Finch585 Loc: Northern California

I'm new and on a budget so I'm considering buying Elements instead of PS. I believe I've seen info that indicates Elements 9 can convert Nikon's RAW (NEF). Has anyone here done that successfully with Elements? Thank you.

apdempster

I have been using elements 9 to open Raw and it work fine. Elements opens in a special window and allows you to do some edits and then you can import the product back to elements and save to the format you want

drbarrymary Loc: No. Carolina, Florida

I, also use Elements 8, and can say that my raw files open easily. I really like the Elements.

Nomad Loc: Batavia, IL

Adobe Lightroom ($299-ish) opens NEF and converts them to DNG files (Adobe standard Digital NeGative format). It will also export JPEGs, TIFFs (8 or 16-bit/component), Choice of ProPhotoRGB, AdobeRGB or sRGB Color Spaces. etc.
It is the best program for cataloging your photos, but can have a learning curve. But it may be overkill for many.
It has an extensive set of sliders to adjust:
1. Color Temperature
2. Tint
3. Exposure
4. Recovery
5. Fill Light
6. Blacks
7. Brightness
8. Contrast
9. Clarity
10. Vibrance
11. Saturation
12 Tone Curve (Highlights/Lights/Darks/Shadows)
13. HSL (Hue/Saturation/Luminance)
14. Split Toning for Highlights and Shadows
15. Sharpening
16. Noise Reduction
17. Highlight Priority
18. Grain (simulated)
19. Crop & Straighten
20. Gamma Correction
Plus more...