.NEF files, what do I need to know?

[Moonbeam1 Profile]

Good morning.

I have been working with .jpg files since purchasing the SPE software. I recently noticed a discussion about .TFF files being better for editing quality and was going to try to start working with them for this project I am still trying to complete. I was going to ask some questions about this but in the meantime I have found out that the person for whom I am working is now asking me to work with files in the .NEF format.

Before I start working with these files I'd like to know what I may expect and what I should know, if anything. is the best way to handle working with the .NEF files? They are very large in comparison to what I have been working with, the first one being 27MB.

I guess basically I'm wondering what differences I will notice about working with .NEF and should I convert them to other formats?

Thanks,
Phoebe

[admin]

You only need to work with RAW files if you're doing certain types of operation. Basically if after you apply effects you can see 'stepping' artefacts (where edges appear in smooth areas) on your picture, that's an indication that using 16 bit images could fix them. They can appear if you make very large changes to contrast, or you are doing lots of certain types of effects after each other. If you don't see any stepping artefacts, then it's probably not worth the extra memory to use them.

Tony