ok here is a posibly dunb question, i was always under the impression that when shooting in RAW any shooting settings would only effect the JPEG files and the RAW is just that raw data un touched and un eddited by the camera - so am I wrong here and changing the shooting menues does it alter the raw?

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The RAW file contains the relevant information from the camera and lens. In addition, it carries a small embedded JPEG used for your LCD and for thumbnails.

Depending on your software, you might or might not use the camera settings. With Nikon products like View and Capture, the camera settings are used. Photo Mechanic uses the camera settings and the embedded JPEG. If you use the Nikon Codec, Microsoft displays NEF files and the related thumbnail. If you use Adobe products, the camera settings are not used and instead you are using Adobe's settings.

Each software program makes a decision to use the camera settings or not. So it depends on what software you are using. The data is there - just not always used.

Eric Bowles
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It all depends on whose software you are using. All of the camera settings are included in the NEF file, but only Nikon's software reads those settings and applies them as a starting point. (Since they are just tags, you can change/ignore them all you want.) Most third-party software reads only the white-balance and then applies their own default settings to the file.

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Joseph K
Seattle, WA, USA

D700, D200, D70S, 24-70mm f/2.8, VR 70-200mm f/2.8 II, 50mm f/1.4 D,
17-55mm f/2.8 DX, 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR, 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 DX

Thank you I was unaware that in camera setting do alter the raw data
Ok sense I'm a Photoshop user the RAW is un changed as far as Adobe is concerned but if I open same image in NX2 than the changes will be evedent SOOOO what are others doing that use PS5 I always shoot both jpeg/raw - raw to the CF card and jpeg to the SD card I dont know why but that is how I've always shot "both" as I've never lost any thing to a card mishap

Thanks

This is the sharpest ever

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The camera settings do not alter the raw data, they just are included in the file with the raw data. Some editors read the extra tags and apply them to the initial view of the data (Nikon), some editors ignore the tags and show you a different initial view (Adobe, others).

What your raw workflow looks like will probably depend on what you want as a starting point for your raw files.

Since most of my shooting is JPG, for the "few" NEF files I process I start them in Nikon's Capture NX, do some basic processing on them, save them as TIF, load the TIF into Photoshop/other, continue processing.

If you don't need/want the Nikon view of the NEF files as your starting point, you can go directly to Photoshop/lightroom using ACR, do some basic processing in ACR, then continue into photoshop/lightroom. Due to the volume of pictures, I will be going this route with my raw pics from my vacation.

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Joseph K
Seattle, WA, USA

D700, D200, D70S, 24-70mm f/2.8, VR 70-200mm f/2.8 II, 50mm f/1.4 D,
17-55mm f/2.8 DX, 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR, 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 DX

thank you much I going to do some testing to see what I get I'll go both routs and see what I prefer In any case i go raw to PH directly I do have NX2 loaded but almost never go there sense I've also incorporated NIK into PS5 for the U-point control points

Jeff

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