Nikon® D3000 For Dummies®

Chapter 8. Downloading, Organizing, and Archiving Your Picture Files

In This Chapter

• Transferring pictures to your computer

• Using Nikon Transfer and ViewNX to download and organize photos

• Processing NEF (RAW) files

• Keeping your picture files safe from harm

For many novice digital photographers (and even some experienced ones), the task of moving pictures to the computer and then keeping track of all of those image files is one of the more confusing aspects of the art form. And frankly, writing about the downloading and organizing process isn't all that easy, either. I know, I know — would I like some whine with that cheese? But the truth is, providing you with detailed instructions is pretty much impossible because the steps vary widely depending on what software you have installed on your computer and which computer operating system you use.

To give you as much help as I can, however, this chapter shows you how to transfer and organize pictures using the free Nikon software that came in your camera box. After exploring these discussions, you should be able to adapt the steps to any other photo program you may prefer. This chapter also covers a few other aspects of handling your picture files, including converting pictures taken in the NEF (RAW) format to a standard image format.

Note

One note before you dig in: Most figures in this chapter and elsewhere feature the Windows Vista operating ...