I don't shoot birds. Everyone knows that. It's even specified in my Ministry of Mayhem photographer's contract that I'm not to do so, along with dogs and kids. And yet when someone asked me if I'd shoot their Conure for Christmas and do it up in metal as a present to their daughter, I said yes.

Madame P raised an eyebrow when I told her what our assignment was, but the Ministry is seriously in arrears on our salaries, so I figure they owe the two of us a little latitude in what we do.

Besides, it's Christmas, and there are bills to pay! Martian may yell at me, but he knows better than to scold Madame P. She doesn't deal well with being chastised. She gets angry. And no one wants that. Bad things happen.

So bring on the dogs, birds, and even *gulp* kids. At least until the Ministry pays up. And anyway, if the kids get too unruly, Madame P can always make her award-winning Baked Stuffed Children for Christmas dinner.

Yum!

Sone things to consider.

(1) if you shoot RAW format, (Nikon NEF format) you need to know that there are differences between RAW converters. I.e., differences between Adobe, Phase1, DXO, Rawtherapee, others, and also manuf software renderings. In theory the Nikon software would provide the highest fidelity converter for NEFs, yield the most accurate color, sharpness, and conversions, with the fewest artifacts. Canon the best for Canon RAW, Fuji for Fuji, etc. In practice the differences are subtle, you may not even see them, or you may find that you can see them and you prefer one RAW converter over the other. You should do your own comparisons. If you shoot JPEG format none of this will matter.

(2) Nikon software will provide post processing options for Nikon in-camera functions like picture control and in camera distortion correction, and Nikon camera white balance. In other words you can adjust these things after you shoot with RAW format, using the Nikon software. Note, You can do a custom white balance adj in aftermarket software too but you won't have the Nikon presets. This is a minor point but worth knowing. If you shoot JPEG format this will not matter.

(3) Camera manufacturers software can be clunky, slow, and and crash prone and Nikon software does nothing to change this trend.

(4) Nikon software is economical, the price is $0.00.

(5) Nikon does not make their living selling software, aftermarket companies do.

(6) Aftermarket programs can do a better job of cataloging and facilitating a "workflow". This can save time.

(7) Nikon software will only work for Nikon cameras. Aftermarket software works for multiple brands. Do you have phone cameras and would you like like to use your processing and cataloging software for them too?

All programs have learning curves. But if you shoot a lot of pictures an aftermarket program will ultimately save time. If you want the highest fidelity rendering for NEFs then you might want to suffer the manufs software, or at least use it for the initial rendering. So you may end up with more than one software in that workflow.

So it really depends on your end uses and preferences.