Nikon photographers who want to get the best results out of their NEF images can now update their Capture NX software to 1.3. The company yesterday made available for download Capture NX 1.3 for both Windows and Mac operating systems.

As expected, the new version supports Nikon's latest professional D3 and D300 digital single lens reflex cameras, but v1.3 has some additional features. A Picture Control item has been added to Camera Adjustments in the Base Adjustments and the Color Mode, Tone Compensation, Saturation and Sharpening items have been moved to the new Picture Control item.

An Active D-Lighting item has been added to RAW adjustments in the Base Adjustments and Sodium Vapor Lamps and High Temperature Mercury Vapor (7200K) settings have been also included.

RAW images can now be saved with lossless compression and if you have lossless-compressed RAW files you can save them as lossless-compressed RAW. This feature only works with Nikon digital-SLR cameras. The Vignette Control function, which was previously for use only with RAW images, is now supported with JPEG and TIFF images, again only for Nikon digital-SLR cameras.

Capture NX 1.3 also allows fisheye images captured with the AF Fisheye-Nikkor 16mm f/2.8D to be modified in the Lens Adjustments menu in Base Adjustments. Also, features for editing RAW images - previously available in the Camera Settings palette - have been eliminated.

Keep in mind that this is an update. You need to have installed a previous version. However, if you have pre-ordered a D300 or D3, you will not need to purchase Capture NX as the two models come with a product key. Later on, Nikon will ship the two cameras with a CD-ROM with the application, so you won't need to download it anymore.

One of the major gripes Nikon users have had with previous Capture NX software is the sluggishness exhibited by the application in processing the data. There are some rumors that v1.3 works faster, but Nikon doesn't say anything about the problem.

Nikon Capture 1.3 has been certified by Softpedia as being 100% CLEAN and is available for Windows download here and for Mac download here.