned - but on this occasion, I do find the RRP (recommended retail price) most upsetting!
NM
Book Review: Real World guide for a Really Great Program!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not sure what the other 2 reviewers were expecting from this book but I found it to be a great guide for my workflow.
Mr. Long cuts through the clutter and gets to the brass tacks on how to use this program quickly and easily.
Sure, as the other reviewer alluded to, he doesn't go as deep as the manual-but using this book in conjunction with the manual is a 1-2 punch. Anytime I want to learn more on any of the subjects he covers, I go to my manual. This isn't a replacement for the manual--it is a supplement to the manual.
Learning the ideal use of Control Points (worth buying Capture NX alone for this feature!) and getting a real persepective on the software makes all the difference for me.
The section on selection brushes cleared up a lot of confusion for me and opened up a whole new world for my photography.
Thanks to Capture NX and this book I'm spending far less time in Photoshop and other programs and getting a finished, deliverable picture while keeping an archive of all of the steps along the way.
[...]I can't wait to see Vincent Versace's new DVD set coming out as well.
Buy this book, you won't regret it.
Michael
Book Review: Not What I was Expecting
Summary: 2 Stars
I ordered this book when it first appeared. I also ordered Jason Odell's book on NX2. I found this one a distinct disappointment. Since I already knew the basics of using the software, I started by just trying to find information on subjects I was interested in learning more about. The lack of an index made this exceedingly difficult. For instance, if you want to learn more about using the double threshold tool and inserting black and white control points, you will have to look long and hard to find it, and then when you do, you won't find much about it. This is so despite the fact that nearly everyone else who has tutorials or written about NX2 has found this a very useful tool. This is just an example. I found the same issue over and over again. Can you learn the basics from this book? Yes. Are there better resources out there? Yes there are. See, for instance, Jason Odell's and Mike Hagen's books and some excellent free tutorials on the web (check out Mike Campbell's for instance, as well as Nikon's own tutorials on its site). If you are trying to learn, or further your education, concerning Capture NX2, there are better resources. After reading this book through once, I have never picked it up again.