Choosing the right Picture Quality-Mode.

Good Morning,
I have a question about my D5500. Right after I received my Camera I had watched a fella on Youtube that was all about "RAW". He also had a setup guide on the D5500 so I basically followed his suggestions. I set my Camera on RAW+F. When I go back and check my SDHC card I have basically two pics for the same image. One I can visually see and the other one I can't see but it just state's "NEF" image. I assume the one I can see is JPEG. That's the one I've been using for editing and I don't know how to use the NEF image. I believe I tried to transfer the NEF image to Lightroom or PS and it stated it was the wrong format. Looks like I'm using double the card space for one image.

I'm probably doing something wrong as my Computer skills are around negative one.
Should I keep it on RAW+F or change it to another mode like RAW+N, RAW+B, RAW, FINE, NORM, BASIC?. I do want to be able to edit my pics if needed. I thought I understood what RAW was but maybe not. I can never visually see the copied NEF version of the picture?
Thanks for the assist.

Double_S_ said:

Good Morning,
I have a question about my D5500. Right after I received my Camera I had watched a fella on Youtube that was all about "RAW". He also had a setup guide on the D5500 so I basically followed his suggestions. I set my Camera on RAW+F. When I go back and check my SDHC card I have basically two pics for the same image. One I can visually see and the other one I can't see but it just state's "NEF" image. I assume the one I can see is JPEG. That's the one I've been using for editing and I don't know how to use the NEF image. I believe I tried to transfer the NEF image to Lightroom or PS and it stated it was the wrong format. Looks like I'm using double the card space for one image.

I'm probably doing something wrong as my Computer skills are around negative one.
Should I keep it on RAW+F or change it to another mode like RAW+N, RAW+B, RAW, FINE, NORM, BASIC?. I do want to be able to edit my pics if needed. I thought I understood what RAW was but maybe not. I can never visually see the copied NEF version of the picture?
Thanks for the assist.

Click to expand...

You need to update LR as you are most likely using an older version that does not support the D5500.

Blacktop said:

You need to update LR as you are most likely using an older version that does not support the D5500.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll double check my updates. Should I keep it on RAW+F?

Double_S_ said:

Thanks. I'll double check my updates. Should I keep it on RAW+F?

Click to expand...

That's up to you. I shoot only RAW ,but I like to process the shots myself and not have the camera do it itself. I have more control over my processing this way.
I wish I could go into more detail, but I'm almost off to work so I don't have a lot of time.
I would start by Googling RAW to at least get a basic understanding of what that is.

Double_S_ said:

Thanks. I'll double check my updates. Should I keep it on RAW+F?

Click to expand...

The Raw file is the one with the most information. If ever your highlights were burnt or your shadows underexposed, the raw conversion software will allow you to maybe recover and save the image. The jpeg you are now using is simply the raw file processed by your camera to your preference (sharpness, contrast, saturation) or picture style you've selected.

What I suggest you do is shoot both. Whenever you are happy with the jpeg file, use it and when the difficult time comes you can use the raw.

But, since you are using lightroom to process your images, you'd as well should get the version that will convert your raw files and start the process of learning the post processing powers of LR.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy your Nikon.

RAW is the way to go but only if your version of PS/LR can be updated. You do have a couple of options though. Update to Adobe CC which will give you the latest versions of PS/LR. The other option is to keep your version and change them to DNG. (You will need to research how to convert them)

If you do decide to just shoot JPG for now there are a couple of things you need to set on your camera. Here is a guide to doing that.

If you are shooting JPG 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.

Thank you for the help. I have Adobe CC. I'm trying to update but I have hughesnet sat and I'm over my monthly GB allowance. So I have to wait until my service resets. Thank you for the helpful info.


Sent through my Iphone 6 Plus.