Nikon D70 and Epson PIM/Photoshop questions

Hi,

I recently purchased an Epson R200 printer to see how well it would do
against my old HP PSC 2210. So far I've been very impressed with the
quality of the output.

I do have a few questions about the Print Image Manager plugin for
photoshop.

It seems that the only type of image the PIM importer will read is the
JPG format from my Nikon D70. I really want to be able to read a camera
raw (.NEF) file. Even one imported and resaved as a TIF or JPG.

Does anyone know if it is possible to use a NEF based image with the
PIM plugin in photoshop?

[One complex workaround I have used is to take a single JPEG on the
shoot, import this into PIM. The I load my NEF files and copy and paste
the NEF image as a layer into the previously imported PIM and thus
convert to the Epson RGB colorspace - this appears to work.]

The skin tones in PIM pictures print *really* well - way better then
the results I had with the older HP. It's just a shame that I haven't
found a way to work with NEF files.

The method is called "color management."
If set up properly your raw file will be imported into Photoshop in the
Adobe RGB color space.
You will need to color profile your monitor.
You will need to learn to print using color management (very easy to do with
Epson printers and Photoshop).
The easiest way to learn the basics is to work through the Epson Print
Academy on the Epson web site.
If done properly you will be astounded at what you can achieve.