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I am using a Nikon D5600, and many times i am shooting in situations where i do not have a laptop/pc handy.

I want to be able to see in camera all the photos i have taken. This needs JPEG as, all RAW photos would not fit in camera. I also want to be able to use the post processing abilities of RAW.

So, i thought the best of both worlds would be to shoot in RAW + JPEG , and delete the RAW files from camera after transferring them to phone through WIFI.

So, i basically, want to
Step 1 : shoot RAW + JPEG
Step 2 : Transfer the RAW files to my phone through wifi, so that i can later on, when i have access to my laptop, move the raw files from phone to laptop for further RAW post processing.
Step 3 : Delete the RAW files from the camera while leaving the corresponding JPEG file intact

I am having trouble with step 3. When i try to view the in camera gallery , it only shows the JPEG file, it does not show the RAW file separately. I am assuming, if i delete that, it will delete both the RAW and the JPEG file from the camera. Is there no way to view the 2 separately in camera, so that i can only delete the RAW file ? Is this camera behaviour of displaying only the JPEG file of shots taken in JPEG + RAW mode common across all nikon models ?

Is using a PC/laptop the only way to delete the raw files and leave the corresponding JPEGs intact in the camera? Is there no way to do this in-camera ?

EDIT : One common suggestion seems to be to just use another larger card. I am already using a large card. But, it already contains a lot of images from the past. So, it has space for about 150 RAW + Jpeg shots. Whereas, If i just keep the small jpeg files, then that much space is sufficient for a few thousand more images. That is my my main priority for in camera storage i.e. to have all the images in small JPEG files on one card for easy viewing. Hence, the solution of using another larger card does not apply here.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. \$\endgroup\$
    – AJ Henderson ♦
    Jul 20, 2021 at 15:13
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    \$\begingroup\$ From the manual: "When photographs taken at these settings are deleted, both NEF and JPEG images will be deleted." \$\endgroup\$
    – L. Scott Johnson
    Jul 20, 2021 at 19:02
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    \$\begingroup\$ "But, it already contains a lot of images from the past." huh? Why would you keep past images on the camera's card? I expect the card would be emptied at the end of a shoot/event/trip when you do have access to your home base equipment. \$\endgroup\$
    – JDługosz
    Jul 21, 2021 at 0:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JDługosz I can't speak for OP, but I know why I'm doing it. My hard disk is full and there's no room for the pictures. I have a new bigger one, but moving everything over and swapping it out is enough of a pain that I haven't finished yet. In the meantime the cards just keep getting fuller. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mark Ransom
    Jul 21, 2021 at 4:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JDługosz Read this part "I want to be able to see in camera all the photos i have taken " . I want to be able to see/show all the photos i have taken without relying on having access to a pc/laptop or access to network connection. The phone memory has other stuff eating up most of the space. The camera memory has space for thousands of jpgs, so it seems a good fit for the purpose. I know the camera screen is small and poor quality, but that is not an issue for the kind of viewing i am talking about. \$\endgroup\$
    – silverrahul
    Jul 21, 2021 at 5:16

3 Answers 3

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Although I do agree with some of the comments, like that it makes more sense to keep all your photos on the phone rather than the camera, what you do is ultimately up to you. So I will answer your questions directly.

Is using a PC/laptop the only way to delete the raw files and leave the corresponding JPEGs intact in the camera?

You could use a card reader with a tablet or phone to manage files on the memory card. Unedited JPG files copied back into the DCIM folder structure with an appropriate file name should work fine.

Is there no way to do this in-camera ?

Although NEF+JPG are normally deleted together, the D5600 has built-in NEF processing (accessible under the Retouch menu). This will create new JPG files that are not directly associated with the original NEF. Then you can delete the original NEF+JPG. However, this will complicate managing duplicates later.

Is this camera behaviour of displaying only the JPEG file of shots taken in JPEG + RAW mode common across all nikon models ?

All cameras I have used that take RAW+JPG treat them as a unit. This includes cameras made by Canon, FujiFilm, Nikon, Olympus, and Sony. I would expect cameras made by other manufacturers to behave the same.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ " the D5600 has built-in NEF processing. This will create new JPG files that are not directly associated with the original NEF. Then you can delete the original NEF+JPG. " Thank you, so much for this gem of a suggestion. I had to look up what you meant by inbuilt NEF processing,, but This helps me achieve exactly what i wanted, and does not require a laptop/pc or need me to buy memory cards/card readers etc. I can delete the RAW+JPEG files after creating new JPG not directly associated with original NEF. \$\endgroup\$
    – silverrahul
    Jul 20, 2021 at 13:04
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  1. My Canon cameras also behave like this and AFAIK this is standard behavior for all cameras.
  2. Assuming 40-50MB for a JPEG+Raw pair you can still put over 1200 shots in a 64GB card. This is quite a lot. I have never achieved this despite a few shoot days where I was shutter-happy and used burst mode. And consider that you'll have to review all these pictures...
  3. IMHO it is a lot safer to use several SD cards, so if something goes wrong you don't lose all your shots. Another advantage over the phone solution is that you don't have to worry about the battery level in your phone...
  4. If your Android phone has a USB-C connector (comes standard on recent ones), you can use a card reader like this to transfer your data from your card to your phone (with the help of a file manager app in your phone). This is going to be a lot faster than using Wifi(*) and lets you pick the files you transfer. This said storage on an Android phones isn't that much bigger than on SD cards...

(*) And this review says that Raw files cannot be transferred over Wifi...

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks, even though it was not a direct solution to my question, you have raised some good points as workarounds, that i will try to look into. One thing you may want to edit out, is the last line. Raw files are transferrable over Wifi, i have successfully done that, so i can say for sure ( i dont know what the other review meant , it was probably in some other context ) \$\endgroup\$
    – silverrahul
    Jul 20, 2021 at 7:24
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    \$\begingroup\$ SD cards are not meant for storage beyond a shooting session. They can fail, they can be corrupted, or they can disappear when the camera is stolen. IMHO you should instead transfer the JPG to your phone and use your phone as a viewer (and have backups of your photos elsewhere). \$\endgroup\$
    – xenoid
    Jul 20, 2021 at 10:24
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    \$\begingroup\$ @BobMacaroniMcStevens My recent searches don't agree much with this. Raspberry Pi users seed regualr phot SD card fail rather quickly, and wear leveling appears to be mostly in "industrial" SD cards. Also, one would assume decent "quality of electronics" in a brand DSLR... \$\endgroup\$
    – xenoid
    Jul 20, 2021 at 22:28
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    \$\begingroup\$ @BobMacaroniMcStevens I dont think you read what i wrote. I understand and agree with what you said about data corruption. But my point, is that MY priority in my use case , is not the data corruption, but the ability to meet the requirement that i have stated \$\endgroup\$
    – silverrahul
    Jul 20, 2021 at 23:15
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    \$\begingroup\$ AFAIK, all SD cards and USB memory sticks use wear leveling, otherwise the blocks containing the FAT would get worn out rather quickly. The amount of spare space (to make room for wear leveling to do its job) can certainly vary like it does in SSDs, and I think SD cards typically don't support a TRIM command to let the wear-leveling algorithm know about free space that it can skip preserving. So serious write amplification is a definite possibility, especially once most sectors have been written at least once, even if the files have since been erased. \$\endgroup\$
    – Peter Cordes
    Jul 21, 2021 at 1:03
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There is a simple way to do exactly what you want, but unfortunately cannot be done with the D5600 (or any camera with a single card slot).

On Nikons with 2 card slots, you can set it so that all the NEF files go to one card, and the JPEG files go to the other card. Then, after you transfer the files you wish to keep, just format the card with the NEF files, leaving all the JPEGs on the other card.

You do have to be careful, though, in managing the filename sequence, and which folder is being recorded to on the card, and which card is "primary", because the camera can get confused, and generate RAW + JPEG pairs that don't have the same base filenames.

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