Nikon D1 Raw (NEF) Support
Sizing up the Competition

New (06/17/00) - Qimage v8.32 vs. Nikon Capture v1.1 vs. Bibble v1.06

	Adobe Color Space	sRGB Color Space	All Options Off (raw)
Qimage v8.32
Nikon Capture v1.1			N/A
Bibble v1.06

Other Samples in Adobe RGB Color Space

Nikon Capture v1.1	Qimage v8.32	Bibble v1.06

Nikon Capture v1.1	Qimage v8.32	Bibble v1.06

Nikon Capture v1.1	Qimage v8.32	Bibble v1.06

Nikon Capture v1.1	Qimage v8.32	Bibble v1.06

Nikon Capture v1.1	Qimage v8.32	Bibble v1.06

Nikon Capture v1.1	Qimage v8.32	Bibble v1.06

Assessing Color Accuracy

Green grass and blue sky - There's a lot of talk these days about which program can decode D1 NEF images with the most realistic color. Most of the dialog we've seen on the web focuses on which program can produce the most realistic green grass or blue sky. Unfortunately, these are factors that have a rather extreme variation in nature. Grass can be anywhere from dead brown to vibrant green, and even a completely clear sky can range from blue-gray to bright blue-green and a lot of shades in between. Realizing that not everyone has a GretagMacbeth color checker at their displosal (nor is it necessarily the best tool to judge realistic color), we have put together some common products in the comparison above. Most people will be familiar with at least some of the products pictured, and might even have a few of them on hand to compare with.

The color space issue - Ever since Nikon posted a message on their D1 board about the D1 using NTSC color space for TIF/JPEG images, there's been a lot of dialog on the web about color spaces, color space conversions, profiling, etc. Most people agree that sRGB, while suited for the web, is a bit limited in color gamut (ability to reproduce a wide range of colors). An image that is in sRGB space is designed for the "generic low end" PC monitor. A better space (that has a wider gamut) is the Adobe RGB space commonly used for most Adobe PhotoShop work. Although their color gamuts do differ, sRGB space is not as different from Adobe RGB space as you might have heard. In fact, most modern, quality 19+ inch monitors that are sold today are capable of reproducing color in a wider gamut than sRGB. We have found that most high quality PC monitors that have been properly profiled actually have a color gamut closer to Adobe RGB space than sRGB space! What does all this mean? Well, there are several things to consider:

• The full version of Adobe PhotoShop and Nikon Capture are currently the only image editing (or display) programs that even recognize color spaces.

• If you open images in the proper color space in PhotoShop, there will be no significant difference in how the images appear on your monitor. PhotoShop is calibrated to your output devices and knows how to display images in different color spaces. So, if you convert a NEF in Qimage using NTSC color space and open that image in PhotoShop using the NTSC color space, the image will look the same as if you convert in Qimage using Adobe RGB space and open in Adobe RGB space with PhotoShop.

• Outside of PhotoShop, your other Windows/web applications will not be aware of color spaces. This means that a non-PhotoShop application will simply pass the RGB data along to your monitor/printer without trying to profile that data to match the device capabilities.

• This means that all non-PhotoShop applications will simply display/print your images by passing the RGB data from the image directly to your video/print driver.

• Not considering color space versus device capabilities might sound like a big problem, hoever, the difference between sRGB color space and Adobe RGB color space (and other commonly used spaces) may be noticable, but is certainly not tremendous. The images above, for example, are in different color spaces (sRGB versus Adobe), but are being displayed by Netscape (or IE) by simply displaying the RGB data in the file without consideration of color space. As you can see, this does not result in a major difference in color. In fact, most of the difference is in the amount of saturation and a slight difference in reds.

• Qimage's default is the Adobe RGB space. With a properly calibrated (mid to high end) monitor and printer, we feel that the Adobe space offers accurate colors without the use of PhotoShop conversions. For information on how to profile your printer at the system level (meaning outside of PhotoShop), see the printer's documentation and check into using "ICM" color management (located in the print driver under printer setup). For information on how to profile your monitor (or printer if the manufacturer didn't supply profiles), we recommend checking out a program called WiziWYG located at http://www.praxisoft.com/wiziwygpages/index.html. The trial version can be used to produce a monitor profile for free without even buying the product. Once your monitor/printer are calibrated at the system level (outside of PhotoShop), the task becomes one of selecting the color space that most closely matches your devices. Again, the above applies if you are viewing or printing D1 images from an application other than PhotoShop (this includes Qimage). If you are simply using Qimage to convert NEF images and you do everything else within PhotoShop, the only thing you need to worry about is that you open the converted images in the same space that was selected in Qimage's "Options", "NEF Format Options" section. PhotoShop will handle the rest for you.

The 16 bit myth - Athough we are working on the ability to save 16 bit TIF's from Nikon D1 NEF images, there are some things you should know about 16 bit TIF images before you "buy into" the hype about 16 bit files. Some people claim that you need the 16 bit data to be able to perform "corrections" to the image, however, if you get an excellent conversion to begin with, an extra 8 bits per channel is simply wasted space. Here's why:

• Background: 8 bit files are 8 bits per channel or 24 bit color, and 16 bit files are 16 bits per channel or 48 bit color.

• Qimage performs all calculations in 16 bit color space prior to display, printing, or converting to 8 bit space. As a result, absolutely no detail is lost while performing calculations on the dynamic range of the image, performing color correction, etc.

• When any program prints or displays your Nikon D1 NEF images, they must convert the images to 8 bit color because all of your devices are 8 bits/channel.

• Nikon D1 NEF images are 12 bits/channel and take up approx 4.5 megabytes of storage. A 16 bit TIF image from the Nikon D1 is approximately 16 megabytes, almost 4 times the size of the original NEF with absolutely no gain in detail over the 4.5 megabyte NEF original! Converting to 16 bits/channel is not going to give you any more detail than the original NEF at 12 bits/channel. This means, that regardless of the conversion, you are simply wasting 4 of those 16 bits/channel (or approx. 4 megabytes per image).

• There is currently only one image editor that can even read 16 bit TIF's and allow enhancements in 16 bit space: Adobe PhotoShop 5.0. (PhotoPaint has some support but is not fully 16 bit compatible for all functions)

• There are some "image enhancement" methods that have absolutely no effect on dynamic range (work no better in 16 bit space than 8 bit space) such as saturation, contrast, etc.

• With the above in mind, if you want/need to do repetative image enhancements or color space conversion, 16 bit images do offer more flexibility and accuracy. Due to the huge amount of space needed to store 16 bit TIF's, however, we suggest that you save your NEF images as your "digital negatives" (always a good idea to keep your negatives) and make sure that your exposure and color space are optimized up front. That way, you can work directly from your NEF's without ever having to convert them prior to displaying/printing (if you have Qimage). Or you can convert to 8 bit if you need to make minor corrections to the image. If you use a good NEF converter that gives accurate color up front, there will probably be no need for anything more than 8 bit/channel images since 8 bits/channel is easily good enough for any final image.

Camera setup - Since the D1 does it's white balance at the analog level, before the raw data is saved, white balance is an important issue. With the D1's limited indoor white balance capabilities, it is more important to set your camera up properly for the conditions, than it is to have super accurate software! Although a relatively easy thing to fix, since white balance does affect the raw data in the NEF images, it is best to set your camera up properly whenever possible.

About the comparison above - The above products were chosen to represent not only a wide variety of colors, but also because some of them are well known for their color characteristics. The images above were all decoded from the same Nikon D1 NEF image, which was shot outdoors on a cloudy day using white balance preset to ensure that camera setup was not an issue. We have included output from all three programs for comparison, and have included different color spaces because we realize that not all viewers will have output devices with the same characteristics, and because there are no web browsers that support color space profiling.

Some things to look for in the comparison images above

First, you be the judge - Although we can give you some things to look for and give our opinion, we suggest that you review the images and make your own conclusions. A properly calibrated/profiled monitor, age of equipment, and even your unique perception of color can affect what looks best to you. If there is any doubt concerning the calibration of your monitor, we suggest that you first check with the manufacturer to see if they have a profile available on the web, or check the WiziWYG link above to create one of your own.

Next, consider your workflow - Are you looking for a tool that has multiple image printing capabilities? Auto slide-shows? Are you looking for the best "right out of the box" conversion or do you prefer to have more tools to modify the images? Do you need 16 bit TIFs for use in PhotoShop, or do you prefer to print and view directly from your NEF images without using PhotoShop? Each software package has a little different focus, and will address different needs. Needless to say, other than firewire capabilities (auto-capture for the studio, etc), between Bibble and Qimage, you'll probably get more quality image processing cabability than Nikon Capture and even if you buy both, will save a substantial amount of money.

Finally, when in doubt, try them - Both Qimage Pro and Bibble are shareware products that can be downloaded for trial. Before you spend $500 on Nikon Capture just to be able to read your NEF's, you might want to try Qimage ($30) or Bibble ($75). Even if you have to buy both to get all the features that you need, it's still a savings ot $395 over Nikon Capture and that will more than finance the 340 MB MicroDrive that you'll need to store those NEF's (note: MicroDrive still not "officially" supported by Nikon for the D1 camera).

Full Size NEF Images Converted with Qimage

We have started a new page for the purpose of demonstrating the quality of the Qimage NEF decoder. The images in this album are Nikon D1 NEF images converted using Qimage v7.92 with all NEF default options. We simply added the NEF images to the queue, right clicked in the queue and selected "Convert Images". We then selected JPEG format with 90% quality (this compressed the images to about 300k for the web) and uploaded the resulting JPEG images to Club Photo. Absolutely no modifications were performed on any of these images. Click here to access the Qimage NEF's album at Club Photo.

Comparing Qimage with the Competition

When evaluating software for NEF decoding, you may want to consider the issue of quality versus features. The NEF decoder in Qimage was developed to bring you the highest quality images with the most accurate color possible, while requiring the least amount of burden on the end user. Other software may offer more features for image manipulation, but why? While Qimage will return color accurate, high quality images from your NEF's every time (unless the camera is not properly set up), you will find that manual adjustment of RGB levels, histograms, curves, and levels may often be required in other software, making manual adjustments like these necessary. The need for manual adjustments like the ones mentioned here is very rare when using the Qimage NEF decoder.

Properly Addressing the Color Issue

The CCD in the Nikon D1 camera, like all charge coupled devices, is not perfect. The response of the color filters used to filter out red, green and blue light is a major factor in producing color accurate images. The response of the red, green and blue sensors on the CCD must be properly managed, and accurate equations used to address the spectral response that is unique to the D1 CCD. Without addressing this underlying issue, you will not get accurate color from the Nikon D1 camera. The Qimage "D1 Color Correction" algorithm (option located under "Options", "NEF Format Options") was the first algorithm to properly address this issue, and continues to be improved in the latest versions. By doing so, Qimage is able to correct the D1 "magenta" problem and a host of other color problems such as yellow/orange transition problems, inaccurate reds, etc.

Alternatives?

Are there alternatives to using a complex color correcting algorithm? Of course. Do they help? Sometimes. While you can "fight" with levels and curves and adjust the RGB channels to produce better images, this is unnecessary with Qimage. NEF decoders in some other software (as well as JPG or TIF images from the camera) require the use of manual adjustments such as RGB levels, however, use of such tools is time consuming and: (1) you can't always use the same adjustments to fix all images and (2) correcting the raw data is much more complex than adjusting curves or levels on the image, so while you may correct your subject's color, this may have an adverse affect on other areas in the image.

Software Performance

In addition to image quality, decoder performance (speed) is also an issue. The following times were obtained using a 375 MHZ Pentium II/MMX with 256MB RAM.

Click here to go to the main Qimage D1 Raw (NEF) Support Page