Thanks for reviewing! It’s a promising app but as you point out, a work in progress, something the developer readily acknowledges. With regards to your criticism of the main sliders, the developer’s Nitro and RawPower videos point out clearly that two or more sliders must often be used in tandem. For example - with RAW files, Boost plus Recovery and/or Highlights to recover highlight detail. I’ve found that adjusting Boost first affects both the behavior and effectiveness of the other sliders (or tone curve, etc.). Another example - ProRaw files, initial adjusting of the local tone mapping slider seems almost a pre-requisite for subsequent adjustments.
I've been trying Nitro the past couple of days and just found this review. Pretty much agree on everything. The green shoots are there but it will take a while before it matures enough to be a competitor to the big guns. I think it's more targeted at Photomator users than Lightroom/C1 users. To be honest, Apple Photos has been steadily improving and for messing with iPhone photos it's probably better than most of the other options. I'll be sticking with Lightroom and Capture One for proper work. I'm still deciding which is less evil before I drop one of them.
Thanks for the review. On lens correction you are wrong here. Nitro relies on Apple RAW engine which does lens correction so most of the time it should be automatic. The tool they added is for when Apple RAW does not do it. Photomator which is my main app is exactly the same, relying on the same Apple RAW engine. Now I shoot Canon and Apple RAW does not correct ANY modern RF lens from canon for some reason. It is a huge problem for any Canon shooter. At least Nitro give a way to work around the limitation from Apple when a lens is not supported by them. I am begging Photomator to add this functionality because for ultra-wide angle RF lenses, they are designed with correction needed, and Photomator provides none. My only option is JPEG in that case. So the nitro Lens tool is designed to fill the gap when Apple RAW engine does not provide correction, and it does that fine. I really want this in Photomator.
@@Andyhutchinson Lightroom have their own engine, and they are fairly quick at releasing updated for new lenses. Apple well, not so much except for iPhone lenses obviously....
So, as I am photographer hobbyist, aspiring to be pro, what would be "got to app", that go well with FujifIlm XT4 raw format and Mac, like something that make use of mac underneath tech and preserve and use the RAW data in XT4, and to keep it long term not switching between apps... Lightroom... Photomater... or (God forbidden Capture1... I know you don't like it)
There is no single app at the moment. Photolab has the best RAW engine and far and away the best denoising, but it's a purists app with old school masks and limited asset management capabilities. Lightroom is close to Photolab's capabilities, has most of the AI goodies and handles X-T4 RAWs really well these days. I wouldn't recommend Photomator, as good as it is, for someone setting out on a professional career. Increasingly what many photographers are doing is mixing and matching - using a straight asset manager app like Photo Mechanic and then something else to process it - Adobe Camera RAW for instance.
If you can afford it and only need to edit on Mac or PC I still feel Capture One provides the best Fuji raw output. I’ve used Lightroom since it’s beginning, Capture One for several years, and tried apps like RAW Power, ACDSee, Silkypix, Fuji OOC raw file converter etc. By comparison Capture Ones ability to resolve detail from the Fuji Xtrans sensor is unparalleled, almost magical, better than Fuji’s own processing. I’ve got a historic house shot with a wagon in the background, and the writing on the side of the wagon in Capture One looks perfectly normal, smooth and legible etc, all of the other processors introduce some artefacts. Grass again always looks more natural out of Capture One. As a result Capture One seems to render bokeh smoother, yet retain detail in focused areas, I feel this results in a more filmic look, more natural than the others. Capture One’s editing tools are also fantastic, and its asset management isn’t bad, not as good as Lightroom but pretty comprehensive. Note, there’s a free Capture One Fuji RAW version, it’s quite limited, with only the main global adjustment sliders, but it’ll allow you to see the output quality etc. the only problem I have with Capture One is the price, though they do have deals once or twice a year with good savings for the perceptual licence.
@@MrSamoDude I agree, C1 offers the best Raw file rendering quality if you can tolerate the hight price and the lack of any future point release upgrades if you opt for the perpetual licence...
Great review Andy, it looks OK and maybe will catch up to more fleshed out tools with some time. I am still going to be a Adobe guy, cant help it :) I tried a lot of different Programs but always come back to Adobe. Not only is the photo edition in the LR/PS combination (in my opinion) the best there is, but the extras you are getting with LR/PS Online, Mobile Apps etc. makes it worth the money spend.
Yea same here mate. I think the only reason a lot of people, who went to Capture One after the introduction of subscriptions, don't move back to Adobe is their pride!
@@Andyhutchinson Really? what arrogant piffle! Nothing to do with pride, more everything to do with many photographers not being as well served as others in the monthly finance department!
@@tomfenn7149 Capture One is far more expensive than the Adobe Photography bundle, so if they are not "as well served as others in the monthly finance department" they'd be better off with Adobe. Please explain what part of that is "arrogant piffle" as you so rudely suggest.
Nitro is the perfect for an 8/16GB Mac: 1. Open the app Photoshop: 2,02GB Nitro: 0,10GB 2. Open a 24mpx photo (no edits or zoom) Adobe Camera RAW: 4,08GB Nitro: 0,14GB 3. Edit a 24mpx photo (sliders editing and 100% zoom) Camera RAW: 4,90GB Nitro: 0,26 GB 4. Edit 400 24mpx photos (edited 1 and paste the setting in the rest) Camera RAW: 10,34GB Nitro: 4,61GB* The use of RAM in Nitro is 100% variable. The peak of the last test was 4,61GB, but during the test drops to 2GB and when it's done drops even more. It does not need all the ram all the time. That's a huge advantage! *The only "drawback" is that it took 4 minutes because Nitro saves the 400 xmps at the moment, so when it's done you can close the app without ask you to save, preventing a crash from losing all your edits I did the test on my Macbook Air M2 8GB Sonoma 14.5, with a 7 days trial of Nitro 2024.6 (33) and original Adobe Photoshop 2024 25.4 with Adobe Camera RAW 16.1.1.1733 Greetings from Argentina 🇦🇷
I replicated your test. 1. Open the app Photomator: 147.5Mb Nitro: 121Mb 2.Open a 29.2Mb .RAF Fuji RAW file Photomator: 1Gb Nitro: 2.48Gb 3. Edit a 29.2Mb .RAF Fuji RAW file Photomator: 1.07Gb Nitro: 2.52Gb 4. Paste 178 29.2Mb photos Photomator: 1.8Gb Nitro: crashed Photomator took approx 40 seconds to paste all the adjustments. I'll take Photomator over Nitro any day of the week. Faster, more capable, far superior RAW editor and consumes considerably less RAM.
Wow. Seriously? What a harsh review. You compare a one-man team to a multi-populated global corporation, with millions of $$$ behind it. How much did Adobe pay you? Did they promise a yacht? LOL!
I review the app - not the company. It's all well and good to take the moral high-ground but if doing so means you end up with inferior software, then what's the point? I'm here to ensure that the people who view my videos find out which software is best, they couldn't give a shit who makes it and neither could I - app quality and app price are all that anyone cares about in the real world.
I now go as hard on your review as you went on Nitro - although you're right in most of your critic and missed some even worse acting features. I've seen plenty of seagulls and sunsets, but my photographic world consists of more than that, and for some subjects Nitro isn't worse than anything else. Take C1 and PL: How many years of development - and you can't even search for album names in their DAM part! Nitro isn't as bad for me as it is for you, but I admit, I plan to use it as a tool able to work with my "old", yet still existing (on a 2010 iMac) Aperture libraries. No plans of replacing C1 with Nitro for new photos. And compared to Aperture it has many advantages today, but there's some work to do for this small dev team. However, Nik's mail support is great again compared to what C1 and DxO deliver. The app has some quirks, but so does the competititon as well. And some of it's limitations (not working with more than 1 Photos library at a time) come from Apple, not from Nitro.
Yep - it definitely has some great features in there - it juset seems a little rushed to me and could do with a good 6-12 months of development work to bring up to the same standard as something like Photomator. But the important thing is that it works for you and there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to this stuff, so it's good that you found Nitro :)
Thanks for reviewing! It’s a promising app but as you point out, a work in progress, something the developer readily acknowledges. With regards to your criticism of the main sliders, the developer’s Nitro and RawPower videos point out clearly that two or more sliders must often be used in tandem. For example - with RAW files, Boost plus Recovery and/or Highlights to recover highlight detail. I’ve found that adjusting Boost first affects both the behavior and effectiveness of the other sliders (or tone curve, etc.). Another example - ProRaw files, initial adjusting of the local tone mapping slider seems almost a pre-requisite for subsequent adjustments.
Thanks for the tips. I do think there's a good app lurking in there and will be checking in on it during point releases. :)
Man, I do miss Apple Aperture!!! :) it was wonderful!
Ooh, another one to look at! I'll get a cuppa shortly and cozy up on the couch...
Thanks again, Andy.
No worries :)
I've been trying Nitro the past couple of days and just found this review. Pretty much agree on everything. The green shoots are there but it will take a while before it matures enough to be a competitor to the big guns. I think it's more targeted at Photomator users than Lightroom/C1 users. To be honest, Apple Photos has been steadily improving and for messing with iPhone photos it's probably better than most of the other options. I'll be sticking with Lightroom and Capture One for proper work. I'm still deciding which is less evil before I drop one of them.
Funnily enough I was playing with Apple Photos the other day and thinking how good it is now. In fact I'm writing a video about it at the moment. :)
Thanks for the review. On lens correction you are wrong here. Nitro relies on Apple RAW engine which does lens correction so most of the time it should be automatic. The tool they added is for when Apple RAW does not do it. Photomator which is my main app is exactly the same, relying on the same Apple RAW engine. Now I shoot Canon and Apple RAW does not correct ANY modern RF lens from canon for some reason. It is a huge problem for any Canon shooter. At least Nitro give a way to work around the limitation from Apple when a lens is not supported by them. I am begging Photomator to add this functionality because for ultra-wide angle RF lenses, they are designed with correction needed, and Photomator provides none. My only option is JPEG in that case. So the nitro Lens tool is designed to fill the gap when Apple RAW engine does not provide correction, and it does that fine. I really want this in Photomator.
Thanks for the correction. I guess I'm just used to having it all built-in with something like Lightroom. :)
@@Andyhutchinson Lightroom have their own engine, and they are fairly quick at releasing updated for new lenses. Apple well, not so much except for iPhone lenses obviously....
So, as I am photographer hobbyist, aspiring to be pro, what would be "got to app", that go well with FujifIlm XT4 raw format and Mac, like something that make use of mac underneath tech and preserve and use the RAW data in XT4, and to keep it long term not switching between apps... Lightroom... Photomater... or (God forbidden Capture1... I know you don't like it)
There is no single app at the moment. Photolab has the best RAW engine and far and away the best denoising, but it's a purists app with old school masks and limited asset management capabilities. Lightroom is close to Photolab's capabilities, has most of the AI goodies and handles X-T4 RAWs really well these days. I wouldn't recommend Photomator, as good as it is, for someone setting out on a professional career. Increasingly what many photographers are doing is mixing and matching - using a straight asset manager app like Photo Mechanic and then something else to process it - Adobe Camera RAW for instance.
Thank you, appreciate your reply.
If you can afford it and only need to edit on Mac or PC I still feel Capture One provides the best Fuji raw output. I’ve used Lightroom since it’s beginning, Capture One for several years, and tried apps like RAW Power, ACDSee, Silkypix, Fuji OOC raw file converter etc. By comparison Capture Ones ability to resolve detail from the Fuji Xtrans sensor is unparalleled, almost magical, better than Fuji’s own processing. I’ve got a historic house shot with a wagon in the background, and the writing on the side of the wagon in Capture One looks perfectly normal, smooth and legible etc, all of the other processors introduce some artefacts. Grass again always looks more natural out of Capture One. As a result Capture One seems to render bokeh smoother, yet retain detail in focused areas, I feel this results in a more filmic look, more natural than the others. Capture One’s editing tools are also fantastic, and its asset management isn’t bad, not as good as Lightroom but pretty comprehensive. Note, there’s a free Capture One Fuji RAW version, it’s quite limited, with only the main global adjustment sliders, but it’ll allow you to see the output quality etc. the only problem I have with Capture One is the price, though they do have deals once or twice a year with good savings for the perceptual licence.
@@MrSamoDude I agree, C1 offers the best Raw file rendering quality if you can tolerate the hight price and the lack of any future point release upgrades if you opt for the perpetual licence...
Great review Andy, it looks OK and maybe will catch up to more fleshed out tools with some time. I am still going to be a Adobe guy, cant help it :) I tried a lot of different Programs but always come back to Adobe. Not only is the photo edition in the LR/PS combination (in my opinion) the best there is, but the extras you are getting with LR/PS Online, Mobile Apps etc. makes it worth the money spend.
Yea same here mate. I think the only reason a lot of people, who went to Capture One after the introduction of subscriptions, don't move back to Adobe is their pride!
@@Andyhutchinson Really? what arrogant piffle! Nothing to do with pride, more everything to do with many photographers not being as well served as others in the monthly finance department!
@@tomfenn7149 Capture One is far more expensive than the Adobe Photography bundle, so if they are not "as well served as others in the monthly finance department" they'd be better off with Adobe. Please explain what part of that is "arrogant piffle" as you so rudely suggest.
Nitro is the perfect for an 8/16GB Mac:
1. Open the app
Photoshop: 2,02GB
Nitro: 0,10GB
2. Open a 24mpx photo (no edits or zoom)
Adobe Camera RAW: 4,08GB
Nitro: 0,14GB
3. Edit a 24mpx photo (sliders editing and 100% zoom)
Camera RAW: 4,90GB
Nitro: 0,26 GB
4. Edit 400 24mpx photos (edited 1 and paste the setting in the rest)
Camera RAW: 10,34GB
Nitro: 4,61GB*
The use of RAM in Nitro is 100% variable. The peak of the last test was 4,61GB, but during the test drops to 2GB and when it's done drops even more. It does not need all the ram all the time. That's a huge advantage!
*The only "drawback" is that it took 4 minutes because Nitro saves the 400 xmps at the moment, so when it's done you can close the app without ask you to save, preventing a crash from losing all your edits
I did the test on my Macbook Air M2 8GB Sonoma 14.5, with a 7 days trial of Nitro 2024.6 (33) and original Adobe Photoshop 2024 25.4 with Adobe Camera RAW 16.1.1.1733
Greetings from Argentina 🇦🇷
I replicated your test.
1. Open the app
Photomator: 147.5Mb
Nitro: 121Mb
2.Open a 29.2Mb .RAF Fuji RAW file
Photomator: 1Gb
Nitro: 2.48Gb
3. Edit a 29.2Mb .RAF Fuji RAW file
Photomator: 1.07Gb
Nitro: 2.52Gb
4. Paste 178 29.2Mb photos
Photomator: 1.8Gb
Nitro: crashed
Photomator took approx 40 seconds to paste all the adjustments.
I'll take Photomator over Nitro any day of the week. Faster, more capable, far superior RAW editor and consumes considerably less RAM.
@@Andyhutchinson I will try Photomator
Wow. Seriously? What a harsh review. You compare a one-man team to a multi-populated global corporation, with millions of $$$ behind it. How much did Adobe pay you? Did they promise a yacht? LOL!
I review the app - not the company. It's all well and good to take the moral high-ground but if doing so means you end up with inferior software, then what's the point? I'm here to ensure that the people who view my videos find out which software is best, they couldn't give a shit who makes it and neither could I - app quality and app price are all that anyone cares about in the real world.
I now go as hard on your review as you went on Nitro - although you're right in most of your critic and missed some even worse acting features. I've seen plenty of seagulls and sunsets, but my photographic world consists of more than that, and for some subjects Nitro isn't worse than anything else. Take C1 and PL: How many years of development - and you can't even search for album names in their DAM part! Nitro isn't as bad for me as it is for you, but I admit, I plan to use it as a tool able to work with my "old", yet still existing (on a 2010 iMac) Aperture libraries. No plans of replacing C1 with Nitro for new photos. And compared to Aperture it has many advantages today, but there's some work to do for this small dev team. However, Nik's mail support is great again compared to what C1 and DxO deliver. The app has some quirks, but so does the competititon as well. And some of it's limitations (not working with more than 1 Photos library at a time) come from Apple, not from Nitro.
Yep - it definitely has some great features in there - it juset seems a little rushed to me and could do with a good 6-12 months of development work to bring up to the same standard as something like Photomator. But the important thing is that it works for you and there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to this stuff, so it's good that you found Nitro :)
I tried it. Nothing special.
No, not yet.