Nikon D80.. (.NEF plug-in and other stuff...)

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:30:15 -0400, maya wrote:


thank you all very much for your responses.. so I guess bottom line is
I need to try Lightroom, Picture Project, or some other imaging sw of
that sort..

No, you don't. ACR, properly installed, will do what you want.

I have been using PS exclusively as an image-processing
program for about 12 years now, and I'm not sure how easily I would
"adapt" to some other programs, but am definitely looking into it (yes,
I do know image processing quite well...) I already have Lightroom
installed, and have been slowly delving into it.. it's so different from
what I'm used to (you can't just OPEN images, you have to import them..
etc.. I hate the levels thing in Lightroom.. and for some odd reason
am having a hard time with 'undo' function, history feature doesn't work
like in Photoshop..)

so you don't need to set White-Balance with RAW format (how does camera
know what lighting situation you're in? particularly indoor lighting?)
and what other advantages are there to shooting RAW? b/c the images are
very large and well, this thing that I can't open them with Photoshop is
a bit of a pain... (one poster suggested recording to "Adobe RGB", but
I can't find where you set this in menu..)

thank you very much....


DoN. Nichols wrote:
According to gowanoh :
1. Autofocus is the same regardless of shooting mode (P,M, A, S etc.).
However it is easy to misunderstand how to use the multiple autofocus
controls or to accidentally change them. Some lenses also have to be set
correctly.

One thing to look for on this matter is that the D80 (if it is
like the D70 which I have) *does* change AF mode between Auto and
Program. In particular, in Auto mode it selects the zone over the
closest part of the area being photographed. In Program mode, however,
depending on menu selections, it will either do the same auto-select, or
it will simply keep the same zone as last used. In the D70, it is
Menu selection 03 in the menu with the pencil icon and is called "

"AF-area mode"

which has the following selections:

1) Single Area
2) Dynamic Area
3) Closest Subject

The D70 has five zones -- arranged like this (use a fixed pitch font to
avoid distortion):


[ ]

[ ] [ ] [ ]

[ ]

and it can be moved around by the "poker chip" control -- unless you
have the switch below it labeled "L" set to the "L" position. This
means that bumping the poker chip will move the zone, and you need to
look into the viewfinder (after half-pressing the shutter relase) to see
which zone it is in. If it happens to be on a zone away from your
subject of interest, it will focus incorrectly. Whenever you
half-press the shutter release, the selected zone should flash red for a
moment -- perhaps depending on some menu settings which I haven't
re-visited since the camera was new. :-)

Note that the D80 may have more zones (since it is a newer
camera, but the basic principle should remain the same.

Good Luck,
DoN.

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 06:09:34 GMT, Paul Furman
wrote:

maya wrote:

thank you all very much for your responses.. so I guess bottom line is
I need to try Lightroom, Picture Project, or some other imaging sw of
that sort.. I have been using PS exclusively as an image-processing
program for about 12 years now, and I'm not sure how easily I would
"adapt" to some other programs, but am definitely looking into it (yes,
I do know image processing quite well...) I already have Lightroom
installed, and have been slowly delving into it.. it's so different from
what I'm used to (you can't just OPEN images, you have to import them..
etc.. I hate the levels thing in Lightroom.. and for some odd reason
am having a hard time with 'undo' function, history feature doesn't work
like in Photoshop..)

You said you've ordered CS3, that'll work.

And so will CS2 with ACR set up correctly. CS3 does have other
benefits though. The latest ACR for CS3 is greatly improved and has
many more features.


I open raw D200 files with
CS3 but it takes some fiddling with versions & DNG conversions, anyways
you are all set with CS3.

so you don't need to set White-Balance with RAW format (how does camera
know what lighting situation you're in? particularly indoor lighting?)
and what other advantages are there to shooting RAW?

White balance is easily changed with raw files, but you can do a custom
white balance on the D200 pretty easy with a little study of the manual
shooting a white card. The auto WB is pretty good and if not raw files
make it easy to apply a new WB to a whole set of images.

b/c the images are
very large and well, this thing that I can't open them with Photoshop is
a bit of a pain... (one poster suggested recording to "Adobe RGB", but
I can't find where you set this in menu..)

Again, this doesn't matter with raw files. Download a pdf version of the
manual so you can search by keyword. It's called color mode as I recall.

On 2007-08-07 17:19:30 -0400, maya said:

the_niner_nation wrote:
"maya" wrote in message ...
the_niner_nation wrote:
"maya" wrote in message ...
first of all, I don't know if everyone who was hanging out here last
February is still here, but I want to thank everyone who helped me with
my new Nikon D80 when I was in India last February.. I had been on a
Nikon F2AS for about 30 years, so transition to digital has been a bit
challenging, to say the least... I have lots of questions about the
D80, have been putting together a list (example: why does camera have a
hard time focusing when I switch to P shooting mode? (which I need to
do sometimes when I need to do exposure compensation... why does
exposure compensation work only in P mode? why can't I set White
Balance in most modes? don't remember which ones right now (am at
work, don't have camera with me now), but in most shooting modes White
Balance is grayed out in menu..)

main question I have now is: Photoshop CS2 won't open RAW (.NEF)
files.. even after I installed plug-in
(http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...01&fileID=2537)
followed instructions in PDF, put plug-in in right place...

as promised back in February, my photos can be seen here,
www.francesdelrio.com (although STILL have not posted all photos from
India trip.. I just purchased a new machine, and just ordered my copy
of PS.. was not able to do much PS-stuff on old machine..)
http://www.francesdelrio.com/

thank you very much...

get a canon eos 400d ;-)
oh really? so Photoshop cannot open photos taken in format RAW with a
Nikon camera??????...





as far as i know, my neighbour has a nikon d80 and his adobe raw has
no problems opening the nef files...im not sure, but maybe you need the
adobe raw plug-in for it to work with cs2?

did you upload any of your india pics when you visited? love to see
them..i went this february..amazing place to take pictures.

yes, I did, as I mention in my OP.. www.francesdelrio.com... you also
went in February? what part(s) of India did you visit?

some of my India-photos didn't come out too good (too dark, not in
focus, etc.. since I was literally inaugurating the camera when I was
there and had never used a digital camera before.. so had to do a lot
fo adj's in Photoshop..)

as far as plug-in for .NEF: I did install plug-in at Adobe
(http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...01&fileID=2537)
I

followed instructions in .pdf that comes with the plug-in, but .NEF
photos still won't open....

well, am at work, at home don't have PS yet, as am on brand-new
machine, ordered CS3 today, I hope this will solve problem (or it could
make it worse.....

thank you...

Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw supports every NEF format I have run across.
I now people who use the D80 and Photoshop CS and CS2. Something is
very wrong here. Windows or Mac? Sounds like its time to send a tech
support request to Adobe. Mac I can help with, perhaps not Windows.


--
Jim