Im waiting a little while to let the dust settle on the D100 firmware before I take the plunge into digital. I see many posts about peoples preference to shoot in RAW format then then using a program named Bibble to process the images. I see an announcement that Bibble has recently been updated to handle D100 RAW files. Is each camera manufacturers RAW file so proprietary that a special program like Bibble is needed to translate the profile properly? Can someone help me with what value Bibble brings to processing RAW file images that Photoshop does not. Thanks Pinto

First of all Photoshop cannot read/see a RAW file so you need to process the file into a format that Photoshop can work with. I've never heard of the program Bibble....my own digi came with software to process images with. I think it's safe to assume that most camera's come with something of the sort. I've only shot RAW format a few times, they are exceedingly large and superfine or fine (which in my digi are tiff's) seem to give exceptional quality. Once a RAW file is processed into another format you can then bring you image into Photoshop for post-processing work....there is no law that all of it has to be done in the software that came with the computer, or with this proggie Bibble that you mention.

Pinto, I have a Canon D60 (and an Oly E10 and Canon G1--older but both use RAW--the Oly has its own RAW format), so can't comment on Nikon's. I have a number of photographer friends that have Nikons, mostly D1Xs, but I expect that this would apply to D100's also--I believe there is a software called Nikon Capture, but you have to purchase it. I'm guessing it is similar to Breezebrowser and Yarcplus for the Canons RAW format. I know about Bibble, but not enough to tell you anything. I'd recommend you try www.dpreview.com and check out the Nikon SLR forum and you would get straightforward infor from people using the software. Oly does have a plugin for PS for their RAW conversion--nice, but my preference is the 2 relatively inexpensive conversion apps for the Canon. Perhaps Bibble is similar--or you may prefer the Nikon Capture if you learn more about it. I've just picked up that information in passing when I occasionally read the Nikon SLR forum or from my Nikon friends. The important thing to know about RAW is that it is basically a negative--with no processing whatsoever and any other format will have some in camera processing.

Oh, reread your post--yes, each mfg.'s version of RAW is QUITE proprietary and requires some conversion program--be it that mfg. or a 3rd party.

Thank you for the fast responses. Michelle A., my Photoshop (v7.0) shows that it reads and writes RAW format. What happens when one opens a RAW digital camera file in PS? Is it just not representative of what the file should look like? I'll go check the Nikon forum. Thanks again. Pinto

I have PS7--it does have RAW as one of the formats, but it can't open Canon's RAW and I feel relatively certain it can't open Nikon's since they are both proprietary. I tried opening my RAW Canon files (it won't open the Oly RAW either--only the Oly plugin for PS will 'import' Oly RAW files) expecting that it wouldn't--and, of course, it didn't. I can't even recognize a RAW file. Who knows why PS put this in--or what RAW files it can open.

Photoshop will not recognize my raw format images, I tested it before I posted my first response to you, just to be sure. And when I say it will not recognize them I mean that the image does not show up AT ALL. Like it isn't even there. In camera my raw files have a nasty green cast to them. And in the computer software that came with the camera they still look green until I tell the program to process the file. There are different options available as to how you want the image to look when processed. Hope that helps.

Attached Link: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond100/

Hmmm--in the Canons and Oly, the RAW has a jpg thumb and it looks perfectly normal. Only if I process and bring the RAW in to PS as linear tiff without a profile does the RAW look different--very dark, and some prefer to work from there whereas many prefer to assign a profile to it before conversion. I know that the D100 has 3 color spaces and assume you can assign one of these to the RAW before conversion. As far as I know, the D100's RAW images look 'normal'. Look here for a complete in depth review of the camera.

Attached Link: http://www.dpreview.com/news/0208/02080703thomd100ebook.asp

Pinto, look at this link. Thom Hogan, a terrific Nikon photographer, has just published his new complete book on the D100. I find his technical pointers useful for any photographer, but this will be very D100 focused and might be worthwhile to think about.

Thank you for the response. If anyone is interested the following is Adobe's explaination of RAW format pertaining to Photoshop. Raw format is a flexible file format for transferring images between applications and computer platforms. This format supports CMYK, RGB, and grayscale images with alpha channels, and multichannel and Lab images without alpha channels. Raw format consists of a stream of bytes describing the color information in the image. Each pixel is described in binary format, with 0 representing black and 255 white (for images with 16-bit channels, the white value is 65535). Adobe Photoshop designates the number of channels needed to describe the image, plus any additional channels in the image. You can specify the file extension (Windows), file type (Mac OS), file creator (Mac OS), and header information. In Mac OS, the file type is generally a four-character ID that identifies the file--for example, TEXT identifies the file as an ASCII text file. The file creator is also generally a four-character ID. Most Mac OS applications have a unique file creator ID that is registered with the Apple Computer Developer Services group. The header parameter specifies how many bytes of information appear in the file before actual image information begins. This value determines the number of zeroes inserted at the beginning of the file as placeholders. By default, there is no header (header size = 0). You can enter a header when you open the file in Raw format. You can also save the file without a header and then use a file-editing program, such as HEdit (Windows) or Norton Utilities (Mac OS), to replace the zeroes with header information. You can save the image in an interleaved or noninterleaved format. If you choose interleaved, the color values (red, green, and blue, for example) are stored sequentially. Your choice depends on requirements of the application that will open the file. The Raw format is designed to accommodate images saved in undocumented formats, such as those created by scientific applications. Compressed files, such as PICT and GIF, cannot be opened using this format. To open a file using the Raw format: Choose File > Open or File > Open As (Windows). Choose Raw from the file format list, and click Open. For Width and Height, enter values for the dimensions of the file. To reverse the order of the width and height, click Swap. Enter the number of channels. Select Interleaved if the file was saved with an interlaced data option. Select a color depth and, if necessary, a byte order. For Header, enter a value. If you are missing the dimensions or header value, you can have Photoshop estimate the parameters. Either enter the correct height and width values to estimate the header size, or enter the correct header size to estimate the height and width, and then click Guess. To have Photoshop retain the header when you save the file, select Retain When Saving. Pinto

Thanks for the book link picnic. That looks great! I'm off to order the book. Pinto

Ah ha.....well now I can see the raw file there in the open box...and when it opens.....I see a big black picture of nothing... oh well....I just stick with what I'm doing.

Thanks Alpha. What is Bibble supposed to accomplish that the Nikon program doesn't? Also why do so many recommend RAW files instead of Tifs. Is there really much advantage? Thanks Pinto

humm...- seems to me that people are a bit confused about RAW formats. RAW format is not really a standard format. If you found some camera that claim to save "RAW format" than you are a lucky one, and maybe it' s a conversion of the raw data that came from the camera's CCD. Most digital cameras has a producer-specific raw file. So Nikon has a proprietary 12-bit file (called NEF), Canon has its one and so on. The only thing that Bibble do is converting images from some canon and Nikon cameras to known formats. It's useful if you are a Nikon user only beacause the Nikon View software (that does almost the same things) is a sh**ty software and does not worth the bit on which it is programmed into. Nikon Capture is a nice piece of software... not a well-programmed one IMHO but works (and it's REALLY costly). Conclusion: what Alpha says it's damn true. Anyway. Nikon do a plugin for photoshop and photoshop-compatible host programs that converts Nikon RAW files directly in photoshop. The plugin is a bit slow, but gives yolu the possibility of change the exposure of the pic and balance the lights using presets (like Thungsten lights, flash, etc) directly from the preview window. The Nikon RAW format (NEF - Nikon Electronic image Format) is a 12-bit file that contains exactly what the camera captures from the CCD, so no conversion take place. It' s a small file (7.6MB) compared to the 11,2 or 16,9 megs of the non-compessed TIFFs saved by the same camera. NEF files are (on the nikon D1X) 3008x1960px @ 300dpi and can be read using Bibble, Nikon Capture, Nikon View or Photoshop in 16-bit format using the proper plugin (given free with the camera).

Artax, Thank you for the very informative explanation. Now I have a much better understanding. Pinto