The processing cannot possibly be lossless, otherwise the file would be 36 megabytes. The artifacts I see in some raw images are the result of bicubic sampling used in the compression algorithm. The appearance of these artifacts is unmistakable, having a geometric regularity and not at all like typical jpeg artifacts. Nikon cameras have historically used LOW pass filters in their DSLRs and that filter was user removable in the DCS315 and DCS330 cameras. These low pass filters tended to diffuse the image slightly. The newer generation of camera sensors have such high resolution that the low pass filter is considered superfluous, albeit my D3200 still has one. There is a definite improvement in image detail and sharpness without the low pass filters, though at the expense of aliasing on some edges!
PS- The proprietary TIF format images from the DCS330 cameras are 3 megapixels and have an 18 megabyte file size, truly a lossless output file.

"RAW" is most certainly useful to some photographers some of the time. Raw images are processed in camera only a small amount compared to jpeg images, but even Raw images must have some in camera processing to be useful at all. Some cameras are better than others at this processing for Raw output and some are downright poor! The Raw images from my Nikon D3200 average about 19 megabytes for a 24.1 megapixel image that has 12 bit color depth. If truly unprocessed, that file would be about 36 megabytes. The Raw files from this camera are compressed, almost 2:1 and if I look carefully at a pixel level I can even see compression artifacts! I did own one digital camera that had a true Raw output in a lossless TIFF format. That camera was an early Kodak/Nikon DCS200. The output file actually consisted of red, green and blue pixels! There were no brown or yellow or purple pixels, just the raw RGB! These images required post processing to be useful. I still have that camera, right where it belongs among the old and obsolete film cameras.

Below is a snippet from a 1983 interview between James Watt & Ansel Adams. Thoughts or comments? Does Adams' comments still hold true today?

Watt: Don't you believe there are standards that can apply to all photography?

Adams: I think there are, but it's very tricky. One photographer I know is almost diabolically concerned with making poor images. The prints are terrible and the compositions are dreadful--the horizons aren't straight and all is very casual and haphazard. However, his subjects have a very definite human interest--street scenes, families, bars. If they were presented simply as slices of human experience, that would be fine. But when they are mounted and put on a wall behind glass, they immediately take on the appearance of being more than they are. The photographer becomes the "in" thing, critics applaud, prices shoot up and books are bound. To me, the emperor still has no clothes. And I particularly resent the intentional lack of craft. The painter Arp is often misquoted as having said, "If I say it's art, it's art." In fact, I am told, he said, "If I say it's art, it's art to me." The first is a very arrogant, belligerent statement. The second simply states that art is personal and subjective. Well, you may say a photograph that is very carelessly composed and executed is art, but to me it is bad craft and little more than that. On the other hand, art, to me, is what strikes me in some very special way.

What Nikon should I buy. I have around $2000 Aus dollars to spend. I currently own a Nikon D90 and would like to up grade to a full frame camera. (Will use my D90 as a back up camera).

My love is of portrait photography (outdoor families and studio baby) and my small buisiness is starting to pick up.

I have been looking at the D7100 which is around $2000 in my local camera store or $1500 online. I would preder to buy local as I can pay it off.

I have a sigma 70-200mm lens that should go onto a full frame but my other lenses probably won't. (kit lens 18-105 and AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8D) I also have a nikon speedlight SB-700 will this also fit?

So any suggestions as to which camera and possibly one extra lens?