Bridge refusing to open a number of my NEFs in RAW ???

[marcw44162563]

Massive suprise ... as I've used Bridge for 12 years ... and by chance spotted a pile of my NEFs would not open in RAW via Bridge but individual ones would via Photoshop ... but didnt leave an XMP enabling the NEF to be opended in Bridge ???? 

I cant see any difference between the ones that still open via RAW on Bridge and the ones that refuse to open via RAW on Bridge so am at a complete loss .... its as if the NEFs or the XMPs that I can see still attached have some setting that somehow has been corrupted .... but the NEFs arre OK in Photoshop

[Peru Bob]

I've moved this from the Using the Community forum (which is the forum for issues using the forums) to the Bridge forum so that proper help can be offered.

[gary_sc]

(thanks @Peru Bob )

Hi Marc,

First, whats' your OS (and what release)?

Also, I want to make sure I understand: are you saying you cannot double-click one of your images and have it open in PS from Bridge, OR are you saying when you click on some of your images, the image does not display in Bridge.

Let us know,

[marcw44162563]

MacOS Montterey Vesion 12.2.1 on Apple M1 Max 64GB Memory 

I can see all the NEF images on the file in Bridge .... if I click on 80% of them then they offer me the option of Open in RAW .... but I'm left with 20% which only offer me the option of opening in Photoshop .... 

I thought it might be something wrong with the XMPs that are attache .... but I experimented by deleting them .... and new XMPs are created ... but the NEFs still wont open in RAW   ...I can even add a rating to the images which I can see ... so its not the XMPs .. I think something must have altered within the NEFs themselves .... I've tried copying them it makes no differencer ... they will only open in Lightroom (which I dont want to use .... as I create between 80,000 and 120,000 images most years and historically dont believe in the Lightroom Libraries Concept) .... Happy to send you a one or two of the problematic NEFs to play with , with their sidecars (which make no difference) ... ??  I feel something has somehow corrupted these NEFs .... yet they open in Photoshop's version of RAW ????   

Oh now thats even weirder ... I tried sending you MR2_0644.NEF and received a message back from this message's drop box saying it didnt correspond to its File Extension so wouldn't be sent to you ... I'm at a complete loss now as Photoshop and Lightroom Recognise it as perfectly valid to Open and Edit .... How on earth ???? 

[marcw44162563]

Perhaps I can email the NEF to you directly instead or failing that use WeTransfer 

[marcw44162563]

Meanwhile, attached is the Get Info view of the File in question 

[marcw44162563]

I just downloaded a set of the same NEFs from a back-up drive not used since 2019 

As a result, I can confirm the issue is nothing to do with the XMPs.... instead its something top do with the RAW NEF Files .... which I was editing on one of my 18TB G-Technology Drives.

The original MR2_0644.NEF happily opens on Bridge in RAW

But the one from my 18TB editing drive .... will not open in RAW  (at least on Bridge that is) .... so somethings been written or has been omitted to be written to some (apparently random) NEFs somehow either as I was editing or maybe as I was writing ... I cant decide whether it could be a Montery or an Adobe issue .... its just really off putting ... as I now beginning to wonder what other folders (each one from a client shoot), over the years may have this problem burried ... and I hadnt spotted it till now .. 

Hppy to send both versions of the same NEF image ... to see if your forensics can spot whats different about them

Bridge Knows ... but Lightroom and Photoshop doesnt  

[gary_sc]

Hi Marc,

Just a quick comment so that you know, most of the folks such as myself who peruse these forums do not work for Adobe. We are just folks who've had a bit of experience and enjoy helping people. I say that to make sure you know we do not get paid to sit here and help folks. So if there's a bit of an absence of our presence, it's because we have lives. So, I just wanted to make sure you knew you were not being ignored.

OK, now that I've caught up on your emails, I'm still left with some questions.

First, a primer: a raw file can only be "OPENED" in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). The NEF, CR2, DNG, etc., the format cannot be opened directly in Photoshop. Think of it as opening a Word file in Photoshop; the formats are incompatible. Yet, you can open a Word file, copy the content, and paste that into Photoshop. That's a very weak analogy, but it still works. 

So, when you say the files are opening directly into Photoshop, that's, well, impossible. That is, unless they are either first opening in ACR, or they are no longer NEF files but perhaps TIF files? A small segue of TIF files here: you CAN open TIF files into ACR unless the TIF files have layers. Then they cannot be opened in ACR and will open directly into PS. [Extra note: if you flatten a TIF image to remove the layers, you have to rebuild the folder's cache before you can open that TIF into ACR from Bridge.]

Now, one more thing: the .xmp files. Because you cannot change a raw file, the .xmp files contain all of the information as to how they are perceived. If you open the raw file and think it's too dark, and lighten the image in ACR, the raw file has not changed at all. But when you open the raw file, the .xmp file lets ACR (or Lightroom) know how it is to be perceived to be, and that's what you see. If an .xmp file gets corrupted (or lost or misplaced), all that would happen is that you'd see the raw file as it was before you lightened up the image. Also, the new .acr file is used to contain all of the information of the new masking tools introduced into ACR and the Lightroom programs.

Does this help you at all?

[marcw44162563]

Thanks Gary ... indeed I wasnt aware you were not in Adobe ... 

Kind generosity indeed 

In fact I didnt really need your primer ... I am a long term power user and pretty well understood that. 

The problem is ... the NEFs have been corrupted  ... albeit so very slightly... in that they still do open in Photoshops ACR ... but not in Bridge's 

The only thing I can think of is that some months ago I was creating JPGs from all the 3 and 4 rated files ... when a lightning bolt tripped our power ... and the remote hard drives unceremoneously shut down about half way through the writing process. I still cant believe it would have corrupted some of the NEFs  that it wasnt actively working on ... but maybe it didnt leave them in quite the right state 

Everything seemed normal ... but yesterday ... I spotted that some of my NEFs werent opening any further than showing an Image and Metadata in Bridge... and realised Bridge was showing a count of 400 files "Not RAW" ... when they are RAW ?? 

Oh well I'm gonna put it down to something to be wary of ... and move on .... as I should have original back-up NEFs on some of the 60 old hard drives I used on my PC before I moved back to MACs last year, primarily because of the 5 and 8K displays they are able to support.  

Incidentaly ... I still have my Lisa II which cost me £16,000 back in 1984 with an original Apple Mouse number 174 and ... a Mac version of a Wacom Tablet made in 1983 !! 

Warm regards 

Marc

[gary_sc]

Hi Marc,

Please forgive me if I explained things you already know. Unfortunately, we have no way to know what folks asking questions know (and most think they know a lot more than they do).

And at this point, I THINK I know what your issue is: the plugin, ACR, can open either from Bridge OR from Photoshop. You have ACR set to open from Bridge, while these few images are opening from Photoshop.

If I'm correct, I cannot wrap my head around how that's possible (I'm not saying it isn't correct, I'm just not understanding how that's possible). If ACR can open from one, I do not understand why it would then shift to the other. IF the image were in any way corrupted, it wouldn't open.

I will send you a DM, and you can send me a link to the files. If you could name one "no issue," and the other one "issue," (or whatever you'd like to name them), I'd like to see this. I'm very curious.

FWIW, I'm still on Big Sur, so that will help determine if it's Monterey or Adobe!