Deleting files one at a time

During playback, you can use the Delete button to erase photos and movie files. But the process varies depending on the current playback mode:

• In single-image view, press the Delete button.
• In thumbnails view, use the Multi Selector or Command dial to move the yellow selection frame over the picture you want to erase. Then press Delete.
• In Calendar view, highlight the date that contains the file. Then press the Zoom Out button to jump to the thumbnail list, use the Multi Selector to select the file's thumbnail, and press Delete.

You then see a message asking whether you really want to erase the picture. If you do, press Delete again. To cancel the process, press the Playback button.

By default, the camera displays your photo briefly after the shot is recorded. (You enable or disable this feature via the Image Review option on the Playback menu.) During the instant review period, you can press the Delete button to trash the file immediately. But you have to be quick or else the camera returns to shooting mode.

Deleting all files

Open the Playback menu, select Delete, as shown on the left in Figure 10-4, and press OK to display the second screen in the figure. Then highlight All and press OK. The camera asks you to verify that you want to delete all your pictures and movies; select Yes and press OK.

If your memory card contains multiple folders, these steps delete only pictures in the folder that is currently selected via the Playback Folder option on the Playback menu. For information, see the Chapter 9 section related to choosing which images to view. (Set the Playback Folder to All if you truly want to dump photos from all folders.) Remember, too, that any files you protected are not deleted.

Deleting a batch of selected files

When you want to get rid of more than a few files — but not erase all pictures and movies on the card — don’t waste time erasing each file, one at a time. Instead, you can tag multiple files for deletion and then take them all out to the trash at one time.

To start, display the Playback menu, highlight Delete, and then press OK. You see the screen shown on the left in Figure 10-5, which offers two options for selecting files to erase:

• Selected: Use this option if the files you want to delete weren’t all taken on the same day. Highlight Selected, as shown on the left in Figure 10-5, and press the Multi Selector right to display thumbnails, as shown on the right.

  Use the Multi Selector to place the yellow selection frame over the first file you want to delete and then press the Zoom Out button. A trash can appears in the upper-right corner of the thumbnail, as shown in the figure. If you change your mind, press the Zoom Out button again to remove the Delete tag. To undo deletion for all selected files, press the Playback button.

  For a closer look at the selected image, press and hold the Zoom In button. When you release the button, the display returns to normal thumbnails view.

  Images that you tag with the Delete rating, as explained in the first section of this chapter, are not officially marked for the trash heap. When you view your files, you see the Delete Rating symbol, labeled on the right in Figure 10-5; when you select the photo via the Delete menu, you see the symbol marked Delete File in the figure. That’s the symbol that triggers the camera to dump the file.

• Select Date: Use this option to quickly delete any record of a day you’d rather not remember. After choosing Select Date, as shown on the left in Figure 10-6, press the Multi Selector right to display a list of dates, as shown on the right. Highlight a date and press the Multi Selector right. A check mark appears in the box next to the date, tagging for deletion all images taken on that day. To remove the check mark, press the Multi Selector right again.

  Can’t remember what photos are associated with the selected date? Try these tricks:

  • To display thumbnails of all images taken on the selected date, press the Zoom Out button. (Again, notice the symbol that appears next to the word Confirm at the bottom of the screen; the symbol looks similar to the one on the Zoom Out button.)
  • To temporarily view the selected thumbnail at full-size view, press the Zoom In button. Release the button to return to the thumbnails screen.
  • On the confirmation (thumbnails) screen, press OK to select the date for deletion and return to the main date list. Or, to exit to the date list without selecting the date, press the Zoom Out button again.

After tagging files for deletion or specifying a date to delete, press OK. You see a confirmation screen; select Yes and press OK.

You have one alternative way to quickly erase all files shot on a specific date: In the Calendar display mode, highlight the date and then press the Delete button. You see the standard confirmation screen; press Delete again to wrap up. Visit Chapter 9 for the scoop on Calendar display mode.

Connecting via USB

If you invest in the USB cable needed to download pictures directly from your camera to your computer, take these steps to connect the two devices:

1. Check the level of the camera battery.

   If the battery is low, charge it before continuing. Running out of battery power during downloading can cause problems, including lost picture data. Alternatively, if you purchased the AC adapter, use it to power the camera during downloading.

2. Turn on the computer and give it time to finish its normal start-up routine.
3. Turn off the camera.

4. Insert the smaller of the two plugs on the USB cable into the USB port on the side of the camera.

   Look under the door on the left side of the camera for this port, labeled in Figure 10-10.

5. Plug the other end of the cable into a USB port on the computer.

6. Turn on the camera.

   What happens now depends on the photo software you have installed on your computer. The next section explains the possibilities and how to proceed with the transfer process.

7. When the download is complete, turn off the camera and then disconnect it from the computer.

Starting the file-transfer process

After you connect the camera to the computer or insert a memory card into a card reader, what happens next depends on the software installed on your computer. Here are the most common possibilities and how to move forward:

• On a computer running Windows, you see a message asking what software you want to use to download your pictures (or movies). If you don’t have a favorite program to use for this task, I suggest you select Nikon ViewNX-i. The program should appear as an option after you install it onto your computer. I give step-by-step instructions for downloading files using this program in the next section.

• An installed photo program automatically displays a photo-download wizard. For example, on a Mac computer, you may see the downloader associated with Photos (or iPhoto, on systems running some older versions of the Mac OS). Or the downloader associated with some other photo program, such as Adobe Lightroom, may leap to the forefront. Usually, the downloader that appears is associated with the software that you most recently installed.

  If you don’t want a program’s downloader to launch whenever you insert a memory card or connect your camera, you can turn off that feature. Check the software manual to find out how to disable the auto launch.

• Nothing happens. Don’t panic; assuming that your card reader or camera is properly connected, all is probably well. Someone simply may have disabled all the automatic downloaders on your system. Just launch your photo software and then transfer your pictures using whatever command starts that process.

The next section provides details on using Nikon ViewNX-i to download files. If you use another program, the concepts are the same, but check the program manual for specifics.

Downloading using Nikon ViewNX-i

Nikon ViewNX-i includes a built-in file-downloading tool called Nikon Transfer. Follow these steps to use it to preview and download images and movies from your memory card:

1. Launch Nikon Transfer 2 if it isn’t already open.

   Depending on how you installed ViewNX-i, the Nikon Transfer 2 window, shown in Figure 10-11, may appear automatically when you attach the camera to the computer or put your memory card into a card reader. If you don’t see the Nikon Transfer 2 window, start ViewNX-i, open the File menu, and choose Import Images with Transfer. You also can just click the Import button at the top of the ViewNX-i window. (Note that although my figures show the Windows version of the program, these steps work for the Mac version as well.)

2. Display the Source tab to view thumbnails of your pictures, as shown in the figure.

   Don’t see any tabs? Click the Options triangle (refer to Figure 10-11) to display them. Then click the Source tab. The icon representing your camera or memory card should be selected, as shown in the figure. If your camera or card isn’t selected, click the icon and choose the device that holds the files you want to transfer.

   Thumbnails of your files appear in the bottom half of the dialog box. If you don’t see the thumbnails, click the Thumbnails triangle (refer to Figure 10-11) to open the thumbnails area.

3. Select the files that you want to download.

   Click a thumbnail to highlight it and then click the box near its lower-right corner to select that file for downloading.

   These tricks speed up the process:

   • Select protected files only. If you used the in-camera function to protect pictures, you can select just those images by clicking the Select Protected icon (refer to Figure 10-11).
   • Select all files. Click the Select All icon, also labeled in the figure.

4. Click the Primary Destination tab to display options for handling the file transfer, as shown in Figure 10-12.

   You still see the entire Nikon Transfer window; I just cropped the figure to show only the options on the tab at the top of the window.

   The most important setting on this tab is Primary Destination Folder, which determines where the program puts your transferred files. (Look for the option on the left side of the tab.) Open the drop-down list and choose the folder on your computer's hard drive (or external drive) where you want to put the pictures.

   Other options on this tab enable you to specify how pictures should be organized inside the primary destination folder and whether to rename files during the transfer.

5. To send copies of your pictures to a backup drive as well as to your main storage location, click the Backup Destination tab to display the options shown in Figure 10-13.

   This feature is a big timesaver, enabling you to download photos to your primary drive and to a backup drive at the same time. After selecting the Backup Files box, as shown in the figure, use the other panel options to specify where you want the backup files to go.

6. Click the Preferences tab to display the options shown in Figure 10-14.

   Three settings here are critical:

   • Transfer New Files Only: This option, when selected, ensures that you don’t waste time downloading images that you’ve already transferred.

   • Delete Original Files after Transfer: Turn off this option. Otherwise, your pictures are erased from your memory card when the transfer is complete. Always make sure the pictures made it to the computer before you delete them from your memory card.

   • Open Destination Folder with the Following Application after Transfer: You can tell the program to immediately open your photo program after the transfer is complete. Choose ViewNX-i to view and organize your photos using that program. To choose another program, open the drop-down list, choose Browse, and select the program from the dialog box that appears. Click OK after doing so.

   Your choices remain in force for any subsequent download sessions, so you don’t have to revisit this tab unless you want the program to behave differently.

7. Click the Start Transfer button, found at the bottom of the Nikon Transfer 2 window (refer to Figure 10-11).

   After you click the button, the Process bar in the lower-left corner of the program window indicates how the transfer is progressing. What happens when the transfer completes depends on the choices you made in Step 6; if you selected Nikon ViewNX-i as the photo program, it opens and displays the folder that contains your just-downloaded images.

Processing Raw images in the camera

By using the NEF (RAW) Processing option on the Retouch menu, you can create a JPEG version of a Raw file right in the camera. Follow these steps:

1. Press the Playback button to switch to playback mode.

2. Display the picture in the full-frame view.

   If necessary, you can shift from thumbnails view to single-image view by pressing OK. Press OK twice if you’re in Calendar view. (Chapter 9 has details on these playback modes.)

3. Press the i button.

   You see the i-button menu on the screen, as shown on the left in Figure 10-15.

4. Highlight Retouch and press the Multi Selector right to display the Retouch menu.
5. Scroll to the NEF (RAW) Processing option (shown on the right side of Figure 10-15).

6. Press OK to display your processing options.

   You see a screen similar to the one in Figure 10-16, which is where you specify which settings you want the camera to use when creating the JPEG version of the Raw image. If you press the Multi Selector down, you scroll to the second page of options, shown in Figure 10-17.

7. Set the conversion options.

   Along the right side of the screen, you see a column offering the conversion options labeled in Figures 10-16 and 10-17. After highlighting an option, press the Multi Selector right to display available settings. Make your selection and then press OK to return to the main Raw conversion screen. Or, if a triangle appears to the right of a setting name, press the Multi Selector right to uncover additional options.

   If you’re not familiar with all the settings, the following list offers a few general recommendations and points you to the chapter where you can get more information:

   • Image Quality: Choose Fine to retain maximum picture quality. See the Chapter 2 section related to the JPEG format for details on this option.
   • Image Size: Chapter 2 explains this one, too. Choose Large to retain all the original image pixels.
   • White Balance: Unless colors appear to be wrong, stick with the default, Auto. Otherwise, experiment with each setting to see which one renders colors most accurately. Check out Chapter 6 for details about White Balance.
   • Exposure Compensation: With this option, which I cover in Chapter 4, you can adjust image brightness. When using this feature for Raw conversion, you’re limited to a range of -2.0 and +2.0; when shooting, you can choose from settings ranging from nd5.0 to +5.0. Raise the value for a brighter image; lower it for a darker shot. The camera updates the preview to indicate how your setting will affect the picture. For example, I set the value to EV -1.7 in the figure.
   • Picture Control: This option, detailed in Chapter 6, enables you to adjust color saturation, contrast, and image sharpness. As with the White Balance and Exposure Compensation settings, the screen updates to show you the effect of the selected Picture Control.
   • High ISO Noise Reduction: If your picture looks noisy — that is, marred by a speckled look — enabling this feature may improve the picture. See Chapter 4 for an explanation of ISO and noise.
   • Color Space: This setting determines whether the camera uses the default color space, sRGB, or the larger Adobe RGB color space when converting your photo. Stick with sRGB until you digest the Chapter 6 section that details this option.
   • Vignette Control: Does your picture appear unnaturally dark in the corners? This flaw, called vignetting, can sometimes be eliminated or at least diminished by applying the Vignette Control feature. Chapter 4 has more information.
   • D-Lighting: To brighten the darkest part of your picture without also brightening the lightest areas, try adjusting this setting. It’s the post-capture equivalent of the Active D-Lighting feature that’s available during shooting; see Chapter 4 for help with the option. You can set the level of adjustment to High, Normal, or Low; to darken shadows, try setting the option to Off.
   At any time, you can magnify the image by pressing the Zoom In button. Release the button to return to the normal display.

8. Highlight EXE on the first conversion screen (refer to Figure 10-16) and press OK.

   The camera records a JPEG copy of your Raw file and displays the copy in the monitor. The camera assigns the next available file number to the image, so the number of the original and the number of the processed JPEG don't match. You also see the little Retouch menu symbol (the box with a paintbrush) with the photo during playback.

You also can access the Raw processing tool by displaying the Retouch menu and then choosing NEF (RAW) Processing. The camera displays thumbnails of Raw images; use the Multi Selector to highlight the image you want to process and then press OK to access the conversion options.

Processing Raw files in Capture NX-D

Figure 10-18 offers another look at Capture NX-D, one of the free programs you can download from the Nikon website. When you first open the program, it won’t look like what you see in the figure; I customized the window layout to show before and after views of my photo and to display the panel of Raw conversion tools along the right side of the window. You can customize these and other aspects of the program window through options on the View and Window menus. Click the Edit tool tabs, labeled in the figure, to access tools available for adjusting your Raw image.

As you can see, this isn't a program for sissies; expect a little bit of a learning curve. Then again, you can't really "break" your photo no matter what you do, so don't be afraid to experiment. Your original data is never overwritten because you can't resave it in the Raw format — you can only create a copy in the TIFF or JPEG format.

I have room in this book only for the briefest of explanations of the Capture NX-D Raw-processing tools, but the following pointers should get you started in a good direction:

• Select the Raw file. After opening Capture NX-D, click the thumbnail of the image you want to process. (If you don't see any thumbnails, open the View menu and select the Thumbnail option.)

• Display before and after views of your photo. Again, the secret to customizing the screen layout is the View menu. To arrange your original image side-by-side with the edited version, select Compare Before and After images.

  To hide thumbnails showing other photos, choose Preview from the View menu. You can further declutter the screen so it looks like the one in Figure 10-18 by opening the Window menu and choosing the Folders and Bird’s Eye options. (Clicking the options hides and displays the respective panels.)

• Display the editing tools. Controls for adjusting your Raw image appear along the right side of the window, as shown in Figure 10-18. To display the panel shown in the figure, open the Window menu and choose Edit. Choose Retouch from the menu to display a second panel of tools.

• Click the buttons labeled adjustment icons in the figure to explore various groups of editing tools. Use the scroll bar on the right side of the window to scroll the display to reveal more settings if needed.

  Pause your cursor momentarily over an icon to display a text label that tells you what the symbol represents.

• To crop and straighten the photo, select the tools at the top of the program window. With the Straighten tool, just drag across a line that should be vertical or horizontal. To crop, drag the edges of the crop box that appears when you choose the Crop tool. (The crop is applied when you choose a different tool.)

• To undo all your changes, choose Recorded Settings from the top drop-down list on the Edit panel. The list should display the word Manual, in the figure, after you make your first edit to the photo. Choosing Recorded Settings takes you back to square one, displaying the photo as it originally appears.

  Note that the original appearance of a Raw image is based on default Raw-processing settings established by Nikon. So, too, are the image thumbnails you see in the program’s image browser and on your camera monitor. Remember, a Raw image is really nothing more than a set of numbers, and in order to display a preview, the software and the camera have to make some decisions about image colors and so on. In most cases, the Raw preview looks pretty similar to what you would get if you captured the image in the JPEG file format.

• When you finish adjusting the image, open the File menu and choose Convert Files. This step creates the processed copy of your original Raw image. In the Save dialog box that appears, set the Save as Type option to TIFF and the File Format option to 8-bit TIFF. (If you choose 16-bit TIFF, you may not be able to use the image in other programs, such as Microsoft PowerPoint.) The rest of the options work as they do when you save files in most Mac or Windows programs: Specify where you want to store the file, give the file a name, and then click Save.

One neat thing about working with Raw images is that you can easily create as many variations of the photo as you want. For example, you might choose one set of options when processing your Raw file as a color image and then a different set to create a black-and-white version of the photo. Just be sure to give each processed file a unique name so that you don't overwrite the first TIFF file you create with your second version.

You can find more details on Raw processing and other NX-D features in the program’s instruction manual, which is available online. To find out how to get to the manual, see the sidebar “Getting help with Nikon software,” elsewhere in this chapter.

Prepping online photos using ViewNX-i

For pictures stored on your computer, you can create small JPEG copies for online sharing using Nikon ViewNX-i. First, click the image thumbnail to select it. Next, open the File menu and choose Convert Files. When the Convert Files dialog box appears, set up things as follows:

• Select JPEG as the file type. Make your selection from the File Format drop-down list.
• Set the picture-quality level. Use the Quality slider to set the picture quality, which is controlled by how much JPEG compression is applied when the file is saved. For best quality, drag the slider all the way to the right, but remember the trade-off: As you raise the quality, less compression occurs, which results in a larger file size. (See Chapter 2 for more information about JPEG compression.)
• Set the image size (number of pixels). To resize the photo, select the Change the Image Size check box and then enter a value (in pixels) for the longest dimension of the photo. The program automatically fills in the other value.
• Select all three Remove check boxes. The boxes are located under the Change Image Size option. Selecting the boxes removes unnecessary camera metadata, which reduces image file size.

• Tell the program where you want to store the reduced-size file and how you want to name the file. Use the options in the Save In area of the Convert Files dialog box handle this bit of business.

  If you’re resizing a JPEG original, be sure to give the small version a new name to avoid overwriting that original. I like to add the words “For Web” to the filenames of my online versions — for example, if the original is DSC_0020.jpg, I name the online version DSC_0020 For Web.jpg. That way, it’s easy to find the file that is ready for online use.

After working your way through the Convert Files dialog box options, click the Convert button to create the small-size JPEG version of your original.

Resizing pictures from the Retouch menu

The resizing tool on the camera’s Retouch menu works on both JPEG and Raw images. With both types of files, your resized copy is saved in the JPEG format. You have two ways to use this feature:

• Resize a single photo. Set the camera to playback mode, display the photo, and press the i button. On the screen that appears, select Retouch, as shown on the left in Figure 10-19, and press the Multi Selector right. You then see the screen shown on the right in the figure. Choose Resize and then press the Multi Selector right to display the screen shown in Figure 10-20.

  The first value shows the pixel dimensions of the small copy; the second, the total number of pixels, measured in megapixels. Highlight a size and press the Multi Selector right. On the next screen, highlight Yes and press OK.

• Resize a batch of photos. Display the Retouch menu and choose Resize, as shown on the left in Figure 10-21. Press OK to display the screen shown on the right in the figure. First, select Choose Size, as shown in the figure, to display the screen where you can select the pixel count of the small images. Press OK to return to the Resize screen and then choose Select Image, as shown on the left in Figure 10-22. You then see thumbnails of your photos, as shown on the right in the figure.

  Use the Multi Selector to move the yellow selection frame over an image you want to resize, and then press the Zoom Out button to tag it with a Resize icon (labeled in the figure). Highlight the next photo, rinse, and repeat. After tagging all the photos, press OK to display the go-ahead screen; highlight Yes and press OK.

In both cases, the camera duplicates the selected images and downsamples (eliminates pixels from) the copies to achieve the size you specified. The small copies are saved in the JPEG file format, using the same Image Quality setting (Fine, Normal, or Basic) as the original. Raw originals are saved as JPEG Fine images. Either way, your original picture files remain untouched.

During playback, small-size copies are marked with the same Resize symbol you see in Figure 10-22. In some playback display modes, you also can view the pixel dimensions of the resized image. See Chapter 9 for help enabling and using the different display modes.