New member here and new DSLR user. I recently purchased an DSLR for photographing my new born. It is a D7100. I have a class on how to use it but in the meantime I am trying to download the pictures I already took to my pc. I can't view them since they are .nef files. Is there a decent free software that I can use to convert these photos to .jpg? I was advised to save as a raw file which is .nef I guess.
Question about converting to jpeg
- Thread starter Salta
- Start date
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
Are you running Windows? If so you'll want to install the Microsoft Codec Pack which will allow you view your.NEF files using the Windows picture viewing software (I forget the name).
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Fred Kingston_RIP
Senior Member
Yes... there is free software that came with your camera. If you bought it used, and didn't get the software, you can download it from Nikon's web site.
Fred Kingston_RIP
Senior Member
Nope...
Nikon has free software that works well: Capture NX-D and View NX-i, View NX-i will allow you to transfer from camera to computer and some minor adjustments, but Capture NX-D will allow you to edit your photos after you have them on your computer. And did I say, they are FREE from the Nikon site.
This Link will get you to the starting point for downloading the software.
This Link will get you to the starting point for downloading the software.
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Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
If you are not not planning on doing post processing then you don't need to be shooting in RAW. With RAW you have to process the file to make it look good. Shooting in JPEP/Fine will give you better results out of the camera with little to no processing. If you do decide to shoot JPEG then there are a couple of settings you need to change on your camera,
If you are shooting JPEG I would suggest that you use the Fine>>Large setting and also set your camera for better sharpness.
Go into your Menus and highlight the "Shooting" menu (the camera icon)
Drop down to "Picture Controls" and click right one time.
From here, highlight "Standard" and then click right one time.
From this settings menu, increase the "Sharpness" setting to "7".
Drop down and increase the "Saturation" setting +1 notch on the slider.
Press "OK" to exit the menus and you're done.
If you are shooting JPEG I would suggest that you use the Fine>>Large setting and also set your camera for better sharpness.
Go into your Menus and highlight the "Shooting" menu (the camera icon)
Drop down to "Picture Controls" and click right one time.
From here, highlight "Standard" and then click right one time.
From this settings menu, increase the "Sharpness" setting to "7".
Drop down and increase the "Saturation" setting +1 notch on the slider.
Press "OK" to exit the menus and you're done.
Thanks Don. Per your instruction, I punched up the Saturation on my D5100 a minute ago to see if it might help increase the impact of my pictures a bit. I've not tried this before.
My goodness I still love my D5100. It's my first digital camera and has been such great fun to own. Hard for me to believe it's almost four years old!
My goodness I still love my D5100. It's my first digital camera and has been such great fun to own. Hard for me to believe it's almost four years old!
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Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
Don't move the saturation up over 1 at the most. It is the sharpness you want to set on +7. So you are shooting on JPEG? I hope it is Fine/Large
May I suggest that you still shoot both? If you hang on to your .NEF files, you can revisit them in the future if you decide to start editing down the road. I'd rather eat up a little storage space on my network attached server than kick myself for not keeping the "negatives".
Yes, that was the first setting I made - just no need to work with less. My saturation is safely set at 1. I've not moved Sharpness up from 1, as I'm satisfied with what I see. I may move Sharpness up just to experiment. Thanks again.
Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
Move it up to +7 you will see a great improvement. I learned that from many members here when I was shooting JPEG still with my D5100. Makes it look like a new camera.
Salta,
I think in the long run you will be MUCH happier shooting in RAW and using a good post processing program to edit your pictures. Shooting jpeg is like in the film days taking your film to the drug store and getting prints that were made with automatic adjustments to exposure and color. The results were usually okay, but seldom optimal. With RAW, YOU are in charge and you can get much better final results. If you want those pictures you hang on the wall to look their very best, I would shoot RAW and learn to post process your shots.
I think in the long run you will be MUCH happier shooting in RAW and using a good post processing program to edit your pictures. Shooting jpeg is like in the film days taking your film to the drug store and getting prints that were made with automatic adjustments to exposure and color. The results were usually okay, but seldom optimal. With RAW, YOU are in charge and you can get much better final results. If you want those pictures you hang on the wall to look their very best, I would shoot RAW and learn to post process your shots.