Will I have to have special software to view Nikon D700 or D300 pics on my computer?

Question

Will I be able to just hook the camera to my computer and upload/edit/print the photos or will I have to have special software.

Note: I know I need a USB cable. (Not a complete dunce, lol!)

Answer 1

Nikon has it's own program called Picture Project and it can save pictures in several formats including .jpeg. Nikon does have a raw format that ends in .nef that is similar to .tif format and saves pixel by pixel rather than the .jpg / .jpeg that saves in blocks of pixels and can reduce quality and storage size. Nef files are not viewable without the Nikon Picture Project except the thumbnails. Picture Project has limited editing features and you should have no problem viewing and editing however if you want more editing features you will need a special program for that. Adobe Photo Shop, Jasc Paint Shop Pro or similar program for detailed editing.

Answer 2

If you shoot in Jpeg the answer is no. You don't need any special software. If however you shoot in RAW you will need the software that comes with the camera or Photoshop to process the RAW files and convert them to TIFF, Jpeg or any other format. Those are both great cameras but if you don't know what software you need I feel that you will probably be wasting your money. Those camera are not for the beginner. You would be better off buying a lesser model and investing the extra money in good lenses. The lens will make much more of a difference in image quality than the camera body will.

Answer 3

If you shoot in RAW, you'll need some sort of software to open and edit these files. Something like Nikon Capture NX. If you just shoot in JPEG, which you shouldn't anyway, you should just be able to open them without any software besides what is on your computer.