Nikon d40 NEF vs. JPEG settings

[ponyboy4130]

I have started to mess around with shooting In NEF, (Raw) on my nikon d40 i noticed my raw pictures are not as good looking off the camera right away with the camera in NEF, vs. my very colorful JPEGS, i have messed with the saturation settings an so on, but it doesnt look like it carries over on it when i shoot in raw, should there be visual difference, or am i crazy, im doing some more research, but i thought id start here, all my colors are just kind of boring in raw, maybe its just me.

 

[dEARlEADER]

kinda depends on what you use to upload your pictures....

if you want your NEF's to appear as your JPEG's you must import and view using Nikons ViewNX or CaptureNX..

if you are happy with your jpegs than just shoot jpeg...

if you want to view your NEF like jpeg in another applicaton you must convert using View or CaptureNX..

NEF files are proprietary.... meaning only nikon software can read them with your exact in camera settings.... unless you have higher priced editing software..

Generally speaking...One of the reasons/and drawbacks of shooting RAW is that each series of shots have to be adjusted to your taste off camera....

 

[ponyboy4130]

Im using adobe lightroom, and it recognizes the NEF files, ive been trying to read up on this raw thing to really understand it. But your right, ill shoot JPEG till i get it down.

 

[Syndac]

RAW files need to be processed in lightroom. They wont look as good right off the camera because your presets don't apply to raw files, only jpgs. Think of raw as a digital negative, you can't change it until PP when you create images (jpgs/tiffs) out of them.

 

[dEARlEADER]

FYI - the camera presets do apply to nef(raw) if you use the nikon software... capture or view NX

 

[Mav]

Every RAW converter has its own interpretation of what exactly those in-camera RAW conversion settings should look like. The only way to get your RAWs converted to JPEG exactly how the Nikon in-camera processing would have done it is to use the Nikon software. Otherwise you'll get a different look with the different converters, or will have to work more to get it to look like it would have. You may prefer the different looks that you can get with different converters though. Personally I think Nikon's in-camera JPEG processing is great and it's truly a rare occasion for me to ever bother with RAW shots.

 

[ponyboy4130]

WOW, just what i was looking for, perfect. ell ill keep practicing, i do love the way i have my Jpegs set up, ill just use that, and try to take good pics, thanks guys, is the nikon software expensive? or did it come with my camera, the software i jut disregarded woops