Converting RAW files with Adobe Photoshop 7.0.1?

<p>I shot a set of photos the other day in RAW in hopes of learning how to work with manipulating RAW .NEF files before converting to .jpg</p>

<p>I had assumed that I could do this with Photoshop, however, am not sure because when I tried to open the images it said it couldn't find the file format...</p>

<p>Any help or guidance is MUCH appreciated!</p>

<p>Thank you,<br>

Cole </p>

<p>Which camera model do you use Cole?</p>

<p>what camera? something new in the last 5 years?</p>

<p>there is no one universal raw format but rather every single model of camera is different and has to be explicitly supported. Adobe doesn't do that for old versions of PS so if you have a new-ish camera, you're not going to get PS to deal with it. You need to use the Adobe DNG converter or some Nikon s/w like ViewNX or something else.</p>

<p>Version 7.0.1 of Photoshop only supported version 1.x of Adobe Camera RAW and according to at least one post here on photo.net you had to pay for it:</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00LrrN</p>

<p>Your best solution would be to use the RAW conversion software that came with your Nikon camera.</p>

<p>edit: ah yes, it was $100 at the time:<br>

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0302/03021904adoberawplugin.asp</p>

<p>To all that have inquired....Nikon D300.</p>

<p>As others have pointed out, PS 7 isn't going to open D300 Raw files. Your camera should have come with View NX which will open and convert the D300 Raw files. Current versions of PS, Lightroom, Aperture and more will all support the D300.</p>

 

<p>Mike,<br>

I bought the D300 used so it didn't come with View NX, however, I do have it from when I bought my D40. I know that I can convert from RAW to JPG in View NX but can I manipulate the RAW files, such as changing white balance etc...?</p>

<p>I had assumed that the point of shooting in RAW was to be able to alter the images while still in RAW BEFORE converting to JPG, is this not correct?</p>

<p>I am a totally noobie in terms of post processing so I need all the help I can get...</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>you can download the latest version of ViewNX from nikonusa.com<br>

It has some basic raw-ish adjustments you can do but it's not overly advanced like PS or CaptureNX.</p>

<p>Nikon view NX is not really a Raw Processor: it can open NEF files and save them as Tiff or jpeg with white balance and exposure compensation adjustments. But you need Nikon Capture NX2 to do complete processing of NEF files or other such as Adobe Lightroom2, Photoshop CS3-CS4, Aperture (Mac).<br>

I process my NEF files with Nikon Capture NX2 (version 2.2.0) and save them as 16 bit tiff for further processing in Photoshop CS4 if needed (special effects I can't do in NX2 for example).</p>

 

<p>I'm not going to claim any particular expertise with ViewNX but it certainly seems at least as advanced as ACR in terms of Raw conversion? It offers White Balance, Sharpness, and more (including curves). It certainly isn't Lightroom, Aperture, of Capture NX, but it's nothing to sneeze at- especially considering the price! </p>

<p>Cole, have you explored the ViewNX interface? My default, along the left side, has folders, metadata, and quick adjustments. Clicking on the quick adjustments tab will give you several post-processing options including changing the white-balance. Going to File > Launch Picture Control Utility (on a Mac anyway) will bring up the custom curves dialog box (and more).</p>

 

<p>Hey, Cole....You might want to take a look at a freeware utility called rawtherapee. It's a stand-alone RAW converter that offers far more features than ViewNX. I don't know how it stacks up against the latest versions of Lightroom or Photoshop, but it does a lot -- and it's free.</p>

<p>the nice thing about NX is that it takes a lot less work to get a jpg-esque quality version from it since it knows how to fully decode a .nef whereas all the rest have varying amounts of .nef reverse engineering success.</p>

<p>Another possibility is to update to either a newer version of Photoshop, or maybe Photoshop Elements or Lightroom. Just make sure you get one that works with D300 RAW files. Elements 7 definitely will, and is available for $78.99 right now from Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-65026616-Photoshop-Elements-7/dp/B001DMBWXS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1241526224&sr=8-1</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone for your help. Last night I was able to discover the "quick adjustments" tab in ViewNX.</p>

<p>So it seems like from all that I have read that shooting in RAW doesn't give you better image quality per se but just more options for saving an image in which exposure or white balance wasn't perfect?</p>

<p>Joe:<br>

Shooting RAW gives you indisputably better image quality for a whole bunch of reasons, for starters because JPGs are always compressed by the camera, while you can choose between uncompressed or "lossless" compressed RAW. <br /> Just take a look at their respective file sizes to realize how many pixels JPG "throws away". Furthermore, with RAW you can recover lost highlights, open up shadows, adjust exposure (up to ± 4 EV with ACR, ±2 EV with most other programs) change color balance and mode, adjust sharpening and a whole lot of other things that are impossible with JPG. <br /> Also, my suggestion would be to save processed files to TIFF rather than JPG, because every time you open and save a JPG file it throws more pixels away through compression. This is so progressive that after only 3 or 4 times re-saving a JPG file, deterioration <strong>will </strong> become visible to the naked eye.<br /> I disagree with a previous poster that View NX is "not really" a RAW converter, because it is and quite a good one at that, even if the interface - in good Nikon tradition - is really bad.<br /> If you want more advanced conversion options you might indeed want to check out RAW Therapee or Picasa while Elements 7 in combination with the latest ACR plugin (currently 5.5) would also open both your D300 and D40 RAWs.<br>

I've done 2 articles on RAW converters which you might be interested in:<strong><br /> Nikon View:</strong> http://blog.gerardprins.com/blog2.php/2009/06/04/let-s-stick-it-to-adobe-3-raw-alternativ<br /> <strong>The "best" RAW converter</strong> : http://blog.gerardprins.com/blog2.php/2009/09/07/raw-converter-acr-phaseone-nikon-compare<br>

Hope this helps,<br /> Gerard</p>

<p>I did an article on JPG vs. RAW, 8 bit vs. 16 bit and sRGB vs. ProPhoto that might be helpful: http://blog.gerardprins.com/blog2.php/2010/06/27/jpg-vs-raw-8bits-vs-16bits-srgb-vs-widegamut-rgb-which-to-choose-when-and-why</p>