Pix were taken as RAW and need to convert to jpeg so I can download with supported program

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

It sounds like you are shooting your photo's in RAW. You need to either change your camera to shoot in JPEG or purchase photo editing software that supports RAW format files. There is a free editing program called Raw Therapee.

If your camera did not come with the software to convert RAW images, and your computer does not have a photo editing program with a raw converter built-in, there are editing programs you can purchase such as Photoshop Elements (about $99) that can do the job and much more.

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

Raw pictures have to be converted to jpeg. You need a program such as Photoshop Elements to do that. Until you do, shoot jpeg only.

ACDsee, has a trial version, It can open and convert .RAW files.
http://store.acdsee.com/DRHM/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayProductDetailsPage&SiteID=acd&Locale=en_US&ThemeID=834200&Env=BASE&productID=106893200

Good program, maybe worth buying.

Cheers.

If you have the 5D Mark II (the latest version,) the raw converter in Photoshop CS3 does not support the format. If you have the earlier version of lthe 5D, download the latest raw converter update from Adobe (free}

If you have the Mark II you can do one of three things to continue using Photoshop:

1. Upgrade to CS4. The latest update for it's raw converter supports the 5D Mark II.

2. Download the Adobe DNG Converter when 5.2 version becomes available and convert your cr2 files to the DNG format which CS3 can read. In the past this has been available as a free download form Adobe, but it's not currently on their site.

3. Use the raw converter that came with your camera.

"AW files are usually proprietary to the camera manufacturer and sometimes to the specific model of camera. That means, only the camera that takes the picture can understand the information collected on the camera sensors. That information is then translated by means of firmware (software) built into the camera and the usual result is a more user friendly format called JPEG."
From
Understanding RAW Format
Read also wikipedia :
Raw image format
In substance many software do not manage Raw format, this is normal. The newer photoshop CS3 can manage some Raw format , depending on the camera.

Photoshop 6 does not read Sony RAW format.
You need to export pictures from camera using jpeg, or to use a converter software if pictures are already on computer, see:
Convert RAW to JPG

RAW quality will always be at least as good as JPEG quality. The reason your JPEGs are coming out sharper is that the camera is actually doing post-processing on the RAW data, performing sharpening, white balance, contrast and brightness adjustment, etc., before saving the JPEG. The RAW data, as the name implies, is taken straight from the sensor, without the sharpening and other post-processing applied to it.

Ignoring the JPEG artifacts, which isn't about the extra grain in both the TIFF and JPEG images produced by the convertor, is it possible that different sharpness settings were used for the output images that for the on screen review? High values of sharpening without using an appropriate noise threshold value will have the effect of increasing noise/grain.