Many thanks Box Brownie - I like the recipe analogy!I prefer to think of a raw file as the ingredients to a dish...................the post processing (raw convertor) software takes the unprocessed ingredients and turns them into the final 'plate of food'.
As you may appreciate there are variations on which software will handle the ingredients to taste (yours or a 3rd party viewer?).
Now, the likes of Faststone will have their default settings to create the jpeg, as will almost all such software programs.
The advantage to the photographer in shooting raw is that using the likes of DxO PL, Capture 1, LR & photoshop, Affinity Photo etc is that you can exercise more control by your own choosing
So, simply answer is yes.............Faststone will create the jpeg. But IMO why shoot raw if you are content with doing it that way, as you might as well set the camera to raw & jpeg......or maybe even only jpeg
Hi Dave - I edit the raw file before converting but don't see any difference - I'll try other software as has been suggested
Yes, it matters, at least if you don't want to do a lot of fiddling afterwards. Take a raw image and run it through several different converters with the default settings, and you'll see significant differences in (e.g.) how the colours turn out. One reason for this is that the various companies have generated different colour profiles for a given camera independently, so the results don't quite match, and some just use a generic profile. Another reason is that many converters ignore in-camera settings like Nikon's Picture Controls. There may be other differences in the choice of defaults, and in the algorithms used for things like highlight recovery and noise reduction.
www.dpreview.com
Many thanks Retune will give it a try - that's tonight sorted!!!Yes, it matters, at least if you don't want to do a lot of fiddling afterwards. Take a raw image and run it through several different converters with the default settings, and you'll see significant differences in (e.g.) how the colours turn out. One reason for this is that the various companies have generated different colour profiles for a given camera independently, so the results don't quite match, and some just use a generic profile. Another reason is that many converters ignore in-camera settings like Nikon's Picture Controls. There may be other differences in the choice of defaults, and in the algorithms used for things like highlight recovery and noise reduction.
If you want a converter that gives you default results that match the in-camera jpegs quite closely and both honours and allows you to change the Picture Control settings, take a look at Nikon's own free NX Studio package. This is very useful to have as a 'reference' converter. It can export to either tiff or jpeg.
NX Studio | Image viewing and editing software
Introducing NX Studio, a new image-processing suite designed for viewing, processing and editing images captured with Nikon digital cameras. Free to download!www.nikon.co.ukNX Studio | Software | Nikon Consumer
imaging.nikon.comAnother decent free option is the Express version of Capture One:Review: Nikon NX Studio answers our plea for a free, all-in-one editing app
Nikon's new NX Studio software suite combines the company's previous ViewNX-i and CaptureNX-D applications into a single one-stop solution for editing Raw files from your Nikon digital camera. Find out more about its updates and enhancements in our review.
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If you want a converter that gives you default results that match the in-camera jpegs quite closely and both honours and allows you to change the Picture Control settings, take a look at Nikon's own free NX Studio package. This is very useful to have as a 'reference' converter. It can export to either tiff or jpeg.
NX Studio | Image viewing and editing software
Introducing NX Studio, a new image-processing suite designed for viewing, processing and editing images captured with Nikon digital cameras. Free to download!www.nikon.co.uk
But you could also produce a calibrated profile which ensures you have the correct colours. I have done this for each of my cameras using the X-Rite Colour Checker with the Adobe Labs software. I know this is over the top for most people but at least I start with correct colors before I fiddle with them. Different cameras of the same model produces different colours so it is not true that the JPEG is necessarily correct. All the sensor are slightly different so calibration is the only way to go for accuracy. I know a wedding photographer who uses two identical Nikon DSLR's with different lenses to avoid lens changes during the wedding. He had to calibrate both or the colours were different from each camera and people notice the colour of clothing at weddings or fashion shoots.
I think if you're prepared to put the extra work in to produce an individually calibrated workflow, you can use any raw converter you like that supports custom profiles. And if you are hardcore, I suppose you'll want to shoot a colour test target on-site to adjust for the specific lighting conditions of your shoot (which must make a bigger difference than any sample variation between cameras of the same model). But I've generally been pleased with Nikon's in-camera jpeg rendering, or a NEF processed with their own converter, and rather less pleased with the output from Adobe's and most other third party converters with their defaults and standard profiles. Things may have improved since the days of CS6, of course (I don't have CC).
You could tweak the colours, contrast, etc via the Picture Style/Control in camera, and the Nikon software would apply that to the Jpeg conversion. Not sure changes like that would be picked up by a 3rd party software from a back engineered profile. 
