For ease of use I repost further investigations I originally post[ed] on photo-i:
Since Capture NX's UI is much more complicated than called for - ATM I am working on a LightZone review, a program with a very similar concept, which is much easier to learn - there will be more points to report on. Let's use this thread for any questions coming up.
1. I was not going into batch possibilities, simply because the program is already quite slow. Another major drawback on batching is the impossibility to process a large number of images with individual settings á la RAW Shooter. In Capture NX you have to define a settings file for batching, then you point NX to a directory containing suitable files, tell the program where to save the results, and off you go. This works well for studio photography with the ssame lighting but different objects, it does not work at all with landscape, evernt or journalistic photogrpahy.
2. If you have a batch of photos for which you know the white balance (or any other parameter) but other factors will definitely be different, you can save any setting in the stack to recall it later. This - the stack metaphor and the save feature - is very good.
Stacking settings gives very high flexibility, you can instantly compare how the picture looks with a setting applied or not (they are checkable), and how the interact with each other.
3. Tying into the comparison by checking or unchecking is a well hidden versioning: in the bottom bar of the stack palette are two icons, one is two interacting cogs, the other a flag. The cogs have now been recognised universally as a symbol for batching [although I have no idea why]. The flag is one of the poorest decisions taken by the UI designers of NX, it stands for versioning.
A very good feature in itself, it is not as good implemented as RAW Shooter did it; with RS you created tabs easily switchable, NX wants you to choose any saved version from a menu under the flag. Not to mention that creating a version in RS is just a simple click, in NX you have to find the right icon and use its menu.