Want to start using RAW- Nikon shooter

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Well, your camera comes with Nikon View NX, which converts RAW images to JPEG and allows for basic adjustments to exposure, white balance, sharpness, etc.

I believe your camera also comes with a trial version of Capture NX, which is a more sophisticated RAW editor and converter. It might be worth purchasing as I heard many Nikon users say that it's as good or better than Adobe Camera RAW.

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RAW images are the "raw" pixels taken from the camera sensor. It records data for a wide range of exposure, color, contrast, sharpness, etc., and essentially lets you "retake" a picture. With JPEGs, there is little you can do other than make adjustments to the RGB channels, so you're stuck with whatever exposure, white balance etc. you picked when you shot the picture. However, Nikon cameras have a reputation for producing very good straight from the camera JPEGs, so some shoot in that format only. One downside to RAW is that it is much slower when shooting in burst mode (unless you have $7000 camera).

One other benefit to using RAW is single-image HDR trick. To make a high-dynamic range image ordinarily, you must use exposure bracketing when shooting to take three shots of the same scene at different exposures and combine them with software. With a single RAW image, you can simply adjust the exposure post-shot to each brightness level and simply make three JPEG conversions for making an HDR.

I always shoot RAW only. I like the flexibility of being able to change shot settings and being able to generate HDRs.

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You could e-mail it, but the recipient would need to have Nikon software or at least the NEF codec installed to view it. All camera brands have their own version of the RAW image format (Nikon has NEF, Canon has CR2, etc.). So unless you're sending it to another Nikon shooter, a RAW file should be converted to JPEG first.

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As others have said, I'd go with Capture NX2. It's really very good indeed. It gives you a lot of control. I have started to use it creatively, as well as for processing RAW images, as it's control points are excellent for both. Being able to selectively apply adjustments makes image editing so much easier. I can do things with CNX2, in minutes, that would take 20x longer in GIMP. CNX2 is fairly expensive, but it really is worth it imo. It makes processing RAW images and getting creative, so easy and fun.

Highly-Annoyed