D200 Raw Files

[spinxy]

Hey,

i have just brought my first Digital SLR a complete beginner to photography,

i have set the camera to RAW fine, however when i pug the camera into the computer i have 2 files for every picture, one is a jpeg and the other is a nef file (i think) approx 4 times larger than the jpeg!!!
should i have file's with extension *.raw?!? what have i done wrong or is this normal.

i have also tried opening the nef file in photoshop hopeing this could be the unprocessed file but it won't open it!!

any help much appreciated

 

[JerryPH]

Hey,

i have just brought my first Digital SLR a complete beginner to photography,

i have set the camera to RAW fine, however when i pug the camera into the computer i have 2 files for every picture, one is a jpeg and the other is a nef file (i think) approx 4 times larger than the jpeg!!!
should i have file's with extension *.raw?!? what have i done wrong or is this normal.

i have also tried opening the nef file in photoshop hopeing this could be the unprocessed file but it won't open it!!

any help much appreciated

You have your camera set to do this (RAW+JPG settings). I would suggest that you start out by reading the manual. If you do not have one, it is available from Nikon in PDF format. Download it and read it over a couple of times. You bought yourself a prosumer camera... it is a good idea to know what it can and cannot do.

RAW files can be opened in Photoshop, but you have to use ACR (Adobe Camera RAW). The NEF file *is* Nikon`s implementation of a RAW file. Yes, it is also normal that it is 4 times larger than a JPG file.

 

[Atreus]

NEF = RAW, these are bigger in file size as opposed to jpeg, because simply, it contains more data. the jpeg cuts out what it thinks is "ok" (i think im explaining it right)

in terms of editing, i think photoshop CS3/ adobe raw and that nikoncapture NX or whatever its called can process them. however im sure there is some freeware out there?

one more thing, i hear that a lot of people convert them to TIFF after editing, as it is less lossy than jpeg/png

 

[JerryPH]

Gimp can handle NEF files, but they said that they have photoshop. What version, though?

 

[DigiJay]

IF you don't want to use RAW, at least not yet...
Hold down the QUAL (quality) button and use the main scroll wheel on the back to select the setting you want.
Your options are:
RAW
RAW +JPEG Fine
RAW +JPEG Normal
RAW +JPEG Low (or something like that)
JPEG Fine (I recommend this setting if you won't use RAW files)
JPEG Normal
JPEG Low

 

[spinxy]

cheers for the help, all is clearer now, it was the nef equalling raw that confused me, and the fact i have an old photo shop so it didn't open the file, i'm actually more interested in the raw file as i'm also learning to edit the pictures myself using photoshop!!

 

[Joves]

cheers for the help, all is clearer now, it was the nef equalling raw that confused me, and the fact i have an old photo shop so it didn't open the file, i'm actually more interested in the raw file as i'm also learning to edit the pictures myself using photoshop!!

Depending on which version of PS you have you can get the ACR Plugin at http://www.adobe.com/ . Just type in D200 NEF and, it should put you there.