NEF for Elements

[musbou]

Please help me get unconfused. I have seen Bibble, Capture NX, and other RAW converters. Can Elements itself handle NEF files without the need for any of the above, or will I need to get one and then send it to Elements? Can Elements do it all? Thanks

[PaulH]

Please help me get unconfused. I have seen Bibble, Capture NX, and other RAW converters. Can Elements itself handle NEF files without the need for any of the above, or will I need to get one and then send it to Elements? Can Elements do it all? Thanks


In a nutshell - Yes, elements uses the Adobe Camera Raw module.
It will recognise your in camera white balance setting, but none of the other in-camera settings.

[musbou]

I see you use the D70. What RAW conversion softwarie do you use and/ or recommend for NEF?

[PaulH]

I see you use the D70. What RAW conversion softwarie do you use and/ or recommend for NEF?

I've said this before so you might want to search for more and replies from others.

But - my workflow varies.

Non-critical, snapshots, some web pics. I might just go directly to PSE.

Anything where I want to use my in-camera settings, including the custom curve I have loaded, I will use Capture. Sometimes I use capture's levels and sharpening - then will open in PSE for all the final editing.

I say this with the caveat that I have spent a good amount of time getting the d70 to give me what I want out of the camera. Using Capture I can get 90% of the pics where I'm happy with it in less than a minute (with a slow machine - quicker with my main machine).

Like anyone else - for the real "keepers" I may spend an hour in PSE adjusting.


I've played with CaptureNX and will eventually buy it. I like some of it's features - but need more horsepower on one of my 'puters before I use it too much. I really like it's B&W features and feel that that alone is worth the price.


FWIW - I really do not like ACR's raw conversion as it takes me more time to use it than to open in Capture then re-open in PSE. Using ACR I have to work to get it back to where it was in the 1st place :).

[Jim Brent]

Have either of you tried Adobe Lightroom Beta 3? It is a free download from Adobe right now and it seems to do a good job. I use a iMAC but they have just released the Windows version. Give it a try I think you'll like it. The Photoshop TV guys all use it and really semm to like it a lot.

Jim

[musbou]

I just looked at the tutorials for LightRoom, and it looks good. So can I use this for RAW conversion of NEF instead of Capture? Does it have the same features of Elements as far as cleaning up an image after working on it in RAW?

[PaulH]

Have either of you tried Adobe Lightroom Beta 3? It is a free download from Adobe right now and it seems to do a good job. I use a iMAC but they have just released the Windows version. Give it a try I think you'll like it. The Photoshop TV guys all use it and really semm to like it a lot.

Jim
Installed it, tried it, uninstalled it.

What it does as an editor was OK , but it's a ridiculous setup to get a photo into. The program was not worth the bother. I've stated before that I dislike and have no use for PSE's organiser. Lightroom just duplicated this step by dividing everything into (if I remember properly) shootings.

One has to "import" folders or whatever into it - for me - not worth it. I just want to be able to right click and decide WHAT I wish to do with the image.

BTW - I use Nikon Viewer for my light box application.