Camera Labs

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Right here goes, I just got myself a D40 and would like to open the NEF files with photoshop 6.0 but i don't seem to be able to,
i have searched the for plug-ins for this but have had no joy at all, can anyone tell me where i can get a plug-in for this.
I have LR2 and CS3 master collection here as well would either of these be better to work with instead of PS??

Would i be better shooting in Jpeg??

Sorry for the complete noob questions

Thanks in advance

Jay

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Bigger boys did it and ran away!
Nikon D40 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G EDII. Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 Nikon nikkor 50mm f1.8D
Fuji F610 Super CCD 12Mp Compact

Flickr

Hi Jay,

My guess is that the D40 was released after Photoshop 6 had already been replaced by a later version. Adobe take the view that you should buy new versions of their software to take advantage of native support for new file formats.

I faced a similar situation a while back with my 40D which came out after Photoshop CS2 was released. The workaround is to download a copy of Adobe's free DNG Converter which should, I hope, be compatible with both Photoshop 6 and your NEF files. Alternatively you can use your Nikon software to do the initial post-processing and export the result as 16 bit TIFF files which can then be read by Photoshop.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Bob

Thank you so much for the quick reply, as i'm new to photography i thought i'd shoot in NEF so that i can have more control over the PP
to fix any mistakes i have made taking the pic, do you think i would be better just shooting in Jpeg fine to save myself such hassles
or are the benefits of shooting NEF files worth all the messing about.

Jay

_________________
Bigger boys did it and ran away!
Nikon D40 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G EDII. Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 Nikon nikkor 50mm f1.8D
Fuji F610 Super CCD 12Mp Compact

Flickr

I'd shoot NEF Raw is much better then jpg at least with my camera i've noticed.

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Check out: http://www.eagle1337.deviantart.com/
Camera: Canon Rebel T1i
Lens: Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm OS DC HSM f/2.8-4, ef-s 18-55mm IS, ef-s 55-250mm IS. EF 50mm F/1.8
Tripod: Giottos MTL9351B with a MH 5001 head.
Bag: lowepro Slingshot 202 AW. Cards: Sandisk Ultra 2, Lexar MicroSDHC.

Cheers Eagle,

i had a feeling that the NEF files would be better quality but im not %100 sure of the benefits of shooting in NEF, are the only benefits that you can do more PP with it later or is there more to it. Sorry for all the nooby questions i'm on a HUGE learning curve here.

regards

Jay

_________________
Bigger boys did it and ran away!
Nikon D40 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G EDII. Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 Nikon nikkor 50mm f1.8D
Fuji F610 Super CCD 12Mp Compact

Flickr

with my canon jpgs lose a lot of the sharpness which ruins some shots.

_________________
Check out: http://www.eagle1337.deviantart.com/
Camera: Canon Rebel T1i
Lens: Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm OS DC HSM f/2.8-4, ef-s 18-55mm IS, ef-s 55-250mm IS. EF 50mm F/1.8
Tripod: Giottos MTL9351B with a MH 5001 head.
Bag: lowepro Slingshot 202 AW. Cards: Sandisk Ultra 2, Lexar MicroSDHC.

Yeah i now know what you mean, just taken some pics in Jpeg fine and there seems to be a bit of noise in them, i think i'll switch back to NEF, i do lose some FPS but i think the IQ will justify it.

_________________
Bigger boys did it and ran away!
Nikon D40 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G EDII. Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 Nikon nikkor 50mm f1.8D
Fuji F610 Super CCD 12Mp Compact

Flickr

Photoshop's RAW conversion isn't as good as Nikon's anyway. Go download ViewNX, then inside there convert your RAW to a .tiff file. Open that .tiff in photoshop and edit away. You'll get better results than if you just opened in photoshop anyway.

By the way, congratulations on the D40. It's a fun camera.

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Shagrath.. Thanks for that info, i have ViewNX here got it on a disc when i got my camera just wasn't aware that i could convert with it. Is photoshop better than lightroom to do the PP in?

Cheers for the congrats on the cam, can't wait for some dry days to get out and take some pics though.

Jay

_________________
Bigger boys did it and ran away!
Nikon D40 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G EDII. Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 Nikon nikkor 50mm f1.8D
Fuji F610 Super CCD 12Mp Compact

Flickr

Yeah, alternatively you can download ViewNX for free from Nikon's website. You should get the latest version if you haven't already, they've made some good improvements. It's also the best RAW converter available for your camera.

I prefer to do my post processing in Photoshop, but I've been using it for years so I may have a bias. It's up to your preference if you are only doing minor tweaks. If you're doing major post processing photoshop will shine though. That's why I prefer it. I can do everything I need to in photoshop. Although, I will say that Photoshop is really lacking a good vignette tool. I usually import my photos into Lightroom at the last stage to put a vignette in, that's how good the vignette tool is in my opinion.

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I second that. Lightrooms nikon RAW conversion is inferior to Capture/view NX.

And still I use Lightroom because it IS superior than capture NX

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".