charles brown Loc: Tennesse

PSE 14 will open my Nikon raw files for PP purposes. However when I go to save the edited file it does not allow me to save as a Nikon RAW file. There is TIFF, Jpeg and several other file types to chose from. I do not want to save as a Jpeg so what would you recommend and why? Large files are not a problem.

As a side note just switched from Nikon Capture NX to PSE 14 so am in the learning process. So far am extremely pleased with PSE 14.

Clemens Loc: Maryland

You can't save a raw file after editing. raw is raw
For the best quality your option is
DNG / PSD / TIFF are the most common used

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

A raw file is not yet an image - it is the data stream that comes off the imaging chip. To simplify, in order to generate an image, each of the individual R-G and B photo sites must be blended to determine the color at a given pixel.When you chimp a raw image on the back of your camera or view one on the computer, you are actually viewing the "translation" as done by the camera's internal computer or the decoder in the computer.

When you open the raw file in a post processing program, you again see the interpretation as determined by the interpreting program. In fact, if you use different programs to open a raw file you may well see variations in color and tone (Adobe versus Capture 1 Pro, for instance). This is because, again, a raw file is not an image file until this interpretation is done.

So once you've opened the file and made any alterations, it cannot be saved as a raw file because it is no longer the stream of data points that came off the chip.

I hope that helps.

Edia Loc: Central New Jersey

The good thing about saving in PSD is that it retains all the information including layers. You can continue to PP by recalling this format. With TIFF you get a non-compressed
image but loose the layer information.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Proprietary raw files are only produced by the camera. You can't make another NEF file from one you've opened. If you do any layering of your image it's best to save your layered image as a pdf or tif. That will keep your composite image in tact for future editing. But if you have a flat image and you want to share via social media, email, or you want to sent it to Costco or your own printer for printing save it as a jpg with sRGB color space.

charles brown Loc: Tennesse

Thanks to everyone for the help.