My Nion3100 is saving pictures into "NEF" format instead of "JPEG. Don't know how it got switched or how to switch t back. Can I re-format the pic on my SD card so I can work with them on the computer

You can use the Nikon View program that should have been included with the camera. or you download the current versions of Nikon ViewNX or Nikon Capture available free at Nikon Imaging Products Software

I just addressed this with my wife. Each of these mobile devices utilize file formats that give them an advantage to save, edit, transmit, conserve data space, etc with in their own product line. They are not universal. ie my wife tried to save a bunch of iphone pics from facebook to a disc so she could print off disc at store. The file format was .php. and not a single pic was usable yet the file said they were there. They weren't. I repeated all of her work and saved them all to a new directory as a .jpeg file. To do this, instead of a right click then save as; I double clicked the picture which opened it in a photo editor then right clicked hit save as then changed the file format to .jpeg instead of .php.Could not have been done without a laptop. I don't care how much my techie son says, mobile devices do not do as much as laptops. I hate mobile devices. Hope you found this helpful.

I use GIMP 2, a free open source editor that is very sophisticated.

I think I had to install an add-on so that it would read NEF files. Gimp converts all files that are edited in it to its own "xtg" file extensions. After I finish editing, I save the picture in the "xtg" file extension then I import it in "jpg" format to the same folder where the original NEF along with the XTG formats are stored. During the editing process, I usually scale the image if I plan to send it somewhere on the web.

I think a lot of other editors have a similar function, especially if the proper codecs are installed.


In addition, in the past I have used conversion programs to do the same thing but it's been a long time. Do a web search for NEF converters and you may come up with a free program or two that will allow you to make the conversion without editing the picture.

Not sure I see a question as printed but I will assume you'd like some info on NEF versus JPG files. Simply put, if you're shooting simple pictures and just want to download, email, etc. then JPG will be fine. NEF produces an electronic equivalent negative meant to simulate a film negative. This gives you latitude to touch up the negative before printing and provides the most adjustment range and options. Many programs cannot use the NEF format so it will mean deciding how you want to save the pictures. Of course, they take up more file space as NEF - 10-12 MB instead of 6MB or so for big JPG files. I shoot all my pictures in NEF then convert them to JPG for normal use and printing. I burn the NEF to a CD or DVD for archive and future needs. All that takes up more space of course.

The D3000 can store still images in two different formats. JPEG is a standard format, recognized by just about every image viewer and image manipulation program in the world. RAW is actually NEF (Nikon Electronic Format), a Nikon-proprietary format which incorporates almost all of the data captured by the sensor, without the processing of JPEG. JPEG files have the color balance, sharpening, contrast, and all the other camera settings done on the picture. With RAW files, you can change any or all of them and produce new JPEGs. In this respect the RAW file is similar to the original negative you get from processed film, while the JPEG file is like the final print. RAW files need special software for viewing and editing.

All JPEG files are compressed to save space. FINE, NORM, and BASIC represent different levels of compression. FINE does the least compression and takes up the most space, BASIC does the most compression and takes up the least space. Compression always loses some quality, so in general the less the compression the better the quality.

RAW+B simply stores each of your pictures as a RAW file and a BASIC JPEG file.

Having said all that, you should use only RAW or FINE settings. You didn't buy a SLR only to throw away picture quality, did you?

Hi dear, most printers can only use jpeg or bmp format .Use Irfanview to convert raw file to either one.

This is a popular program.... it will open the .nef file (raw) and save in another format for you.

FastStone Image Viewer 3.9 Freeware (Last Update: 2009-06-08) An image browser, converter and editor that supports all major graphic formats including BMP, JPEG, JPEG 2000, GIF, PNG, PCX, TIFF, WMF, ICO and TGA. It has a nice array of features such as image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping, color adjustments, musical slideshow and much more.

http://www.faststone.org/index.htm

Are you shooting NEF or JPEG? Most printing kiosks and such won't recognize NEF files.

alexroska, Shooting tethered to a PC for instant viewing/downloading?  I'll have to try that, it's not the card, probably just a glitch from being tied to the PC - and yes you can reset and start from scratch again from the menu settings.  try that first before the firmware which is a last resort. randy320sgi

A file in NEF format (Nikon Electronic format) is data flow from the photosensitive matrix of your camera written without any processing.

NEF contains more information than JPEG or TIFF and is often called digital negative. That's why professional photographers usually prefer NEF to other formats. Besides, many owners of photo cameras store their photo collections in NEF format. This ensures maximal quality of stored photos and lowest possible losses.


Please take a moment to rate this solution & let us know if the information given was useful to you - Good Luck!