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Thread: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

  1. #1

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    Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Hi,
    Finally going to try RAW. With D7000, I will set 1 to jpeg, 1 RAW card.
    When I download, do I have to have a certain PP product? I never loaded the Nikon software when I got camera May 2012.
    I just ordered PSE 11 and Photomatix, but they are not here yet. I am trying to practice first.

    With gov't shutdown, I will be asked to leave my wonderful spot on Cape Cod earlier than expected. I wanted to take a few favorite spots before I left, and hence, not having PP in hand as I am taking last photos.

    When I get product, what then!? Download only the RAW ones I want to work with into PSE???
    I did read Tutorials, but still so new, hard for me to grasp right now.
    Nancy

  2. #2
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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Hi Nancy,

    I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure that all you will need to upload your photos in both raw and jpeg format is PSE 11. I have PSE 9 and it will not upload my raw photos because it does not recognize the photos from my new Nikon camera but Lightroom recognizes them as does Picasa and Windows 7.

    I upload all my photos raw and jpeg into my Windows file, and then pull the ones I wish to work on in Lightroom, and I could do the same in Elements if I had a newer version.

    I don't use an Nikon software, not needed.

  3. #3

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Thanks. I read everyone saying how they use xyz, then use abc to adjust more, and whoa...I'm a hands in the air, roller coaster type of gal. Just jump in the car without a map, this is so technical but I am learning, bear with me all
    Nancy

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    You probably had some Raw conversion software with your camera. Not sure about Nikon but Canon has its DPP Raw converter.

    This automatically detects a Raw image (with the Canon EOS Utility software) and it is just a case of following some simple instructions.

    This Canon/Nikon Raw software is capable of doing basic editing during conversion; which is all that a lot of people will ever need. You then finish off with your usual editing software.

    Do you have Adobe ACR? This is a more advanced version which can do more editing during conversion but the basics are similar.

    Don't worry about getting 'too clever' at the start; that will develop later.

    There are some third party Raw converters/editing software and before getting ACR I used Raw Therapee which is quite good but possibly not the simplest to begin with.

    At one time I shot Raw plus small Jpeg because I initially checked my thumbnail images to delete the 'total failures' before going any further. The software which I used for this task wouldn't accept Raw which is why I also shot a Jpeg.

    But now with ACR which shows thumbnails directly from Raw files, I just shoot Raw as I don't see any point in cluttering up my camera card with images which I will never use.

    However, initially I suppose, it might be worth having Jpegs in case you totally mess up your Raw images.

    Shooting and editing Raw is very easy, but you can always ask for extra advice whenever you aren't sure of a particular issue.

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Nancy Moran G View Post
    Hi,
    Finally going to try RAW. With D7000, I will set 1 to jpeg, 1 RAW card.
    When I download, do I have to have a certain PP product? I never loaded the Nikon software when I got camera May 2012.
    I just ordered PSE 11 and Photomatix, but they are not here yet. I am trying to practice first.

    With gov't shutdown, I will be asked to leave my wonderful spot on Cape Cod earlier than expected. I wanted to take a few favorite spots before I left, and hence, not having PP in hand as I am taking last photos.

    When I get product, what then!? Download only the RAW ones I want to work with into PSE???
    I did read Tutorials, but still so new, hard for me to grasp right now.
    Nancy
    Nancy

    There are two options.

    Yes, you need special software to process RAW files.

    But:

    1) I think you'll already have that in the bundled software you got with the camera. I have a Canon and Canon Digital Photo Professional (DPP) raw processing software comes with them.

    2) Elements 11 will have a thing called Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) as part of it. That will allow you to process the RAW file and make a TIFF file that you then process further in Elements itself before finally saving it as a JPEG that you can display to the world.

  6. #6

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Nancy Moran G View Post
    Hi,
    Finally going to try RAW. With D7000, I will set 1 to jpeg, 1 RAW card.
    When I download, do I have to have a certain PP product? I never loaded the Nikon software when I got camera May 2012.
    I just ordered PSE 11 and Photomatix, but they are not here yet. I am trying to practice first.

    With gov't shutdown, I will be asked to leave my wonderful spot on Cape Cod earlier than expected. I wanted to take a few favorite spots before I left, and hence, not having PP in hand as I am taking last photos.

    When I get product, what then!? Download only the RAW ones I want to work with into PSE???
    I did read Tutorials, but still so new, hard for me to grasp right now.
    Nancy
    I use Lightroom, which is also a good tool to catalog. I also shoot RAW+JPEG, and generally download everything in one folder (some images are taken in JPEG only mode so I want to keep them all together). When importing into LR, only the RAW file gets imported if there is a corresponding JPEG file, and the JPEG file gets imported if there is no corresponding RAW. As I work through the images, I export the output to a sub-folder and eventually overwrite the original JPEGs. If I do delete a RAW file, LR can also remove the corresponding (original) JPEG so it treats both "related" files as one.

    I have not used PSE 10 (which I have) for working with RAW. However, it will work fine. But since you're manually "cataloging" your files, the two files are likely to be redundant. I would advise working with only RAW (if you have both), and working on JPEG only when you don't have a corresponding RAW.

  7. #7
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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Hi Nancy, I don't have PSE 11, I use CS6/Lightroom 4. I suspect Christina is the guru when it comes to using Elements . That said....The Nikon D7000 was first picked up on release of ACR 6.4
    PSE 11 was released with ACR 7.1

    I would assume that you should have no problems reading Raw files from your camera.

    As regards workflow, after each shoot, I suggest you copy all image files from your camera to new folders on your computer. (Check they have copied correctly before deleting from the camera media! which usually means waiting til you can see them in Elements.)

    Assuming that PSE operates in a similar way to Lightroom and to CS6, you should be able to see each the directory structure,folders and their contents from within Elements.

    You may have to 'import' images into Elements before you can work on them, (as with Lightroom), but this should not change the location, it just allows Elements to build it's own internal directory.

    Once Elements can see the images in the source directory, you can then select the specific images you want to work on.

    It all seems a bit daunting I know, but you will get the hang of it pretty quickly. James

  8. #8
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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Hi Nancy,

    I basically do the same thing James does and it works just fine, and I am not a technical person so if I can figure it out you don't have to worry about it. I like having my files in Windows because then I can choose the editing program to use. Right now I use Lightroom for everything but unsharp masks, but I'm going to learn how to use layers in Elements, at least that is my goal for this year.

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Oh, boy. Lots to learn from all this advice. I will reread and start plugging away. Also, am going to try bracketing
    while I am experimenting.
    Keep the advice coming!
    Nancy

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Nancy...

    You can download RAW images quite well using the Canon software that comes with your camera. However, you will probably change your workflow when your Photo Shop Elements Arrives.

    I would have suggested downloading Photoshop Elements and then activating it with the code you will get when you buy PSE. However, the version for trial downloading from the Adobe Site is Photoshop Elements 12. I have not researched the differences between 11 and 12 since I use PhotoshopCS6.

    You can shoot RAW + JPEG and work with the JPEG images however you presently work with your images, saving the RAW Images for when you get the PSE-11

    Here are some hints about Camera RAW

    INTRODUCTION TO CAMERA RAW
    http://help.adobe.com/en_US/creative...6FABF0A2B.html

    CAMERA RAW VIDEO
    http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/tip...movie_qt1.html

    ADOBE CAMERA RAW THE SECRET FOR USING IT FOR JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING
    http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/20...ut-everything/

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Hello Nancy,

    Pedantry first . . going from camera to computer is uploading, not downloading . . .

    Anyway, my Nikon D50 came with something called View NX if I recall correctly which would act as a RAW to TIFF or JPG converter at the very least.

    When you get PSE 11 you open a Nikon raw file (.nef) in just the same way as you would open a jpeg. Being smart, PSE brings up your file in ACR where you get the file ready WB etc and whatever else you want to do. Then you click a button at bottom right to re-open the image but this time it opens in the PSE Editor window. It still say .NEF at the top and you have to save it as a JPEG or TIFF or whatever else you fancy. Your original NEF file will not be altered or deleted; in fact ACR will store a 'sidecar' file (.xmp) with it so it knows everything you did in ACR (but not in PSE).

    TMI?

    There are a number of free converters/viewers you can download meanwhile - FastStone Viewer can open NEFs for example.

    -

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    There are open source versions you can try for free in future too when you get time to get back to PP like you say. DarkTable is very nice alternative to likes of Lightroom and is free, downside is it's Linux and Mac OS only at the moment but I mention in case you use a Mac. I use Bridge and Photoshop, as well as other things in Adobe suite, myself but have used a lot of the free open source tools on none windows machine and dual OS one occasionally and am impressed at how much they do .

    The Nikon software on your disk is probably out of date so it's worth getting it from nikon support page for your model of camera, may need the disk version installed before it updates as I know my canon and fuji stuff worked that way so presume nikon is the same. As mentioned by others the camera OEM raw converters tend to be very basic with very little tweaking possible but at least whitebalance and shadow recovery from the extra dynamic range are still useful. To get the most out of raw you'll probably want something more substantial in future but maybe start basic.

    Many other tools for raw but DCRaw handles opening most raw formats and many apps based on it such as Gui's noise tools, he posted here but I've been absent for a while so unsure if he still visits CiC. What is more useful for you is likes of UFRaw and it's plugin for GIMP which a few users on here use no doubt and I use it in linux now and then.

    Basically GIMP will do enough for most people for free and has Windows/linux/mac and other OS compatible installers readymade. That combo will allow you to open and edit raw files and do a lot more than the nikon software is likely to allow. Not quite as powerful as Photoshop but most people don't need the extra features full Pshop brings and also the learning curve can be higher with photoshop if you try and take on board everythign at once. Hope it helps and guess the good thing with free route is you can experiment for free although you can get photoshop trials too.

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    View NX or NX2 software disk should have come with your camera. This software will convert RAW files for later use by PSE.

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowman View Post
    View NX or NX2 software disk should have come with your camera. This software will convert RAW files for later use by PSE.
    For starters, this is the best way.

    Nikon's basic editor/converter (NEF - jpg) - viewNX2 is easy to use.

    Open your NEF images in viewNX2, make basic adjusments like:
    Exposure, White Balance, Contrast, Crop, convert to jpg. Finished.

    Later when your PSE arrives, you can re-do your jpegs or start from NEF again.

    Meanwhile, enjoy your camera and keep shooting!




    Later on,

  15. #15

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    THANK YOU all. Some people are quick at replying with your own quote and saying thank you. That would take me an hour, sorry...it's bedtime...
    But all of your advice is well taken and am digesting it.
    Went out and took beach sunset photos in RAW and jpeg. Will save them til I have software.
    Am trying bracketing tomorrow of some spots to save for when I have some pp products. Fall leaves and marshes are just starting to show some color, hopefully what I take / save can be processed well when I get to my next 'job' in Florida (Nov-Jan, Lovers Key St Pk in Ft Myers/ Coral Springs, anyone?)
    Nancy

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Nancy, you have the D7000, once you get PSE 11 as Ted says you will be able to see your raw files as PSE 11's raw converter will be able to read the files. As you are shooting both jpeg and raw, just put them on one card for now, upload to computer, view your jpegs. When your copy of PSE 11 arrives install it, suggest you look into the web site Adobe Photoshop Elements Techniques some very useful information there now there is a cost, however the magazine and videos that you get and have access to are very helpful for people learning Photoshop Elements, I know I used it to begin with.

    Cheers:

    Allan

  17. #17

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Allan, how do I put them on 1 card? I have 1 as jpeg, 1 as Raw..
    You all are right, I should download free version and experiment!
    Nancy

  18. #18
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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Nancy, if you are shooting RAW + JPEG (and have set that on your camera) the camera will automatically place both the RAW, and JPEG on your memory card. This has been my experience.


    Bruce

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    another one for picking up PSE is CreativeLive , they host live seminars you can watch for free live but need to buy for recordings/after event access. They do beginner introductions to the likes of elements and photoshop (many of basic editing is similar between PS and PSE) as well as more advanced courses. The beginner stuff is often 1 day and $70 ish where the pro courses are about $150 and often over 3 days; all are free to watch though.

    Depending who is on depends how good it is but some of the courses including beginner ones are great. It deals not just with editing but all areas of photography from weddings to fine art and pet photography and has a lot of industry big names teaching at times. They also do some design, website, marketing and video courses. It's worth checking every month or so and subscribing for reminder emails for any up and coming course that may suit you.

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    Re: Going to take my 1st RAW today, how to download & other ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Digital View Post
    Nancy, if you are shooting RAW + JPEG (and have set that on your camera) the camera will automatically place both the RAW, and JPEG on your memory card. This has been my experience.


    Bruce
    I have Nikon 7000 which has 2 card slots. I chose the menu setting for 1st card keeps it as jpeg, 2nd card keeps it as Raw. Don't know how to have Raw and jpeg on same card?
    N

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