In camera settings for sharpening, colour saturation, toning etc only affect jpgs, the RAW file is what it says - raw - ie unaltered.
As for when to convert to mono/sepia, I always do this in PS with a layer and save the file in psd format - that way you've always got the colour version if you want it again at a later stage without having to start your editing from scratch again.
As with anything in PS there is more than one way to create sepia toned images: -
Method 1
- Add a hue & saturation layer
- Tick colourise
- Adjust the hue & saturation sliders to get the colour & amount of toning you require ... I find a Hue of 42 and a Saturation of 12% about right for sepia, - your preferences my be different
- Adding a Colour Mixer or Gradient map layer under the H&S layer can improve contrast & tonal balance
Method 2
- Add a Black & white adjustment layer
- Adjust the colour sliders until you are happy with the look on the mono image
- Tick the "tint" box
- Adjust the hue & saturation sliders to get the colour & amount of toning you require ... I find the default Hue of 42 about right for sepia, but prefer to reduce the Saturation to about 12% - your preferences my be different
Method 3
- Convert to mono using the method of your choice ... for options ee under monochrome on Clive Haynes site or this post
- Convert to Grayscale >image >mode >Grayscale
- Convert to Duotone >image >mode >Duotone
- Ink 1 is your shadows tone - usually black but click on the colour box if you want to change it but keep it dark
- Ink 2 is your highlights tone - again click the box & try Pantone 148C as a starter.
- This method gives the control to shape the tone curves individually if desired by clicking the curve box to the left of the colour swatch box
Method 4
That should get you started
