Fast RAW workflow?

If you shoot exclusively in RAW, what is the quickest, easiest method to go all the way with RAW images off the camera to nice PP'd images?

I posted in the Retouching forum and got some good feedback but I want to hear from Nikon owners that have used Nikon software. I'm just getting my feet wet with RAW images with my D40 and am finding the effort involved to be much greater than JPEG's. I'm trying to figure out if shooting 100% RAW is realistic for me. I don't want to spend hours at a computer after shooting pictures.

Currently I use Picasa to copy the images into folders and as my main photo manager, I do some simple PP on the P&S class images. I use CS2 to PP my better pictures, which I can do from within Picasa by right clicking a pic and choosing Open with...CS2. For JPEG's this is super easy and the other Picasa features work for me. Picasa handles RAW's but they all need serious PP, which is lacking in Picasa. It's time consuming to deal with one RAW picture at a time opening with CS2 from within Picasa.

I could also use Adobe Bridge that comes with CS2, I am learning more about this option, it seems to be a capable photo manager program that could replace Picasa. The CS2 Camera Raw plug in integrates into Bridge and multiple images can be PP'd in one step. At this point I'm not sure how much "batch" processing I can do with pictures that vary a lot.

Other options: I have not bothered with the Nikon software, should I try ViewNX to move the RAW files into folders and quick PP/conversion? Should I skip that and go CaptureNX? I know there are many opinions regarding CNX vs CS2/3

Anyway I am grappling with how to go 100% RAW without making a whole bunch of work for myself. Thanks in advance for any advice
Mike S

I'm bookmarking this thread. I'm also planning to shoot RAW in near future. I need this answers also.

Rajesh

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajesh_b/

I download my pictures with ACDSee10 to my computer.

If I need all pictures as JPG I use ViewNX to convert in batch.

Otherwise, I select the better images in ACDSee 10 and edit the RAW's with CaptureNX.

ACDSee is used to print, send to Flickr, ...

If I need PP I try to use The Gimp.

Regards, PGP.

--
---
http://www.gryp.be

I have a D40 too, and shoot only raw. If you're ready to invest in raw, there is no better converter than Capture NX. To save time, you can batch process all your NEF files automatically, have a look at the resulting jpegs, and choose wich ones you want to process more carefully in Capture NX.
If you're not ready to invest in NX, IMO it's not worth shooting raw.
Just my 2 cts
André

The quickest way to convert your Raw files is by using the "Batch Process" in Capture NX or ViewNX. Either one will give you the best natural color conversions of your NEF files.

I shoot Raw and use Capture NX to batch convert to TIFF or JPEG, depending on requirements.

PPing is a different story. It's the most time consuming effort in anyone's workflow and is unavoidable. But, the more you PP, the better you will get at
--
Dez

http://photos.dezmix.com

mikes1p said:

If you shoot exclusively in RAW, what is the quickest, easiest method
to go all the way with RAW images off the camera to nice PP'd images?

Click to expand...

Make sure first that you really need to shoot in RAW.
In most cases JPEG should be more than adequate.
Here is something to ponder upon:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/raw.htm
http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/How_to/o_RAW_workflow/_RAW_workflow.html

Marco

The tedious-ness of the RAW workflow has parked my camera a few times, so lately I've been on a mission to improve this.

I've been playing with ACDSee Pro trial, IDImager trial, Capture NX2, and Photoshop Elements 6.

So far, I'm leaning towards IDImager for rating and cataloging my photos and some of the RAW conversions; it seems to do decent enough RAW conversions for me, and if I want to touch something up or have a real nice photo, I pop into Capture NX2 and then later convert to JPG in IDImager. The biggest thing that hooked me in IDImager is the version tracking of photos. This works very well with dual monitors, having the browser on the left, and the full sized image on the right.

I just couldn't get into ACDSee Pro, and the quick/dirty RAW conversion for basic family photos didn't seem as good to me.

Photoshop Elements 6 is nice for photo editing, and I have Noise Ninja as a plugin. My gripe here is that it has some issues with Vista x64 which I just upgraded to. I'm not sure if I'll go to v7 here, or use the Noise Ninja standalone.

I'm still not very comfortable with the Capture NX2 interface, so I find Photoshop Elements easier for touching things up.

.. Jason
--
http://jbadry.zenfolio.com

ocrampix said:

mikes1p said:

If you shoot exclusively in RAW, what is the quickest, easiest method
to go all the way with RAW images off the camera to nice PP'd images?

Click to expand...

Make sure first that you really need to shoot in RAW.
In most cases JPEG should be more than adequate.

Click to expand...

Raw will give you more control when editing. The photographer is able to extract the maximum possible image quality from Raw. It's to your advantage. If in 10 years or so, there aren't any software programs that could read our NEF files, save them as TIFF, which has been around a long time and hold the same amount of lossless data as Raw.

JPEG's are compressed files that lose information with each subsequent save. If you're not printing these images or are NOT doing them for a job w/specific requirements, than shoot JPEG.
--
Dez

http://photos.dezmix.com

Agree with Andre and Dez. I didn't shoot raw till I got the Capture NX cause they were very time-consuming. But Capture NX (and I think View NX) are the only programms that identify all the settings you had on-camera at the time of shooting, and reproduce your NEF file exactly as if it was shot in Jpeg (with the added versatility of raw). So if you have something wrong (overexposure, wrong WB etc) you can go and correct it very easily. But if you take good care in the beggining, and have everything right, you end up with just perfect jpegs (just as Nikon intended them to be) and have to do almost nothing afterwards. CS3 is quite improved at opening Nikon NEFs, but CS2 is just a mess! You waste a quarter of an hour trying to adjust the image to your liking, just to find out that the jpeg you shot at the same scene is way better...Get Capture NX!
Regards Alex

alexring said:

Agree with Andre and Dez. I didn't shoot raw till I got the Capture
NX cause they were very time-consuming. But Capture NX (and I think
View NX) are the only programms that identify all the settings you
had on-camera at the time of shooting, and reproduce your NEF file
exactly as if it was shot in Jpeg (with the added versatility of
raw). So if you have something wrong (overexposure, wrong WB etc) you
can go and correct it very easily. But if you take good care in the
beggining, and have everything right, you end up with just perfect
jpegs (just as Nikon intended them to be) and have to do almost
nothing afterwards. CS3 is quite improved at opening Nikon NEFs, but
CS2 is just a mess! You waste a quarter of an hour trying to adjust
the image to your liking, just to find out that the jpeg you shot at
the same scene is way better...Get Capture NX!
Regards Alex

Click to expand...

Alex is correct. Capture NX (or ViewNX) reads the in-camera settings best.

In the past, I used to use CS3 for all conversions and it was time consuming getting each image right with ACR. With NX, it handles Nikon's native NEF format perfectly and naturally.
--
Dez

http://photos.dezmix.com

Have you considered upgrading to PS CS3 so that you will have a version of ACR that is compatible with your camera? Once you do this, bridge will display thumbnails and allow you to open the RAW files and make basic adjustments to them before opening in PS. Another option would be to install Lightroom and use it as your RAW converter and do basic adjustments there. If you want the power of PS you can still open from Lightroom.

Morris

--



http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~morris/POD

I'm using Windows Explorer to view my D70's NEF's, Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP is a free download from Microsoft that lets you do that. For conversion and initial optimization, I usually use a now-defunct RAW converter, Pixmantec RawShooter Premium, but sometimes use Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop CS2, and do the final image optimization in CS2. I also have Adobe Lightroom, but have never gotten a feel for that program for some reason and prefer Photoshop for optimizing images. I see the new version of Lightroom lets you make local adjustments instead of only global, so that might make it better, but I'm not feeling the need to upgrade.

Since the most important image optimization is done in the converter software before converting to JPG, I don't see why anyone would shoot NEF's and then batch convert them to JPG before doing any individual optimization. It's the fiddly optimization work prior to conversion that results in better image quality, so just shoot JPG's if you don't want to spend the time required to do NEF's correctly. Newer cameras seem to be doing in-camera JPG's better than my "old" D70 can, so I'm hoping that when I get around to upgrading my camera I'll be able to just shoot JPG's.

I'd love it if my camera would produce JPG's that look as good as the ones I get from shooting NEF's, it would save a lot of time for me, but at least with the D70, I feel that NEF's are required to get the most from the camera. From what I'm seeing of the D90 test shots here, it looks like the D90 makes JPG's that are a lot nicer looking than my D70, another reason why I want a D90 body.

John

Consensus seems to be convert with either version of NX. So I'll give ViewNX a shot since it's free and go from there to the 60 day demo of Capture NX. The RAW files look lousy as-is with my software, even with Adobe Camera Raw 3.7 that lists the D40 as a supported camera, but with tweaking they look pretty nice

If ViewNX + CS2 do the job I'll probably not go for Capture NX and will spend $100 on something else. Though what I have seen of Capture NX tutorials it appears to be more compatible with the way my brain works

Thanks for the reply
Mike S

DezM said:

The quickest way to convert your Raw files is by using the "Batch
Process" in Capture NX or ViewNX. Either one will give you the best
natural color conversions of your NEF files.

Click to expand...

Trying to avoid more money on software so at this point I don't want to upgrade to CS3, but it might be inevitable to get to something I like. I checked and I have ACR 3.7, it is compatible with the D40, the raw NEF's display in Bridge, so right now it is learn how to use it better. Don't know much about Lightroom, I'll check into it

Thanks
Mike S

morris said:

Have you considered upgrading to PS CS3 so that you will have a
version of ACR that is compatible with your camera? Once you do
this, bridge will display thumbnails and allow you to open the RAW
files and make basic adjustments to them before opening in PS.
Another option would be to install Lightroom and use it as your RAW
converter and do basic adjustments there. If you want the power of
PS you can still open from Lightroom.

Morris

Click to expand...

There is plenty for me still to learn if I stick to JPEG, really I should stick with it until I have my camera mastered. But I have already had a several pictures that I wish I had the RAW original and I know there will be more

I also agreee with many of the points Ken Rockwell makes, I work in IT so I understand and agree with many of the reasons to stick with JPEG. The technology issues are legitimate concerns for those that are not that tech saavy, but for me those aren't reasons to not shoot RAW

If I can deal with RAW files with similiar effort to JPEG's and get better results I'll do it. If it's a pain or they don't look better I'll stick with JPEG

Mike S

DezM said:

ocrampix said:

mikes1p said:

If you shoot exclusively in RAW, what is the quickest, easiest method
to go all the way with RAW images off the camera to nice PP'd images?

Click to expand...

Make sure first that you really need to shoot in RAW.
In most cases JPEG should be more than adequate.

Click to expand...

Raw will give you more control when editing. The photographer is able
to extract the maximum possible image quality from Raw. It's to your
advantage. If in 10 years or so, there aren't any software programs
that could read our NEF files, save them as TIFF, which has been
around a long time and hold the same amount of lossless data as Raw.

JPEG's are compressed files that lose information with each
subsequent save. If you're not printing these images or are NOT doing
them for a job w/specific requirements, than shoot JPEG.
--
Dez

http://photos.dezmix.com

Click to expand...

I switched to Lightroom this summer and have been very happy. Bring the files in, quick review, quick adjustments, batch to Jpg for print or web display. I can always export out to NX for those tricky situation, but I am happy with what Lightroom does 98% of the time.
--
Herb

Thanks (all of you) for the feedback. I'll be trying NX
Mike S

DezM said:

alexring said:

Agree with Andre and Dez. I didn't shoot raw till I got the Capture
NX cause they were very time-consuming. But Capture NX (and I think
View NX) are the only programms that identify all the settings you
had on-camera at the time of shooting, and reproduce your NEF file
exactly as if it was shot in Jpeg (with the added versatility of
raw). So if you have something wrong (overexposure, wrong WB etc) you
can go and correct it very easily. But if you take good care in the
beggining, and have everything right, you end up with just perfect
jpegs (just as Nikon intended them to be) and have to do almost
nothing afterwards. CS3 is quite improved at opening Nikon NEFs, but
CS2 is just a mess! You waste a quarter of an hour trying to adjust
the image to your liking, just to find out that the jpeg you shot at
the same scene is way better...Get Capture NX!
Regards Alex

Click to expand...

Alex is correct. Capture NX (or ViewNX) reads the in-camera settings
best.

In the past, I used to use CS3 for all conversions and it was time
consuming getting each image right with ACR. With NX, it handles
Nikon's native NEF format perfectly and naturally.
--
Dez

http://photos.dezmix.com

Click to expand...

For what it's worth, here's another vote for Capture NX/2. I started using NX about a year ago, and have never looked back. I first start with View NX to cull my photos (easy interface and full screen views). Then Capture NX to edit and save as jpegs, then import to Lightroom to organize them and make final crops and minor adjustments. If needed, from within Lightroom I can open PSP X2 to "enhance" photos or do perspective correction, but that's not very often.

Fast Workflow? Not really, but not too bad either, and I get the results I want - which is what shooting raw is about IMO. There is a lot you still do in-camera like sharpening, contrast, saturation, etc if you don't want to do it in PP, and Capture NX will read and apply all or any of it.

--
Albert-O
-----------
Please visit me at
http://www.berto.zenfolio.com

OK I just installed ViewNX, since I have a D40. I very happy to say the RAW images look so much better than anything I've tried. Plus simple tuning seems pretty easy and you can perform adjustments on multiple selected pictures in one action. Seems to be a good straight forward photo manager, doesn't have all the bells and whistles Picasa, so I'll have to use it a bit to see if something bothers me. I like that the metadata goes into the file, unlike Picasa, so the effort to tag images doesn't get lost if I use other software. Doesn't appear to take more effort too

I can see that View NX is not for serious PP, and that's fine for me right now.I had assumed CS2 and camera raw would be superior so I didn't bother with the Nikon software. CS2 still has a purpose until I get around to trying Capture NX

Thanks for all the tips
Mike S

mikes1p said:

OK I just installed ViewNX, since I have a D40. I very happy to say
the RAW images look so much better than anything I've tried. Plus
simple tuning seems pretty easy and you can perform adjustments on
multiple selected pictures in one action. Seems to be a good straight
forward photo manager, doesn't have all the bells and whistles
Picasa, so I'll have to use it a bit to see if something bothers me.
I like that the metadata goes into the file, unlike Picasa, so the
effort to tag images doesn't get lost if I use other software.
Doesn't appear to take more effort too

I can see that View NX is not for serious PP, and that's fine for me
right now.I had assumed CS2 and camera raw would be superior so I
didn't bother with the Nikon software. CS2 still has a purpose until
I get around to trying Capture NX

Thanks for all the tips
Mike S

Click to expand...

Glad you see the light!

ViewNX is good for viewing, tagging and batch converting files.

Keep CS2 for serious editing of your converted files. Capture NX in my opinion is a weak editor and also a memory hog of a program. I only use it for my batch conversions or to change the white balance of a Raw file.

Good luck.
--
Dez

http://photos.dezmix.com