One Capture function that is aimed squarely at nostalgically-minded digital photographers is the Add Grain/Noise tool. Most people, however, wish to reduce grain while scanning, and Capture’s improved Noise Reduction tool is a useful alternative to the GEM function found in most scan software. Similarly to the GEM plug-ins available for Photoshop (Noise Ninja, Neat Image etc.), you can use the tool to try out various effects without having to waste time rescanning.

The major advantage of Noise Reduction is that, like all Capture NX 2 tools, its effect on NEF files can be reversed at any time. The tool’s effect on image detail can, however, be fairly brutal, and you may find that Noise Ninja allows you to preserve more detail while still effectively reducing noise.

In addition to the well-known Unsharp Mask filter, Nikon has added High Pass and Gaussian Blur filters to the range of sharpness adjustments available in the program. The High Pass filter can be used to apply a quite aggressive sharpening algorithm to your images, which is particularly suitable for print applications. The Gaussian Blur tool has exactly the opposite effect; it applies significant softening to your scan. Similar filters are also available in Photoshop but are applied using the layer model, which is not part of the Capture NX concept. These filters are applied in NX by first configuring the filter itself and then setting the opacity with which the effect is applied to the actual image. Some people claim the Photoshop method is more straightforward, while others maintain that the world has simply had more time to get used to the Adobe way of doing things!

To conclude: Capture NX 2 is the best program currently available for quick and easy processing of NEF image archives. Photoshop, in spite of its slightly more cumbersome handling, still retains its lead when it comes to the power and range of its creative image processing tools.