The embedded jpeg in a Nikon NEF file is of Basic quality. There are three steps of jpeg quality you can choose on a Nikon. Fine, Norm, and Basic.

A crop sensor is a sensor that is smaller than a full frame sensor. At the same focal length it's image appears to be a "crop" of the full frame. It is kind of like if you zoomed out on a full frame. For example:

Shooting a 50 mm lens on a full frame gives you a specific image. Shooting a 50 mm lens on an APS-C that has a multiplier of 1.5 (Nikon's DX) give you a point of view of using a 75 mm lens on the full frame. The difference is that a telephoto lens tends to scrunch things closer together. If you were to take a picture taken from a 50mm on a full frame and then crop it to be the same as that taken with a 75mm lens you would get the same image as a 50mm lens on an APS-C system.

A full frame camera is one where the sensor is the same dimensions as a 35mm film frame. The Nikon D800, D700, D6x0, D3, and D4 are all full frame cameras. The D7x00, D5x00, D3x00, D90, D300 are DX frame cameras which is a smaller sensor. The pixels are closer together. Your smart phone, point and shoot digital, and others are even smaller than the DX.

I don't know how long of a trip you have planned, but I would recommend Vail west on I-70 to US-191 where you go south to Arches and Island in the Sky in Canyonlands. Then back to I-70 and north on US-6 or I-15. Work your way to the Uintas and go north Evanston and through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Then work your way to Oregon. Down I-5 to I-80 west to San Francisco. Alternatively go down US-101 to San Francisco. Go back to I-5 south for about one day travel to LA. Alterntively go down 101 to LA (about 3 days).

Coming back via I-15 east to Zion, down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, up to Bryce then continue east past the north part of the Grand Staircase and then back to vail.

Have fun.

Try www.gimp.org and the links from there. I have been using GIMP on both Linux and Windows systems for years without any virus problems. Don't download it from any of the generic file download sites.

For those of you who don't like the striking sail image, it may be because of me trying to get it to the size that is limited and get rid of some other stuff. Here is the actual image.

Full version of Striking Sail

To avoid confusion, I took the first one and my wife took the second one. Although the second one looks kind of dark, that is very close to what the lighting was. My wife and I had taken a dinner cruise out of Tiburon, CA. It is amazing that we were even able to take pictures since we were in the bow of the boat. You can tell from the first picture that there was quite a wind. When the second picture was taken, it was later and we were out of the main area in a calmer cove.

It is nice that so many of you like the picture that I took. Maybe I am not all that terrible of a photographer.

One of these pictures was taken by my wife with her D5000. The other was taken with my D90. I'm often somewhat frustrated that my wife seems to take better pictures than I do. Of course some of that may be due to she oil paints for relaxation.

Which one is best?

Afternoon sail


Striking sail

It is a two image HDR. It has very slight enhancement other than bringing in the sky from the darker shot.

I remember my first camera being a Kodak Brownie using 127 film. My parents later got me a twin lens reflex. My introduction to SLRs was a Praktica LLC that I bought from paper route money. I had that camera for about 12 years. I know own a D90 and since I live along the wasatch front and am no more than 5 hours from 7 National Parks, I love taking landscapes.

I'm not an advanced photographer by any sense, but I certainly enjoy it.

Angels Landing Trail