Google ceases to develop Nik Collection

[Anthony]

To be fair, Nikon is not the only offender on the software thing. Fuji, Pentax & Sigma have given us truly horrible SilkyPix apps. These days, I think all the camera manufacturers are just "letting Adobe do it". Doesn't seem like there is anything to do about it. Sigh.

Silkypix is not a Fuji or Sigma program.  It does produce good results, but it is not at all user friendly.  And I think NX-D was developed by Silkypix.

Fortunately there are lots of good raw convertors around, so the failure of the camera manufacturers in this area is rather unimportant.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

The full Silkypix package is actually a very capable software for conversion. Perhaps not the most user-friendly out there, but the same can be said of Photo Ninja and other alternatives. Silkypix Pro 8.x does an excellent job on my UV files, better than most Nikon stuff and that includes NX2.

[CS]

Silkypix is not a Fuji or Sigma program.  It does produce good results, but it is not at all user friendly.  And I think NX-D was developed by Silkypix.

Fortunately there are lots of good raw convertors around, so the failure of the camera manufacturers in this area is rather unimportant.

But, nobody has more at stake than Nikon when it comes to how their images render. Yes, that applies to all camera companies, but Nikon is the focus for many of us. OTOH, it would appears that Nikon agrees with you.

[Anthony]

Nikon does not have a good proprietary raw convertor.

Fuji does not have a good proprietary raw convertor.

Anyone know about Canon or Olympus, etc?

[CS]

Nikon does not have a good proprietary raw convertor.

Fuji does not have a good proprietary raw convertor.

Anyone know about Canon or Olympus, etc?

Could Nikon images be better if Nikon shared the info that they conceal from third parties that make good converters? That's a rhetorical question, since Nikon is not likely to do that, so we will not know the real answer.

[David H. Hartman]

I bought CaptureNX2 to hopefully reduce my dependence on Adobe.

Dave

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Could Nikon images be better if Nikon shared the info that they conceal from third parties that make good converters? That's a rhetorical question, since Nikon is not likely to do that, so we will not know the real answer.

I think the problem is that Adobe aren't enthusiastic about going through the trouble to use and display camera-specific information that isn't absolutely necessary for most users (white balance is). Each camera manufacturer have their own settings and it would be extra work for Adobe to support all of them. They'd rather do a generic code that works with every file with minimal modifications since it is simpler for them to maintain.  The focus point and device settings are not even reported to the user in Adobe software although it couldn't be difficult to display if they wanted to. I really need the information of active focus point, focus fine tune setting etc. when reviewing photos. So I use Nikon software for browsing to get that information when I need it.

I think if camera manufacturers agreed on standards for raw files including as much device settings information as possible, it would be easier for generic software to use them and display what information is relevant to the user. But there doesn't seem to be any such standardization effort going on.

I'd rather use Nikon converters for Nikon files, if the software weren't so crash prone. Currently it's not stable enough so I use just Nikon ViewNX-i for browsing and Adobe for raw conversion and editing.  I used to really like Nikon software for several reasons but since 2014 it has been really problematic to use it.

[CS]

I don't know how much of an ordeal it would be for Adobe, etc, and the software already knows when it's dealing with a Nikon body, offering various choices for the user in ACR under Camera Calibration. Plus, they already do individual calcs for lenses, so I don't see it as too difficult.

OTOH, I'm not a programmer, nor anyone who has any say over what Nikon does.

[David H. Hartman]

I'd rather use Nikon converters for Nikon files, if the software weren't so crash prone.

Always crop to the fully displayed image after straitening or using canvas size in CNX2, CNXD, CS2. CNXD and VNXi will crash when trying to create a thumbnail. By process of elimination I found the files were always straitened. CS2 can give registration errors after canvas size. There seems to be a lack of error trapping. In the case of CNXD and CNXi a placeholder should be display indicating there was a problem creating a thumbnail but it just crashes. Since I "crop" to the full shown file in the fit screen view I have not had problems. I haven't had problems with VNXi for a while. I've stopped using VNX2 as it's unsupported and sometimes was displaying the wrong thumbnail which might result in my deleting a file I need.

Dave Hartman who is getting on with VNXi and CNXD quite well.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

I don't do any editing in ViewNX-i (no cropping etc.; I simply use it to browse and rate images and then launch Photoshop) but it still frequently crashes or jams in a seemingly infinite loop on me.  Especially common when using the filter feature. Another thing is that see quite often is if I move my mouse cursor to the lower part of the image (no button pressing) it crashes.

NX-D works so badly I haven't tried using it since last summer. The thumbnail list is not updated correctly when making different versions of the same file or opening files as TIFFs.

[CS]

I don't do any editing in ViewNX-i (no cropping etc.; I simply use it to browse and rate images and then launch Photoshop) but it still frequently crashes or jams in a seemingly infinite loop on me.  Especially common when using the filter feature. Another thing is that see quite often is if I move my mouse cursor to the lower part of the image (no button pressing) it crashes.

NX-D works so badly I haven't tried using it since last summer. The thumbnail list is not updated correctly when making different versions of the same file or opening files as TIFFs.

PC or Mac versions?

[Ilkka Nissilä]

PC or Mac versions?

PC. Windows 10.

[CS]

PC. Windows 10.

Okay, thanks. I DLed the latest Nikon software when I did the firmware update for my D7200 but I have yet to even open it, so I don't know how it performs on Macs.  I'm happy with LR/PS and the Luminar plugin.