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Nikon RAW Beginner's Question / Dilemma
I'm looking to finally make the move from 35 mm to a digital SLR
(probably the Nikon D70).
I want relatively immediate good prints AND the ability to play around
with the RAWs in Nikon Capture and/or the Photoshop CS RAW plugin.
Unfortunately, the D70 only allows for simultaneous RAW / "basic" JPEG settings
(which I've seen and note are overly compressed). If the D70 made simultaneous
RAW / "fine" JPEGs, I wouldn't have a problem.
I have very little experience and skills in using Nikon Capture and
Photoshop CS's RAW plug-in...that will take me a long time to acquire. Is
there any RAW editing software that has "presets" (portrait, landscape, vivid,
etc.) that would allow me to do a decent (although not perfect) job initially
until I pick up editing skills later on? Perhaps there is software that would
approximately equal the D70's algorithmic presets for making jpegs (in
portrait, landscape, vivid, etc.)?? Thanks for any advice.

On 12 Jan 2005 17:46:51 GMT, (Xtx99) wrote:

>Nikon RAW Beginner's Question / Dilemma
> I'm looking to finally make the move from 35 mm to a digital SLR
>(probably the Nikon D70).

Good choice.

> I want relatively immediate good prints AND the ability to play around
>with the RAWs in Nikon Capture and/or the Photoshop CS RAW plugin.
>Unfortunately, the D70 only allows for simultaneous RAW / "basic" JPEG settings
>(which I've seen and note are overly compressed).

Yes, they are great for quickly previewing (identifying which NEF file
you should be editing basically) but not good enough to make a print
from.

> If the D70 made simultaneous
>RAW / "fine" JPEGs, I wouldn't have a problem.

This should be fixed in the hacked firmware.

> I have very little experience and skills in using Nikon Capture and
>Photoshop CS's RAW plug-in...that will take me a long time to acquire. Is
>there any RAW editing software that has "presets" (portrait, landscape, vivid,
>etc.) that would allow me to do a decent (although not perfect) job initially
>until I pick up editing skills later on? Perhaps there is software that would
>approximately equal the D70's algorithmic presets for making jpegs (in
>portrait, landscape, vivid, etc.)?? Thanks for any advice.

I don't have any experience of that sort of software, but what I did
(and recommend you do) is shoot Fine JPEG until you've got your RAW
workflow sorted out.

--
Owamanga!

On 12 Jan 2005 17:46:51 GMT, in rec.photo.digital
(Xtx99) wrote:
> I have very little experience and skills in using Nikon Capture and
>Photoshop CS's RAW plug-in...that will take me a long time to acquire. Is
>there any RAW editing software that has "presets" (portrait, landscape, vivid,
>etc.) that would allow me to do a decent (although not perfect) job initially
>until I pick up editing skills later on? Perhaps there is software that would
>approximately equal the D70's algorithmic presets for making jpegs (in
>portrait, landscape, vivid, etc.)?? Thanks for any advice.

All the raw processing software allows for quick processing using the
camera settings as they were enabled at the time of the shot. I
believe you could use Capture to process batches of photos this way.
__________________________________________________ ______
Ed Ruf Lifetime AMA# 344007 ()
See images taken with my CP-990/5700 & D70 at
http://EdwardGRuf.com

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 13:20:12 -0500, Ed Ruf <>
wrote:

>On 12 Jan 2005 17:46:51 GMT, in rec.photo.digital
>(Xtx99) wrote:
>> I have very little experience and skills in using Nikon Capture and
>>Photoshop CS's RAW plug-in...that will take me a long time to acquire. Is
>>there any RAW editing software that has "presets" (portrait, landscape, vivid,
>>etc.) that would allow me to do a decent (although not perfect) job initially
>>until I pick up editing skills later on? Perhaps there is software that would
>>approximately equal the D70's algorithmic presets for making jpegs (in
>>portrait, landscape, vivid, etc.)?? Thanks for any advice.
>
>All the raw processing software allows for quick processing using the
>camera settings as they were enabled at the time of the shot. I
>believe you could use Capture to process batches of photos this way.

Eh?

I use the Photoshop plugin, and there is nothing quick about going
through 130 NEF's and saving them as JPEGs. (I guess that's a plugin
rather than software, but anyway). Yes the camera settings are the
default ones, but you still need to manually adjust shadow/exposure to
your preference, no presets or 'auto' button available there.

I did play with a DOS program that can batch convert NEF to JPEG, but
it won't do auto levels or presets like the OP wants.

I think it was this one, DCRAW:

http://www.insflug.org/raw/

--
Owamanga!

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 18:51:08 GMT, in rec.photo.digital Owamanga
<> wrote:

>Eh?
>
>I use the Photoshop plugin, and there is nothing quick about going
>through 130 NEF's and saving them as JPEGs. (I guess that's a plugin
>rather than software, but anyway). Yes the camera settings are the
>default ones, but you still need to manually adjust shadow/exposure to
>your preference, no presets or 'auto' button available there.
>
>I did play with a DOS program that can batch convert NEF to JPEG, but
>it won't do auto levels or presets like the OP wants.


I read/"If the D70 made simultaneous
RAW / "fine" JPEGs, I wouldn't have a problem."
The end result of what I suggested is just this, no?
__________________________________________________ ______
Ed Ruf Lifetime AMA# 344007 ()
See images taken with my CP-990/5700 & D70 at
http://EdwardGRuf.com

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 14:18:40 -0500, Ed Ruf <>
wrote:

>On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 18:51:08 GMT, in rec.photo.digital Owamanga
><> wrote:
>
>>Eh?
>>
>>I use the Photoshop plugin, and there is nothing quick about going
>>through 130 NEF's and saving them as JPEGs. (I guess that's a plugin
>>rather than software, but anyway). Yes the camera settings are the
>>default ones, but you still need to manually adjust shadow/exposure to
>>your preference, no presets or 'auto' button available there.
>>
>>I did play with a DOS program that can batch convert NEF to JPEG, but
>>it won't do auto levels or presets like the OP wants.
>
>
>I read/"If the D70 made simultaneous
>RAW / "fine" JPEGs, I wouldn't have a problem."
>The end result of what I suggested is just this, no?

Yes.

I was just questioning the 'quick' part, but if you are correct, and
Nikons Capture software can do bulk unattended conversion from NEF to
Fine JPEG, then speed really isn't an issue.

I know I can't do this with Photoshop and the PS RAW importer.

--
Owamanga!

We do have a D70 and a D100, using them mostly for professional sports
photos an horse portraits.

Two wall calenders were made from the pictures.

This said, note that we did not (yet) use RAW but just the best JPG
quality available.

If you don't to much editing, IMHO there is not much point in using RAW.
We do very few editing, just cropping is usual.

I do intend to switch to shooting RAW some day, as I do see that the
color dynamic is greater (3*12 Bit instead of 3*8 Bit).

My intended work flow then is to convert the RAW files to 16 bit JP2
with a compression rate according to the ISO value the picture was taken
with. This will reduce the file size greatly, will not do considerable
damage to the picture details and preserve the color dynamic.

I use Thumbs Plus 2000 as a picture database. Same can load NEF and can
load and save JP2 (and many commonly used picture formats).

-Michael

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 19:32:19 GMT, in rec.photo.digital Owamanga
<> wrote:

>On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 14:18:40 -0500, Ed Ruf <>
>wrote:

>>I read/"If the D70 made simultaneous
>>RAW / "fine" JPEGs, I wouldn't have a problem."
>>The end result of what I suggested is just this, no?
>
>Yes.
>
>I was just questioning the 'quick' part, but if you are correct, and
>Nikons Capture software can do bulk unattended conversion from NEF to
>Fine JPEG, then speed really isn't an issue.

Just checked and in batch mode you have the option to use:

1. the current settings in Capture
2. the settings in the file (camera's as shot setup)
3. any saved setting files for Capture you have.
----------
Ed Ruf Lifetime AMA# 344007 ()
See images taken with my CP-990/5700 & D70 at
http://edwardgruf.com/Digital_Photog...ral/index.html

"Xtx99" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Nikon RAW Beginner's Question / Dilemma
> I'm looking to finally make the move from 35 mm to a digital SLR
> (probably the Nikon D70).
> I want relatively immediate good prints AND the ability to play
around
> with the RAWs in Nikon Capture and/or the Photoshop CS RAW plugin.
> Unfortunately, the D70 only allows for simultaneous RAW / "basic" JPEG
settings
> (which I've seen and note are overly compressed). If the D70 made
simultaneous
> RAW / "fine" JPEGs, I wouldn't have a problem.

Just use the RAW picture files and get Polyview, which prints directly from
them in batches. Actually, so does Picture Project, which is included with
the camera, but Polyview is much nicer. Those two programs also have good
automated level adjustments routines. You can also do it in Photoshop CS,
though you need to create an action that does that.

Either Polyview or Picture Project will also export your batched RAW files
to any kind of JPEG you like. It takes only a couple minutes to export 50 or
more RAW files to JPEG.

Given the existence of these two programs, the RAW+JPEG setting is not only
redundant, but it needlessly slows down your shooting and takes up memory
card space. It is less than worthless in that context.

Nikon Capture is not worth screwing around with. The RAW conversion utility
in Photoshop CS is far better and more versatile. Capture will replace the
Adobe utility, so if you install Capture you have to delete it out of your
Photoshop plug-ins.

Owamanga wrote:
> On 12 Jan 2005 17:46:51 GMT, (Xtx99) wrote:
>
>
>>Nikon RAW Beginner's Question / Dilemma
>> I'm looking to finally make the move from 35 mm to a digital SLR
>>(probably the Nikon D70).
>
>
> Good choice.
>
>
>> I want relatively immediate good prints AND the ability to play around
>>with the RAWs in Nikon Capture and/or the Photoshop CS RAW plugin.
>>Unfortunately, the D70 only allows for simultaneous RAW / "basic" JPEG settings
>>(which I've seen and note are overly compressed).
>
>
> Yes, they are great for quickly previewing (identifying which NEF file
> you should be editing basically) but not good enough to make a print
> from.
>
>
>>If the D70 made simultaneous
>>RAW / "fine" JPEGs, I wouldn't have a problem.
>
>
> This should be fixed in the hacked firmware.
>
>
>> I have very little experience and skills in using Nikon Capture and
>>Photoshop CS's RAW plug-in...that will take me a long time to acquire. Is
>>there any RAW editing software that has "presets" (portrait, landscape, vivid,
>>etc.) that would allow me to do a decent (although not perfect) job initially
>>until I pick up editing skills later on? Perhaps there is software that would
>>approximately equal the D70's algorithmic presets for making jpegs (in
>>portrait, landscape, vivid, etc.)?? Thanks for any advice.
>
>
> I don't have any experience of that sort of software, but what I did
> (and recommend you do) is shoot Fine JPEG until you've got your RAW
> workflow sorted out.
>
> --
> Owamanga!
Hi there, any ideas where one may be able to DL the D70 hacked firmware.
Has anyone any comments ?
Thanks.
Bernard.