I'm SURE this is a simple question and I've gone through the forums but I don't see it there. OK, finally I have gone digital. I have the Nikon D90. I have taken hundreds of shots. When I view the shots in camera, I see everything. But when I try to view them on my computer using the USB port plug, the last several hundred shots show up as an icon and won't open. Someone suggested looking to see what settings I may have changed and I noticed that the last shots were taken in raw and the first were jpeg. How can I view the raw images on the computer so that I may work on them? Any help will be appreciated. And I'm sure there'll be more questions to follow but I'll go through the forums first to see if they can be answered that way. Thanks in advance!
Posted by Carol Hyman on July 23, 2011 at 12:13 PM
Chris, Dumb question. Are you transferring your photos from your camera to your computer? Nikon Transfer is the name of the application and it doesn't cost anything. It can be found here if you don't have it.
Other than than I'm assuming your D90 is similar to the D700 is that you can make some in-camera adjustments (minimal) to photos still in the camera.
Wish I could make more sense out of your question.
Drop me a note.
Carol
Posted by Alan Olander on July 23, 2011 at 12:17 PM
The simplest and least costly (free) would be to use Nikon's View NX. It's a browser with limited RAW/NEF editing abilities. On up from there would be Nikon Capture NX2, Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw (ACR)/Photoshop, etc.
You may find you will want to shoot in RAW or RAW + JPEG, for its greater adjustment latitude. All your camera settings like saturation, contrast, sharpness, white balance, etc. are "baked" into a JPEG with little room for correction. With NEF (RAW), your images are almost "infinitely" adjustable.
A little more information would be helpful: what computer platform, what operating system, and what viewing software, for a start. You should probably be shooting in RAW. But you probably need software to let you see the RAW images. Alan's suggestions are a good start. But I can't be more specific without knowing more.
Well, for right now, I'm only looking to view them from the camera to the computer. They're not transferred yet. I want to pick and choose what I load to my computer. I did install the software that came with the camera today thinking that was it. But I still cannot view the raw images.
If I double click on a random icon (mentioned above), it copies the image to the computer but then when I click on the image (which I can now see), it goes over to my Nikon Scan program (which I did NOT open) and then says "Buffer Overrun Detected!" "A buffer overrun has been detected which has corrupted the program's internal state. The program cannot safely continue execution and must now be terminated." What's up with THAT???
Also, if I try to send the image to Photoshop, another warning pops up and says, "Could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document."
RAW files aren't really image files, sort of. Many image viewers can't see them. If you are shooting RAW, you will need to learn to process them and convert them to image files such as JPEG or TIFF. There is a free image viewer, FastStone Image Viewer http://www.faststone.org/ that can show you your RAW files (I think it probably actually creates a JPEG file from them for viewing.)
If you bought your Camera new, it should have come with the software you need to view, edit, and convert your RAW files.
In order for Photoshop to work with your RAW files, it needs to be properly updated to handle the RAW files from your Camera. If your version of Photoshop and ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) are older than the model of your camera, you will need to update or upgrade your version of ACR to handle the RAW files.
Edit: I have no idea why you are getting your Buffer Overrun message.
RAW "images" are proprietary files for the camera you are using. Jpegs are universal. Your D90 can shoot jpeg, raw, or jpeg and raw. I recommend shooting jpeg at first as you learn your camera. If you really think you want to deal with raw, then use the setting that saves your images in both. Then store the raw so you can go back to them if you ever so desire. You should do some internet research for different RAW processing software for your Nikon. SOme are considered better than others.
I generally would rather get my exposure correct in the camera whereby I should not need the advanced capabilities of raw processing. The jpeg should be very good and you can make small changes with photoshop to compensate for small problems or changes.
Depends on your style of shooting, also. Those shooting relatively few images may devote more time to RAW processing and tweak and tweak until the image is as perfect as it can be. Those who shoot tons of images may find they don't have the time for all the RAW processing and find jpeg the way to go.
Many pros shoot RAW. Many pros shoot jpeg.
I am not too sure the suggestion that you probably SHOULD shoot raw is what you really want to do at this point since you are just starting out in digital. There will be a huge learning curve using raw software. I disagree that jpegs are so locked in that you can't change them much. That's just not so. Yes, there are a lot more things you can do with a raw image if you have the time and knowledge to do it AND if the image needs it.
I think it was a GOOD question you had. Learning your new digital camera will take some time. Trying to learn it shooting RAW only will take even more time.
Many folks who swear by RAW will have another opinion.
Well, for right now, I'm only looking to view them from the camera to the computer. They're not transferred yet.
I think it's MUCH easier just to download everything onto your computer, and then do your selection there. Everything will work faster, you'll have more options, etc. The hardware in your camera is generally slow (compared to a stand alone computer), and not as well suited to picking and choosing images.
Discussion
8 repliesOther than than I'm assuming your D90 is similar to the D700 is that you can make some in-camera adjustments (minimal) to photos still in the camera.
Wish I could make more sense out of your question.
Drop me a note.
Carol
You may find you will want to shoot in RAW or RAW + JPEG, for its greater adjustment latitude. All your camera settings like saturation, contrast, sharpness, white balance, etc. are "baked" into a JPEG with little room for correction. With NEF (RAW), your images are almost "infinitely" adjustable.
If I double click on a random icon (mentioned above), it copies the image to the computer but then when I click on the image (which I can now see), it goes over to my Nikon Scan program (which I did NOT open) and then says "Buffer Overrun Detected!" "A buffer overrun has been detected which has corrupted the program's internal state. The program cannot safely continue execution and must now be terminated." What's up with THAT???
Operating system 2000 Pro, Photoshop,
Can you understand my perplexity?
If you bought your Camera new, it should have come with the software you need to view, edit, and convert your RAW files.
In order for Photoshop to work with your RAW files, it needs to be properly updated to handle the RAW files from your Camera. If your version of Photoshop and ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) are older than the model of your camera, you will need to update or upgrade your version of ACR to handle the RAW files.
Edit: I have no idea why you are getting your Buffer Overrun message.
I generally would rather get my exposure correct in the camera whereby I should not need the advanced capabilities of raw processing. The jpeg should be very good and you can make small changes with photoshop to compensate for small problems or changes.
Depends on your style of shooting, also. Those shooting relatively few images may devote more time to RAW processing and tweak and tweak until the image is as perfect as it can be. Those who shoot tons of images may find they don't have the time for all the RAW processing and find jpeg the way to go.
Many pros shoot RAW. Many pros shoot jpeg.
I am not too sure the suggestion that you probably SHOULD shoot raw is what you really want to do at this point since you are just starting out in digital. There will be a huge learning curve using raw software. I disagree that jpegs are so locked in that you can't change them much. That's just not so. Yes, there are a lot more things you can do with a raw image if you have the time and knowledge to do it AND if the image needs it.
I think it was a GOOD question you had. Learning your new digital camera will take some time. Trying to learn it shooting RAW only will take even more time.
Many folks who swear by RAW will have another opinion.
I think it's MUCH easier just to download everything onto your computer, and then do your selection there. Everything will work faster, you'll have more options, etc. The hardware in your camera is generally slow (compared to a stand alone computer), and not as well suited to picking and choosing images.