Using RAW

[Gina9942]

I normally don't use RAW, recently I figured I should start, so I did. I shot in RAW mode and the files came out NEF files. Now I found out that Photoshop does not open these files, so I had to download the Nikon Viewer. Where do I go from here? When I downloaded the viewer and opened the photos up it wasn't able to convert them to a file I can use. What do you use to open RAW files, and also to edit these files?

Thanks so much!

[kirbinster]

There should be Nikon software that came with your camera. Depending what version of Photoshop you have it should be able to handle RAW with no problem. I know I just got a D5000 and at first photoshop burped - but then I ran an update and it downloaded the newest version of ACR and now it works fine.

[Gina9942]

I have photoshop cs2, when I tried to open the files in it, photoshop told me that the files weren't recgonized. The RAW format is NEF thought, for a Nikon camera?

[Cuchulainn]

Correct. The RAW format for Nikon cameras is .NEF (Nikon Electronic Format).

You may need to download and install the latest version of Adobe Camera RAW for CS2. I believe the latest version for CS2 is version ACR 3.7

Depending on your camera model CS2 may not support it. Adobe stops new camera support for older versions of its software. So newer versions of Adobe Camera RAW will not work with CS2. Your particular camera may only be supported by Adobe CS3 or CS4.

A couple of other solutions would be to use the Adobe DNG (Digital Negative) converter to convert the .NEF files to .DNG (which CS2 will recognize) or purchase the Nikon Capture NX2 software.

There are also some free and shareware RAW converter applications that can be found. Some of those may also do the job.

Originally Posted by Gina9942

I have photoshop cs2, when I tried to open the files in it, photoshop told me that the files weren't recgonized. The RAW format is NEF thought, for a Nikon camera?