Nikon Capture 4.1 for RAW

[road_runner]

Has anyone been using Capture 4.1? It appears I have to buy Capture 4.0 for $90 first. Then I am to download 4.1 as an upgrade. The 4.1 has several improvements and works with Nikon D70 and CoolPix 8700. I presently have Elements 2.0; so I can not take advantage of Adobe's RAW software. Just wondering whether it would be better to purchase the Elements 3.0, and then download Adobe's RAW plug-in. Then again, is the plug-in an additional charge?

Here is a link for those who haven't yet chosen which way to go:
http://www.digitalreview.ca/cams/NikonCapture4_1.shtml

[ilanphoto]

before you hand out your money, try raw shoter essentials from
http://www.pixmantec.com/

It's free and it has everything the PS plug in has and much more. You will still need your elements for the usual things but this will take care of all your raw needs

Forgot to mention, it has a batch convert which I find very usfull. PS CS does not have this feature

[road_runner]

Thanks for the heads-up ilanphoto!

[frim]

I recently upgraded my PhotoShop Elements to 3.0 and then for free to 3.0.1 or 3.1 (not sure) on their web page.. The RAW plug-in was included.

Also there is a free batch converter that converts the NEF (RAW) to the more standard DNG. The upgrade cause a change in the editing screens of the NEFs but gave me a lot of control over the DNGs.

[road_runner]

I loaded the Nikon software, and it provided a plugin for Elements 2 & 3. Everthing works fine,but I notice one quirk.

If I open and enhance using PS Elements and then save, Iloose all Exif data. However when I open and enhance then save using Nikon Capture 4.2 the exif data is saved along with the image. By saving in JPG with the least compression (12), I have noticed there is very little loss in picture quality even if I later open it using PS Elements and resaving in JPG with the highest quality. Now I'm wondering if I should be shooting in RAW, JPG at the highest quality and least amount of compression shows very little difference.

Hope this helps someone out there!

The lone road_runner