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O
Oliver H Photo
Participating Frequently
October 4, 2018
Answered

Photoshop CC 2018 cannot open D800 NEF files

  • October 4, 2018
  • 18 replies
  • 4078 views

Hey all,

so, I've been travelling for the last 8 months, and have been shooting on my D800 along the way. as and when my memory cards were full, I would transfer them (simple drag and drop) to a folder on my hard drive.

Now that I'm back home, I am struggling with a few of the images. Some of the images don't show up as previews in Bridge, and the same images won't open up in PS CC 2018. I simply get an error message saying "Could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document".

I have searched these forums and others and haven't found a helpful answer yet. I did find the "Fix Corrupted Nikon NEF Images" link, which didn't work.

Any other suggestions as to how I might fix and be able to use my precious travel images?

Thank you!

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Correct answer Per Berntsen

Here is the System Info from PS:

Adobe Photoshop Version: 19.1.6 20180808.r.398 2018/08/08: 1185588  x64

Number of Launches: 12

Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit

Version: 8.1 6.3.9600.17056

System architecture: Intel CPU Family:6, Model:12, Stepping:3 with MMX, SSE Integer, SSE FP, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, HyperThreading

Physical processor count: 4

Logical processor count: 8

Processor speed: 2494 MHz

Built-in memory: 16267 MB

Here is one of the files:

Dropbox - Corrupt File - Simplify your life

Thanks for all the help so far!


Yes, the file is corrupted, when I try to import it in Lightroom, I get the message "The file appears to be unsupported or damaged".

In Photoshop I get "Could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document".

Not even Raw Digger will open it – "Unsupported file format or not Raw file".

18 replies

Muqqarib Hassan
Muqqarib Hassan
Inspiring
October 4, 2018

Hi,

The raw files from the D800 will work in PSE11 or higher. So it’s best to buy the latest version if you want to upgrade. Alternatively you can convert NEF into Adobe raw (DNG) without any loss of quality.

DNG Converter is free. You can batch convert a whole folder of NEF files into DNG and the dng files will be backward compatible with your PSE8 software.

Get the latest DNG Converter Mac  | Win

    Per Berntsen
    Community Expert
    Per BerntsenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 4, 2018

    The OP is not using Elements, but CC 2018, which supports the D800 out of the box, so there is no need to upgrade or use the DNG converter. The problem is caused by something else.

    O
    Oliver H PhotoAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    October 4, 2018

    Hey all,

    my bad. That was misleading, Those are just recent files I had worked on in PS. I had actually just shown the screenshot to show the error message. Daft, I know,

    Yes, I can open files of all types, including RAWs. Most of the files (tens of thousands) that I shot while travelling, are fine. It's a couple of batches here and there that aren't working (including some JPEGs I shot on my Fuji X20s).

    File sizes are around the typical camera RAW mark of about 44megs.

    Anyway, here is a screenshot of the files in Bridge:

    Just a generic file icon....

    They look the same in Windows explorer.

    I have also tried (for the hell of it) to download the DNG converter and use that, unfortunately it didn't work. It didn't even recognise the files in that folder as being valid files: "The source folder does not contain any supported camera raw files." is the error message that I get.

    The files are all on my computers main hard drive and have been cleaned off the memory cards

    Any other ideas/suggestions?

    Thanks all!!

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    D FosseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 4, 2018

    Yes, these are PSDs, where are the raw files? Can you open any raw files at all?

    Also that screenshot tells us nothing useful - that's not Bridge, that's the Photoshop start screen. How do they look in Bridge? With no thumbnail, do you get a generic file icon?

    How do they look in Windows Explorer? What are the file sizes?

    Lots of questions, but by the sound of your description those files could be corrupted, and that is always caused by some failing hardware. It could be the card itself, the card reader, the USB cable, RAM, hard drive.

    The link you referred to is to fix file corruption caused by early versions of Nikon Transfer. If you didn't use that, it doesn't apply. And just for the record, the D800 has been supported since CS5/ACR 6.7 and CS6/ACR 7.1.

    Just Shoot Me
    Just Shoot Me
    Legend
    October 4, 2018

    Make sure your home computer is completely up to date. Also I don't see any Nikon RAW NEF files in your screen shot. They are all PSD files.

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