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Enhancing Images
Saving Images
Images displayed in Nikon Capture can be saved in a variety of fi le formats. Hints for choosing
a suitable fi le format may be found on the pages that follow.
Choosing a File Type
Nikon Capture 4 supports the following fi le types when saving images:
File type Compression Extension
NEF
(Nikon Electronic Format)
Available .NEF
16-bit TIFF (RGB)
Available (LZW)
.TIF
8-bit TIFF (RGB)
TIFF (CMYK) Uncompressed
JPEG All images compressed; amount can be selected .JPG
Nikon Electronic Format (NEF)
Images saved in NEF format maintain the high quality of the original photograph; ad just ments
to set tings are not applied to the original image data, but are in stead saved separately in the
same fi le. NEF images can later be opened in Nikon Cap ture and saved again in a format that
can be opened in other applications. As changes to settings are only applied to the original
image data when the image is saved in another for mat, this min i miz es any loss of image qual-
ity that may be produced when the image is edited. Save images in NEF when ev er you are
unsure of how they will be used or when you want to process the original image in a number
of different ways.
NEF images created in Nikon Capture 4 can only be opened in Nikon Capture 4, or in Adobe
Photoshop 6.0 or later using the Nikon NEF fi lter supplied with this product. Photographs
recorded at an image quality setting of uncompressed NEF (RAW) can be compressed when
saved in NEF format (compressed RAW images are automatically saved in compressed NEF
format, and can not be saved in uncompressed NEF format).
TIFF
Use TIFF when saving images for high-quality output or publishing. Images can be com-
pressed using LZW, a “lossless” algorithm that preserves image quality while reducing fi le
size for most images (results vary with the type of subject; note that LZW compression may
occasionally result in increased fi le size). TIFF also preserves the ICC profi le and caption infor-
mation. This format is supported by a wide variety of applications on a variety of platforms.
JPEG
This fi le type is adequate for images that will be output at low resolution or distributed in
elec tron ic form. Compression allows more images to be saved in the same amount of disk
space while preserving the ICC profi le and caption information. Note, however, that JPEG
compression results in loss of image information that can not afterwards be restored. Save
fi les at the lowest com pres sion ratio possible; if necessary, they can always be saved again at
a lower compression ratio.