Hi

I read that D800 NEF RAW files were not to be supported in Lightroom 3, which I had. So I upgraded to Lightroom 4.
I am able to import JPEG files from the D800 but I get an error message (attached I hope) when I attempt to import NEF RAW.
Can anyone help me? Has anyone else had this problem?



Regards

John

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

I don't know quite what to make of that. I have a D800 and used Lightroom 4, and now 4.1RC, and it reads fines just fine.

I have been told that there is a problem reading them only in one specific, odd situation -- where you take a shot WHILE recording a movie. But I have not even tried that.

I shoot 14 bit lossless compressed NEF's. I have loaded to lightroom both from the camera plugged to a USB cable (from the CF card), and also by a card reader, and done so both from the CF and SD cards with the card reader.

I have never had a single problem importing.

While I have no reason to think it matters, you might want to try 4.1RC (available for download from adobe labs). It improves performance, especially if you use a dual monitor display on Windows (not sure about MAC's).

Are the images actually readable? In whatever place they are when this fails, can you open Explorer (or whatever on a Mac) and copy the files to another location to confirm they can read? Or maybe use some other tool, like ViewNX and make sure they are readable, that this is not a card or camera issue?


Comments welcomed on pictures: Http://captivephotons.com

I don't have the D800 yet but have imported D800 images as well.
I agree with Ferguson's post.
Also try to see if you can open with other programs like Preview, iphoto... If you can't then its a systemic problem rather than one program. I assume you are using Lion.

I'd be happy to test one of your RAW files.

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Thanks to both of you for you help. I can import the RAW files to Picasa and do all the normal things.
I will look at the Adobe site and upgrade my version of LR4. Fingers crossed!!

John

I Have just downloaded and installed LR 4.1RC and, regrettably, the same error message is received when I attempt to import NEF RAW files from D800.......

John,

What software (and version number) are you using to get your files from your camera (or card) to your computer?

bobCooley
photographer | creativeConsultant
nyc/miami
www.bobcooleyphoto.com

Hi Bob

I upload my images to a remote hard drive and then import to Lightroom 4.1RC.

Since getting the D800 and shooting in NEF RAW I have been unable to import the files into LR. In the past I have used Picasa and that will read NEF RAW from D800.

Any help you can offer will be much appreciated.

John

>Hi Bob
>
>I upload my images to a remote hard drive and then import to
>Lightroom 4.1RC.

Have you tried just going straight from the camera, or using a card reader?

I have no idea why it would be an issue, but the thing you are doing that is different from me (and I suspect most) is copying them to a remote hard drive first.

I'm sitting as I write this downloading about 500 shots I did today on the D800. no problem at all.


Comments welcomed on pictures: Http://captivephotons.com

I have just tried importing to LR4 direct from the card and get the same error message. I have also just installed Nikon View NX2, which was suggested on another forum, to no avail.

What do you think of the camera? Apart from my importing problem I am absolutely thrilled by the image quality.....even in poor light (just not quite as good in low light as my D3)

John

To add further to my confusion and frustration I find I can not import NEF RAW files from my D3 either. I get the feeling I have some how messed up the configuration of LR4.

Can you please give us an idea of the system you are running?
Also do you know how to run Console? Its in the Utilities folder. It will give you an idea of the error messages and why they are happening.

http://galleries.gorji.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Another thing to do is to see if your specific files are the culprit of your system. Take your files and use it in a different computer using LR.
http://galleries.gorji.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

John:
BobCooley is having similar problem.
Check his post and the hints I gave him. Thinking globally, its either a software or a hardware problem. Then branch from there.

Can you send me a raw file? I can test it.
http://galleries.gorji.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Thanks for your help Gorji

Hopefully here is a single NEF RAW file shot with the D800.

Mmmm! Just tried to attach the file and it seems that it wants the file converted to JPEG. I tried to ZIP.compress the file but no joy.

John

You can use http://www.dropsend.com/
Its free and does not require registration.
Or if you have dropbox, I or you can create a shared folder.

http://galleries.gorji.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Hi Gorji

I need an email address to send the file to. Please advise.

John

Private message sent.

http://galleries.gorji.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Hi Gorji

Dropsend worked very well. Thank you for that. I'd never heard of them!!

Got it.
Let me look now.

http://galleries.gorji.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

So far the only program that I can open the file is Preview and iPhoto.
My photoshop elements cannot open it neither can LR.
I am running Lion (OS 10.7)
I was successful in opening your file with LR4. I was also successful in converting it to a TIFF and DNG (I was playing with it to see if its corrupt)

I got my own D800 this morning and have no problems opening files with LR4. I know that Apple added software to one of the recent updates (camera compatability software they call it) to include D4 and D800.

Incidentally I am running LR 4.0 only and no LR4 RC. I imported from my desktop and for my own files, I always import from a card reader and not the camera. I am running Lion 10.7.3 on an iMAC (3 years old) with 8GB Ram.

I'll be happy to try to help more.

BTW: I apologize for applying part of my metada to your file. It applies it to all incoming files.
http://galleries.gorji.com

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Attachment #1, (jpg file)

I have tried the SD card in the card slot to the side of the monitor on the iMac. So not an attached card reader.

I agree regarding the resolution from D800. I am flabbergasted )

Hi John,

I had issues reading NEF files and had to download a newer version of Adobe Camera Raw - ACR 6.7. It is still in Beta and has a message stating it will expire (I forget the exact date) but it allowed me to open the files. Not sure when the official version will be released.

Regards,

CJ

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Yes, I am running ACR 6.7 beta with Photoshop CS5. I just bought CS6 and Lightroom 4. I installed Lightroom last night and it read all my NEF files without a problem.

The other gentleman that had a problem was because he used an older version of ViewNX to download the files off the card. It was not compatible with the D800 files and corrupted them. When the same person took them right off the card without using the program, his NEF files were good.

Michael Kaplan
http://www.pbase.com/mkaplan

Hi

I have just downloaded ACR 6.7 and the latest DNG converter.

Here's the message I get when I attempt to import directly from a memory card plugged in the side of my Mac!

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

Dear John:


Do you have any problems opening files from previous cameras?
Or is just the D800?

Gorji
http://galleries.gorji.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

It transpires that I can not open any NEF Raw files. I instinctively thought it was D800 and the problem seemed to start when that camera found it's way into my bag!!

The plot thickens!!

Current state of play!!
In the past I have successfully imported RAW files from D3 and V1 into LR.
Since getting the D800 I initially thought that it was just the D800 NEF RAW files that wouldn't import.
It transpires that I can not import RAW files from any source camera. I have, a few moments ago, shot 6 RAW images with the V1. These will not import and the same failure message is displayed.
I CAN import RAW files from every camera I own into Picasa and ViewNX2.
I feel inclined to abandon Lightroom but it hurts when I've just recently invested in, first, LR3 and then LR4.
I was forced to upgrade to LR4 because Adobe announced that LR3 would not get updated for D800.
ALL my attempted imports have been through a card reader.

BUT thanks to everyone for trying to help. I will report if I ever get to the bottom of this.

John

>Hi
>
>I have just downloaded ACR 6.7 and the latest DNG converter.

ACR as a download is for photoshop, not lightroom. Installing it has no impact on Lightroom. While lightroom uses ACR internally, it is compiled in and not a separately installed component like it is in CS5.

Now the standalone DNG converter is a different matter and I am not sure if it uses the ACR download.

Comments welcomed on pictures: Http://captivephotons.com

Thank you! I learn something everyday!!

Hello again

As you can see I am still in search for a solution.

I have just visited the Adobe site and specifically Lightroom. There is a page which lists just about every camera that exists and gives the ACR version required to import RAW files.

There are several cameras, of different makes, that have "&&" indicated as the ACR version required. The key at the bottom says that "&&" means that a developed version of ACR 7.0 is required and is on it's way. The Canon EOS 1DX is similarly categorised. The D4 is also given "&&" as it's ACR requirement.

I wish I understood all this!!

John

I got a D800 when they first came out but because I had the same problem as you, I figured the camera was defective, especially after reading other people had no problem opening RAW files with LR 4/4.1. So I returned it to Best Buy. Big mistake since I was defective, not the camera.

My friend came by today and we had the same problem with my second D800 which arrived today. I have a 27 inch Mac iCore 7 with 8 GB RAM. Turns out if you insert the SD chip on the "orifice" for SD cards it shows up like a disc Drive called D800. I then used LR 4.1 and it opened the RAW files with no problem. Capture NX 2 can also read these files as well. None of this makes any sense to me. There is no such orifice for a CD card on my Mac.

I have no problems opening my past RAW files from: D70, D70S, D80, D200, D300, D3S, D3X. If you have a Windows machine I don't know what the solution is. I downloaded View NX2 but haven't had much time to fool with it.

I just hope you have a Mac! I also haven't tried running the USB cable from the D800 to the Mac, so you might try that.

Best wishes!

I hope somebody else can figure out what this is all about.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Hi

Many thanks for your contribution to solving my continuing problem.

I have exactly the same spec iMac as you and have tried importing to LR4 direct from the SD card via the card slot to the side of the screen. No joy.

I CAN open the RAW files in Picasa (Google's free software) and in View NX2.

I have all my images stored on remote HDs which are permanently connected to the iMac. LR will not open any RAW files from any of my other cameras.

LR will open JPEG files from D800.

Trouble is I'm no whiz when it comes to computers and find the whole thing thoroughly frustrating.

Best regards

John

I don't speak MAC so my apologies, but I can promise you that the problem is somehow in your configuration or installation. I use lightroom a lot, follow it on www.lightroomforums.net (which I recommend as a place to ask), and your problem is not normal.

If that was windows I would do a remove and reinstall, and look for possibly conflicting products of some sort. Consider calling Adobe (I have no experience with their tech support).

The comments on ACR7 vs. CS6 and so forth are confusing. I don't think ADobe did well in communicating, but ACR 6.7RC supports D800 for CS5. Lightroom 4 (and the 4.1RC) support it out of the box. CS6 should ship with ACR7 which will also support it, but I don't think ACR7 has actually been released even in beta. (6.7 is a beta as well of course, just RC means a late beta). But for lightroom none of this should matter.

That said, I use CS5 with ACR6.7 and can also read D800 NEF's directly without issue.

There are issues with Nikon Transfer if by chance you are using it anywhere; I just know of the issues not the details. Nikon transfer is not part of Lightroom, it has its own.

Try posting details on www.lightroomforums.net, there is a LOT of expertise over there.

Comments welcomed on pictures: Http://captivephotons.com

I agree with Ferguson.
I think what I would do it uninstall Lightroom and then reinstall a clean copy of LR4.
The hint comes from your inability to open raw files in any adobe program. Do a search on how to unistall LR; you want to remove the preference files as well. Make sure you have your Adobe Registration #s available. This is NOT a hardware problem but a software problem at this point.

Let us know please.

http://galleries.gorji.com

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I have no problem with my Mac and Lightroom 4 reading the 14 bit lossless compressed NEF files from a CF card reader on a FireWire port. I would also delete all versions of LR application on your system drive and reinstall Lightroom.
You can also download the trial version of Nikon Capture NX2 and the 2.3.1 update and it does a great job with the Nikon NEF files. However I wanted to keep a pure Lightroom workflow so I am chasing the improvement of my CA issues in Lightroom.

Stephen Schafer Architectural/HABS/HAER/HALS Photography
www.habsphoto.com. Ventura, California

Hi

Many thanks to everyone for trying hard to help me! In the end I decided to leave the problem for a while in the hope that it would go away. Well it didn't and no updates for ACR 7.0 were forthcoming from Adobe. Consequently I have been using Picasa which does open NEF RAW files from D800.

This afternoon I happened to be dabbling with iPhoto and in "Preferences" found an unticked circle at "Use RAW when using external editor"...............I ticked it..............IT WORKS!!!!! I can now import NEF RAW to LR4.1..................no probs!!!

I'm a happy chap at last!

I just found a new problem with some NEF files and Lightroom 4.
I took a test photo to see what 1 looks like when you take a still photo in Movie Mode. LR4 could not identify the RAW... Unknown format.
ACR 6.7 Beta opens it fine for Photoshop CS5.
Looks like they still have more work to do on the ACR7 that is in LR4.

Michael Kaplan
http://www.pbase.com/mkaplan

Well I've tried everything now all to no avail. I shall just have to wait for ACR 7.0 to be upgraded/corrected.
The greatest puzzle to me is that half the commentary around the internet is from people who are having the same problem as me and half the people are having no problems at all. It just does not make sense.
Thank goodness for Picasa.........and that's FREE!!!

This may be obvious, but the message said that you could not copy the files. Can you be importing a NEF and a jpg with the same name at the same time and trying to copy them both as jpg? That would be a duplicate file, which may cause the message.

I've tried every combination of files from several cameras. I can import JPEG files on their own but if I shoot NEF RAW+JPEG then the JPEG files don't even get previewed and the associated NEF RAW fils will not import.

I really appreciate you thoughts and help.