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Problems with Nikon D100

  • Thread starter Thread starter clarktm
  • Start date Start date
I see everyone says to shoot everything in RAW. Can raw be downloaded directly in NikonView and then used in PS Element 2 or do I have to convert it by using Nikon Capture etc. I am a little confused at this point. I understand that raw maintains all of the data when shooting but what about after that. Thanks in advance

Mike
 
Mike, raw or NEF (Nikon Electronic Format) is your digital equivalent of negatives. You can download from the the card (or camera if you want to look at it that way) using a variety of programs, I use ACDSEE for that simply because it's fastest, but yes Nikonview can be used and according to Nikon is the preferred method. (at a hundred dollars a pop for the [Capture] software, I'll bet it is). You can at that point use any program that is capable of using the raw plugin, such as Photoshop 7, CS, but I'm not sure about Elements 2. What you would normally want to do is, edit the nef file in capture then convert it to tiff or *.psd and edit that with photoshop or the other adobe programs. If memory serves me though, if you try to edit a tiff, some of the functions are grayed out. One point to add, the original nef file is not changed, even if you edit it with Nikon Capture, unless you save the changes you made WITH Capture. Even if you save the changes with capture, you still have the option to cancel changes at any point and time and revert back to what the camera recorded. (nifty, huh?)

There is very little to do with a "normal" photo once you have made all the corrections to it in capture. At that point I'll save it as a jpeg or tiff depending on which printer it's going to.
If you know that you are going to be doing any extensive editing to the print, then I would save it in *.psd format and use photoshop on it. Doing the editing the two ways I just described keeps the quality as high as possible.

The Nikon nef file stays on your drive as a nef file, you have essentially made a copy of it and converted that copy to what ever format you choose to save it in, when you choose the save as function in Capture. Now if you edit in a program that supports the nef format, then basically the same thing happens, a second file is created (your save as format) and saved as what ever you choose. Nef is a proprietary format from Nikon, that can not be changed by other programs. I know this explanation is not crystal clear, but I think it gets the point across.
 
Hi Mike

once your computer reads the Flash Card or the photos are downloaded to your hard drive, you can click on any picture to open it up in viewer. If you have Capture 4.1 then you can open the photo and play with the settings in capture. I tend to use the sharpen control and send the RAW file into Photoshop 7.1 as a 16 bit. I have printed beautiful 13x19 prints and I have to admit they are sharper and as equal as scanning film negatives with a Nikon ED4000 scanner.
I am pleased with results.. RAW is the way to go if printing is your objective.

Alan Russell
 
Alan, if you want a real charge out of your prints try this. Shutterfly.com Make all the tweaks you are going to make on the print in Capture and save it as a jpeg to your desktop. Don't do anything else with this file at all. One save from Capture to desktop, with me? Oh, make sure that in the Capture save as box, you have the highest, excellent quality, highlighted. Create an account with shutterfly (free) upload to a album you create. Choose enhance fix. Choose crop> custom crop. Make sure the box is on the FULL frame. Choose enhance/fix. Check the do not use vivid pix. (you have made all of the corrections in capture)
Pick whatever border suits you and print an 8 x 10 ($3.99) Check out and it'll be in the mail soon , whatever method you choose. I think you'll see what those raw files are REALLY capable of. You could do the same thing at a local lab, but these guys are inexpensive, $20 for a 20 x 30 print, no way any local lab can do that. You won't be disappointed.

b
 
I do this all the time but, oh one more thing, make SURE your monitor is calibrated, what you send them is what you will get back!!
 
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