those who have been using Nikon’s software exclusively get a feel for what you can do
with the Adobe product.
The basic functions found in most of the programs discussed in this chapter include
image transfer and management, camera control, and image editing. You’ll find that
many of the programs overlap several of these capabilities, so it’s not always possible to
categorize the discussions that follow by function. In fact, I’m going to start off by
describing a few of the offerings available from Nikon.
Nikon’s Applications and Utilities
If nothing else, Nikon has made sorting through the software for its digital cameras an
interesting pursuit. Through the years, we’ve had various incarnations of programs with
names like PictureProject, Nikon View, and Nikon Capture. Some have been compat-
ible with both the Nikon dSLR and amateur Coolpix product lines. Many of them have
been furnished on disc with the cameras. Others, most notoriously Nikon Capture, have
been an extra-cost option, which particularly infuriated those of us who had paid sev-
eral thousand dollars for a Nikon dSLR, and found that we’d need to pay more to get
the software needed for the camera.
Recently, Nikon has begun splitting their software offerings into separate programs that
are sort of standalone products, but which integrate with the others. For example, if you
bought Nikon Capture NX2 you found that the program didn’t really capture anything,
as the previous Nikon Capture 4 did. If you wanted to operate the camera remotely,
you needed to buy the off-shoot program, Nikon Camera Control Pro, which cost even
more money.
The next few sections provide some descriptions of the Nikon software you’ll want to
use with your D7000.
Nikon View NX 2
This latest incarnation of Nikon’s basic file viewer is better than ever, making it easy to
browse through images, convert RAW files to JPEG or TIFF, and make corrections to
white balance and exposure, either on individual files or on batches of files. It now
includes Nikon Transfer and a movie editing tool, and works in tandem with Nikon
Capture NX2, as you can open files inspected in View NX in one of the other pro-
grams—or within a third-party application you “register.”
First and foremost, Nikon View NX is a great file viewer. There are three modes for
looking at images: a thumbnail grid mode for checking out small previews of your
images; an image viewer mode (see Figure 13.1) that shows a group of thumbnails along
with an enlarged version of a selected image; and full screen mode, which allows you to
examine an image in maximum detail.
David Busch’s Nikon D7000 Guide to Digital SLR Photography444