saving to JPEG from RAW what software?

[Marbury]

I have Picassa (free software) and can easily edit my RAW files. I save to JPED and the quality is horrible and blocky when zoomed in. I only have Nikon Capture to play with but its slow and awkward to use and nowhere near as smooth as Picassa.

All I want to know is how to save the edited RAW file to get the best quality JPEG. I can't really afford Photoshop but am thinking about Elements, will this still give me all the essentiel features?

 

[jamesdc1]

I use Nikon View to convert NEF to JPG.

Does Picassa actually edit the RAW file and save it?

All non Nikon software I know of cannot save the RAW file. If so, what would you convert to JPG after your edit in Picassa?

--
http://www.jamesdc.net
-James-

 

[David Grabowski]

I have Picassa (free software) and can easily edit my RAW files. I
save to JPED and the quality is horrible and blocky when zoomed in.
I only have Nikon Capture to play with but its slow and awkward to
use and nowhere near as smooth as Picassa.

All I want to know is how to save the edited RAW file to get the
best quality JPEG. I can't really afford Photoshop but am thinking
about Elements, will this still give me all the essentiel features?

--

Bibble Pro will do it and keep the original.
David

 

[James Gaston]

Since I upgraded my PC to 2Gb memory, I've been very happy with capture NX. I don't do as much in photoshop as I used to.

 

[Marbury]

Sorry, I mean I have Picture Project not Nikon Capture. That probably caused confusion.

 

[RLD]

--

I'm biased, but my advice is to get Nikon Capture, or the current version, Capture NX. Capture allows edting the image and then resaving as a NEF, JPG, or TIF file.

If you just bring in a NEF and save as a JPG it will look just like a JPG from the camera since Nikon sotware knows how to use the camera settings.

As mentioned by others, Picture Project or Nikon View can do the straight save, but Capture lets you do enough post processing that you may not need Photoshop very often. A big benefit, in my opinion, is that Capture will save in the NEF file format which is a smaller file size. keeps the raw data and camera settings intact, and also saves the instructions for your new edits.
RLD

 

[Darkcity]

I've only just started shooting in RAW so am not up on all the finer points, nor have I used any of the programes mentioned in the other post's. But If cost is an issue for you I would say try RAWSHOOTER ESSENTIALS. It is completely FREE, allows adjustments before converting to JPEG or TIFF without altering the original file and is easy to use once you play around with it for awile. I think it's available to download from the PIXMANTEC site.

Hope this is some help to you.

 

[Bill Karadimos]

It maybe slow on some systems but you won't find a better converter than Nikon Capture or NX. I have tried them all and always pick Nikon software.
--

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming - ' Wow! What a ride!'

 

[Jon Scott]

Nikon Capture for me. I see no need for other software except to use PS CS/2 to fix-up some images.

--
Thanks,
Jon.

( D 2 0 0 / 1 8 - 2 0 0 V R / S B - 8 0 0 / S D E X T R E M E I I I 4 G B / M C - 3 0 / N C 4 / N N 2 / P S - C S 2 )

 

[David Grabowski]

Nikon Capture for me. I see no need for other software except to
use PS CS/2 to fix-up some images.

--
Thanks,
Jon.

( D 2 0 0 / 1 8 - 2 0 0 V R / S B - 8 0 0 / S D E X T R E M E I I
I 4 G B / M C - 3 0 / N C 4 / N N 2 / P S - C S 2 )

--

I use Bibble now, though I have NX and an old version of Nikon Capture. At first I didn't care for Bibble but bought into Bibble Pro to be able to use one program for my Nikon cameras and my wifes Pentax as well as a mutual Olympus and the business S2, all used professionally as well as personally. I seem to be able to come away with the same image quality out of my Nikon gear from any of the above programs and we still use PS for retouching , Lumapix FotoFushion for collaging and posters as well as wedding page layout, and Qimage for printing.

Bibble Pro will convert to TIFF or JPEG as well a PNG and retain the original file if you happened to want to convert in another way or with another set of corrections or simply store the original. It includes converting with camera settings, though I don't know how true it runs with them ( seems pretty good).

Anyway, I like NX but NX won't support all the above cameras in RAW ( it will edit their converted files though), I couldn't keep using four programs for RAW conversion.
David