Nikon raw (*.nef) support?

It is alleged that C J Campbell claimed:

Nikon uses a different raw format for every camera they make. You will
have to wait for ACDSee and Paint Shop to release updates for the D40x,
which is still a relatively new camera. Adobe and Apple just released
their updates not very long ago. I doubt that ACDSee or Paint Shop are
far behind.

I'd probably have to purchase an upgrade for ACDSee to see it (I've got
v8.1 and current is 9.x). After trying out PSP XI, I hate its
interface, I'll stick with the now-unsupported v7.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

Peter's Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord, #63.
Bulk trash will be disposed of in incinerators, not compactors. And
they will be kept hot, with none of that nonsense about flames going
through accessible tunnels at predictable intervals.

It is alleged that Jim claimed:

In the short term, Picture Project (while not the best software in the
world) is included with your camera, and I believe should read the raw
nef files and of course convert them. The other thing.. how about
PhotoShop Elements.... 1/6 the price of CS and 98% or what you need for
photo editing including support for Adobe Raw.

I thought I said that Elements is out of my price range right now.
Buying this camera kit (body and two lenses) just sucked dry my "fun
money" budget for the rest of the year.

I will no doubt incur some wrath for this, but Nikons Capture NX is not

Elements is out of my price range at $100, Capture NX at $150 is even
more so.

Thanks anyway.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

"After that, maybe I'll try pacing fro and to, just for the kick of
it." (Lt. Cmdr. Ivanova, B5 "Believers")

On 2007-06-28 03:26:24 +0200, Jeffrey Kaplan said:

Pre-emptively for the record, Photoshop is out
of my price range, including (at least for now precisely because I just
bought this camera...) Elements.

Just download it on P2P.
--
F. Misto

On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:30:30 -0400, "Don F"
wrote:

Jim wrote in message ...
On 2007-06-27 21:26:24 -0400, Jeffrey Kaplan said:

snip
In the short term, Picture Project (while not the best software in the
world) is included with your camera, and I believe should read the raw nef
files and of course convert them. The other thing.. how about PhotoShop
Elements.... 1/6 the price of CS and 98% or what you need for photo
editing including support for Adobe Raw.

I will no doubt incur some wrath for this, but Nikons Capture NX is not a
bad peice of software at all. I use the older version for some Raw
conversion because I find it produces results nearly as good as Adobe with
less effort. And it saves the changes as a delta in the NEF, so I can
always "go back".


--
Jim
I found that the raw converters in both Nikon Capture 4.4 and Capture NX
provided a better sharpening process than Photoshop 7 or Elements 5. I
understand that there are complex multi-pass sharpening processes that would
probably result in optimized sharpening but I am talking about the "simple"
use of the sharpening tool options.

The sharpening in ACR 4.1 is vastly improved and it works with
Elements 5.

I also have Elements 5 which is a neat editing program with an exceptional
image file organizer.

At least as good as Lightroom's. Many people who had been using
Elements Organizer as a manager for Photoshop CS2 (myself included)
were a bit disappointed that Lightroom didn't do more.

I agree with you that NX is a nice piece of software. The U point
technology is great tool.
I tried the 30 trial version and bought the retail version when the time
expired. There is a learning curve but it is fairly intuitive overall. I
am producing excellent quality images with NX so that is what I will stick
with for now.
What I found unusual is that NX came with a printed manual, not only in
English but in Spanish.
NX is certainly not a substitute for the expensive Photoshop software but
either Elements 5.0 or Capture NX are good alternatives for those who do not
want to learn the professional software editing processes.
Don F

On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:26:32 -0400, Jeffrey Kaplan
wrote:

It is alleged that Jim claimed:

In the short term, Picture Project (while not the best software in the
world) is included with your camera, and I believe should read the raw
nef files and of course convert them. The other thing.. how about
PhotoShop Elements.... 1/6 the price of CS and 98% or what you need for
photo editing including support for Adobe Raw.

I thought I said that Elements is out of my price range right now.
Buying this camera kit (body and two lenses) just sucked dry my "fun
money" budget for the rest of the year.

I will no doubt incur some wrath for this, but Nikons Capture NX is not

Elements is out of my price range at $100, Capture NX at $150 is even
more so.

If you shop Ebay or qualify for academic pricing, Elements 5 is well
under $100.

Thanks anyway.

It is alleged that Fritto Misto claimed:

On 2007-06-28 03:26:24 +0200, Jeffrey Kaplan said:

Pre-emptively for the record, Photoshop is out
of my price range, including (at least for now precisely because I just
bought this camera...) Elements.

Just download it on P2P.

Just drive that new car off the lot too, while you're stealing things.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

Peter's Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord, #38.
If an enemy I have just killed has a younger sibling or offspring
anywhere, I will find them and have them killed immediately, instead of
waiting for them to grow up harboring feelings of vengeance towards me
in my old age.

Matt Clara wrote:
"Warren Block" wrote in message
...
Jeffrey Kaplan wrote:
My brand new Nikon D40x is my first DSLR, and also the first digicam
I've used that can output files in "raw". I think I know now what that
means, but I'm having problems actually using them.

My camera has two "raw" modes, plain raw and "raw+basic". I took the
same picture in each, then transferred the image files to my Windows XP
Pro system's hard drive.

"Raw" records just the raw (.nef) file. "Raw+Basic" produces both the
.nef and a .jpg. It takes more space but can be more convenient.
Having the camera do the JPEG conversion may produce better JPEGs than
an external program.

ACDSee Photo Manager 8 and Paint Shop Pro Photo XI both claim to
support Nikon RAW files, but neither one can open the ones I have. What
are my other options? Pre-emptively for the record, Photoshop is out
of my price range, including (at least for now precisely because I just
bought this camera...) Elements.

Windows stuff... don't know. Although there's UFRaw:


He obviously needs updated software that can handle the newer D40x
files--same thing is true of macs and linux, not just windows.

I don't see how you got there from what I said. In any case, let me be
more explicit:

I don't use Windows for photography, so I don't know what to recommend
other than UFRaw, which is an open-source raw converter that runs on
various platforms including Windows. It's free, so it's worth trying to
see if the "D40" listed in compatible cameras means only the D40 or
D40/D40x. Lacking a D40x or a raw file from one, I am unable to test
this myself.

--
Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA

"Jeffrey Kaplan" wrote in message
...
snip
Elements is out of my price range at $100, Capture NX at $150 is even
more so.

Thanks anyway.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol
-------------
I bought my copy of Elements 5.0 from my *local* Staples store for $89.95
(USD). It went on sale the following week for $59.95. Look for sales.
BTW I paid $129.95 from B&H for Capture NX.
They both have a 30 day trial period. That is 60 days of editing time
free to give time to restore you cash flow and to sample two good editors.
Don F

It is alleged that Don F claimed:

I bought my copy of Elements 5.0 from my *local* Staples store for $89.95
(USD). It went on sale the following week for $59.95. Look for sales.
BTW I paid $129.95 from B&H for Capture NX.
They both have a 30 day trial period. That is 60 days of editing time
free to give time to restore you cash flow and to sample two good editors.

Noted, but my budget just got even tighter, as my computer's video just
started going squirrelly, I'm maybe looking at needing to replace a
monitor or the video card and I don't yet know which, if either. So
there will be no non-essential software purchases for quite some time.


--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

"If you are going to kill me, then do so. Otherwise I have
considerable work to do." (Lennier, B5 "Points of Departure")

According to Jeffrey Kaplan :

[ ... ]

Noted, but my budget just got even tighter, as my computer's video just
started going squirrelly, I'm maybe looking at needing to replace a
monitor or the video card and I don't yet know which, if either. So
there will be no non-essential software purchases for quite some time.


First off (especially if there is a lot of noise on the screen)
check the connections from the monitor to the graphics card. Unplug and
replug a few time in a row to scrub off oxide films. Check whether
there is another connector at the monitor end as well, and repeat with
that. This could save you some money at least. If this makes a
difference, try getting a good contact cleaner spray, unplug the
connectors and spray the pins, then repeat the plug/unplug cycle as
before.

And remember -- some of the suggestions you have received are
free software, which are certainly worth investigating.

Good Luck,
DoN.

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