I just bought myself a D50 a few days ago. I need someone to point me to a photography forum so that I can learn about my camera. I have lots of questions. Like what is RAW exactly. Is there something so special about RAW that might motivate me to upgrade from Adobe CS to CS2.

Thanks for your help, guys/gals.

Sean

 

RAW files contain the uncompressed camera RAW data straight off the sensor with no "processing" (white balance information, sharpening, color space, etc.). It is the most flexible way to process photos after the fact with the highest quality results.

When you shoot jpeg format the RAW data is taken, then the white balance, sharpening, and color space are overlaid on the RAW data, and then the file is compressed in size. Each time you save a jpeg file you lose information due to this compression. With RAW there is no compression and quality is maintained with each save.

RAW allows you to custom set your white balance, adjust the exposure, determine how much sharpening you want, and which color space you'd like the file outputted in. All of this is changed after you shot your photo, so you have a chance to evaluate each parameter with the image in front of you.

Shooting RAW isn't for everyone or every situation, but if you have a photo you really want to make special, taking in RAW and then taking the additional time to process it in RAW will be worthwhile. RAW gives you the absolute most flexibility in terms of what your images look like in the end.

 

And I don't think you need to upgrade from CS to CS2 to get RAW support. I'm still on 7.0 and using RAW all the time. One trick I found to get at the full 16-bit data with 7.0... If I export the image from Nikon View to Photoshop, it sends over the full 16-bit image (using the "Open with Photoshop" command). If I open the RAW file directly, Photoshop downsamples to 8-bit. Granted, this is probably a 7.0 issue. I bet it works fully in CS and CS2.

 

my D50 actually saves the raw files as a proprietary .NEF format so far I have been unable to figure out how to open the files in CS. I have been limited to using iPhoto thus far.

 

My favorite Nikon dSLR forum,
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1034

A search of 'raw photoshop' returns this one, among many others
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=17781613

 

Here's a (Flickr) forum you might find helpful:
http://flickr.com/groups/rawshooter


-Juan

 

Alright I have figured out my RAW issue. I had to download the DNG converter from Adobe. Turns out that CS doesn't have a camera raw plugin for the D50...so the only option is the DNG converter or upgrade to CS2 which does have a camera raw plugin for the D50.

So here is my new problem...blurry pics. When I take every day pics say of my car from 15-20 feet away the pics come out blurry on the computer...this is shooting in full auto mode...the camera defaults to "closest subject" AF setting...could this be the problem.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Sean

 

Check to make sure your lens is set to M/A, not just M

 

How to I do that. On the lens itself is a switch and it only gives me two choices either M or A there is no M/A selection.

 

A resounding YES. Make sure you can select where the camera will focus. Do not rely on to it know what you want. Using auto metering is okay however (P mode) as the Nikon's (most cameras nowadays) have great metering modes. Just remember to check the histograms. If you don't know what as histogram is, please learn it first (search on dpreview.com in the previous link as others will explain it better than me). It doesn't matter if you shoot jpeg or RAW, proper reading of the histogram will make you a better photographer.

The links other have previously posted are some of the best info on RAW processing you can find. It's a new tool and requires some reading to understand it. However, my way of putting it is that the RAW images allow you to truly work in a digital darkroom and have complete control over how your photo will look without any degradation of the image quality. It can take much longer to process (much to my wife's dismay), but can yield phenomenal results unobtainable with a jpeg image. Bruce Fraiser's book on RAW processing is a good one FWIW after you've read the previous links.

Cheers!

 

S lenses (the ones with the internal motor) will be marked M and M/A, other non-S AF lenses will have M and A.

Are you sure it's a focus problem and not camera shake? Is anything sharp?

Mark

 

Try RawShooter Essentials. The free version is very versatile at handling NEF files and after conversion to TIFF/JPG, you can use Photoshop.