Hello Guys,

There has been a lot of discussion in forums (e.g. DPP, Nikonians.org) regarding which is the better raw converter: Lightroom or CaptureNX (for the non-Nikonians, CaptureNX is the "'Photoshop" of the Nikon world).

I've always been biased with Lightroom. I believe anyone who has tried LR will all agree that its the one true program that supports your workflow (well there is Aperture for Mac Users, but that's a totally different discussion).

CaptureNX was built specifically to edit and convert NEF files. Although it has the revolutionary U-point technology, the interface, well, needs a lot of work in my opinion.

Anyway, many are saying that CaptureNX (or NX2) provides the best conversions and its the only one that can utilize Nikon's Picture Controls in the camera. However, with the recent release of DNG profiles for Lightroom, we can now emulate the Nikon Picture Controls. Now, my question is: how close are these DNG profiles to the ''real thing''? Which one actually produces better colors?

Just for fun, I made these comparisons:

Test#1: Strobist set-up (Nikon D300, 105VR; 1/125, iso200, f6.3) - shoot thru umbrella placed 45degrees from the subject/s
NX
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3025/3061044561_1c76f50966.jpg
LR2
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/3061870696_8603eb5b18.jpg

Test 2: Macro shot in natural light (NikonD300, 105VR, 1/100, iso200, f3.5) - Taken inside a greenhouse at noon
NX
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/3061880454_f59014958b.jpg
LR2
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3020/3061875780_01f43eff07.jpg