You can't view or print a raw file. The raw file contains data, not an image. That is why it is called a "raw file." Your computer operating system checks the extension on any file you try to open, and if your operating system doesn't have an application that is compatible with the file extension, it doesn't know how to process the data contained in the file. In addition, each camera manufacturer uses a different format for the data contained in its camera's raw file. Some camera manufacturers use multiple data formats (different formats for different series of cameras they make).

Raw data from a digital camera must be processed to produce an image that can be displayed or printed. Your digital camera uses algorithms to convert data contained in the raw file into a low quality jpeg image that is displayed on the back of your camera. All raw file processors also use algorithms to process raw file data into viewable or printable images. Different raw file processors use different algorithms.

I am not opposed to a shift to mirrorless cameras. But after looking carefully at a Z7 a few months ago (holding it and "messing" with it), my conclusions were mixed. I am a person who uses camera controls extensively. The smaller form factor necessarily squeezed tome things close together that I would have wished to be further apart. Lots of folks here have already made mention that we've not yet seen a "professional" mirrorless camera. And I believe that is correct. As an engineer with some experience in these matters, my conclusion is that neither the Z7 nor the Z6 has the level of ruggedness or durability that most people who make their living with those tools would require, especially over time. Let's remember...two of the big advantages that everyone talks about when discussing mirrorless are less weight and reduced size. Those advantages are both going to have to be sacrificed to achieve durability and ruggedness. So I'm guessing that we likely won't see true "professional" mirrorless cameras until the consumer technology is firmly established and its reputation can withstand larger and heavier models. At least that is how I would suggest playing the game.

A bigger problem, regardless of comments that I have read here and other places, is the exposed sensor. This is very real for working photographers opening their cameras in difficult environments, like near erupting volcanoes. It's actually very real for all of us as time passes. Sensors are incredibly sensitive components. Have you stopped to think what it means to have 50 million semiconductor devices exposed to the environment? Cleaning can be as damaging as being contaminated. Current reflex cameras provide two levels of protection for the sensor...the mirror and the shutter. Even if designs are changed to close the mechanical shutter during lens changes, contamination om the front surface of the shutter can much more easily get onto the sensor than contamination on the front surface of the mirror.

This shift in technology is almost certain to happen eventually. As we have more experience, and as our new cameras become older cameras, we'll have to see if what we got was really what we wanted.

I have for the first time heard that one should not delete images from the card while it is in the camera. Because it corrupts the card? I have been doing this daily on long trips to weed out bad shots and to avoid being overwhelmed at the end of the trip. Also, when you use Lightroom, you are supposed to download images via Lightroom and Lightroom is not an easy way to deal with a huge number of new images. Anyway, I will download and then reformat the card in the camera, as suggested, if that is truly the right way to go.