Nikon 25338 User manual

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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 respec-
tive holders.

i
Chapter 1 Table of Contents
i
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................. 1
RAW File Format Benefits..................................2
Camera Relationship..........................................3
System Requirements &
Installation .................................................. 5
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
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 Notification 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
Table of Contents

ii
Chapter 1 Table of Contents
ii
Table of Contents
Crop...................................................................77
Toolbar F4 – Black, White, and
Neutral Control Points ........................... 81
Black Control Point ..........................................81
White Control Point.........................................82
Neutral Control Point.......................................82
Toolbar F5 – U Point Technology-
based Tools ................................................ 85
Color Control Point ..........................................85
Red-Eye Control Point......................................86
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

iii
Chapter 1 Table of Contents
iii
Table of Contents
Color Profile....................................................157
Apply Profile...................................................157
Convert to Profile ...........................................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

iv
Chapter 1 Table of Contents
iv

1
Chapter 1 Introduction
1
Chapter 1 Introduction
Capture NX’s patented U Point technol-
ogy 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 enhance-
ments 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 compromis-
ing 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, affect-
ing 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 repeat-
edly without degrading the quality of
the image. Capture NX protects the
original data as well as your enhance-
ments 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.
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.

2
Chapter 1 Introduction
RAW File Format Benefits
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:
• 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)
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.

3
Chapter 1 Introduction
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.
To display the contents of the Camera
Settings Palette, click on the button
within the Camera Settings Palette.
Settings that you can edit have a pull-
down 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.

4

5
Chapter 2 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-click-
ing 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 instal-
lation is complete.
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
System Requirements
& Installation

6
Chapter 2 System Requirements & Installation
set the default functionality for Capture
NX, and can be later changed within
the Preferences.
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 embed-
ded 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 within
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.
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 Always use
the default RGB color space as the
working color space option is selected,
or if the image’s color space cannot be
determined when the Use the color
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.

7

8

9
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 adjust-
ments 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 affect-
ing 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, includ-
ing its position, color, saturation, and
texture. By identifying these elements,
the Color Control Point can deter-
mine 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.
U Point™Technology
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.

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 1. 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
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 2. Selection

11
Chapter 3 U Point Technology
Before
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 )

13
Chapter 4 The Capture NX Interface
13
Chapter 4 The Capture NX Interface
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.
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. Please see
chapters 20 through 28 for informa-
tion on the features located within each
Menu.
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. For
more information on the Bird’s Eye
Palette, please see page 97.
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
Chapter 4 The Capture NX Interface
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
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. Please go to
page 99 for more information regarding
the Photo Info Palette.
File Directory
The File Directory provides you with an
easy-to-access Palette which displays
the contents of an entire folder in
the Browser. Please see page 37
for a complete description of the File
Directory Palette.
Camera Settings
By opening the Camera Settings
Palette, you can see all of the camera-
generated 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. For a complete description of
the Camera Settings Palette, please see
page 39.
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. Please see
page 41 for more information on the
IPTC Palette.
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 simulta-
neously. Images can be opened from
the Browser into the Editor to provide
additional control. Please see page
29 for information on the Browser.
Image Window
An Image Window displays an image
within Capture NX, along with impor-
tant information and controls for that
image. Please see page 105 for
information regarding the features and
functionality of an Image Window.