It was around the beginning of May this year that news about a new Nikon Capture NX release started to spread. Not surprisingly, this got a lot of attention in the Nikon community. It’s a piece of software that is generally regarded as unique from a feature and function point of view, but at the same time being seen as out of date in many other aspects. So when the rumour started to spread that a new Capture NX3 release was about to be released this year, naturally, it got everybody’s interest. To make things even worse, the rumour even said the new release would be build from scratch and would also contain almost all of the (excellent) Nik Software products as plugins. Simply too good to be true!
What happened since? Zero, zilch, nada, niente (except for a note about a NX3 Guide to be published in September)! But after that: nothing. Apparently – that is according to the Nikon Rumors website – Nikon is going to make some announcements next week on August 24th. I have no doubt they will. The website recently conducted a poll to find out what we wished the announcements to be about. To my great surprise, Capture NX3 wasn’t even on the list of candidates! Strange, to say the least. Especially when you consider the discussion the rumour caused and the attention it was given by the press in general. Somehow, we seem to be more interested in mirrorless technology, new Coolpix models or new DX or FX announcements. Whatever may be announced next week. But certainly nothing is expected to be said about Capture NX3. Does this then mean that the critics – who say the current version is also the last and final version – are going to be right?
I hope the naysayers are wrong and have been hoping and waiting for months for an update. More so since going to a 64bit OS and I’m starting to see occasional indications of .nef file corruption while saving changes. Thank goodness for backups.
I would be interested to know which software enjoys the largest user base among raw shooters and independent of camera brand use. I know it’s probably Photoshop but since I’m not into major manipulations and pasting heads on other bodies, I’m not interested. If you have to do all of that then you didn’t shoot it right in the first place or you are interpreting the scene rather than documenting. The reason for seeking out the software with the largest user base is simply an attempt at providing security for long term support.
I used to shoot 4×5 and sometimes convergent lines drive me mad, so with the exception of the lack of a perspective control crop function, NX literally and meets all of my needs. I would love to stick with NX but Nikon will make that decision for me if they choose not to update.
We have skipped Capture NX3. NX4 is comming up now! Really, with all the available plugins…. NIK, Ononesoftware, Topaz Labs etc. Also new NX4 books to come at Amazon. A rumor has born today! 🙂
That’s the way it happens folks, the internet circuit blahblah stories.