Nikon D800 Definitely NOT Supported in ACR RC 6.7 or in Photoshop CS6 beta with ACR 7

[trksterq]

It's been my experience that I am unable to view RAW images shot by my new Nikon D800 with ACR 6.7 installed, or with Photoshop CS 6 beta which includes an ACR 7 plug-in. This is true whether I'm shooting in Live View or not.

Anyone else having difficulty with RAW images shot by the Nikon D800?

[Jim Omaha]

How do I post a file? it's about 40 mb

[MadManChan2000]

You can send it to me via Dropbox, YouSendIt.com, (or similar service) with target email address of madmanchan2000@yahoo.com.

Eric

[Jim Omaha]

file has been sent

[trksterq]

I also sent you a NEF file from the D800 I can't open in PS, Bridge, etc. via Dropbox.

[trksterq]

I started this post some time ago. I have yet to be able to view NEF files from my D800 in Photoshop, Bridge, Capture One, or any other non-Nikon software that purports to have been upgraded to read D800 NEF files. Of course, I can view the RAW files in Capture NX 2, but I would rather work with these files in Photoshop and Adobe Camera RAW.

The only time I have been able to view D800 NEF files in Adobe software is when I used Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 on my laptop  to take my shots. I don't understand this, but I fear that Adobe has not solved the new NEF file format completely yet, but enough users have had enough success for them to think they have.

[ssprengel]

What firmware does the camera have?  Perhaps something has changed?

I just tested ACR 6.7 RC(1) with CS5 this afternoon and I can read a sample D800 file:

   http://movies.dpreview.com.s3.amazonaws.com/nikon_d800/DSC_0241.NEF.zip

I downloaded from DPReview D800 RAW studio comparison page:

   http://www.dpreview.com/previews/nikonD800/9

Opening DSC_0241.NEF in PS-CS5/ACR 6.7 RC, here is the proof it works, at least with my computer and this NEF:

[Jim Omaha]

ssprengel - I was able to open that file for dpreview with no problem.

[trksterq]

I too could open the NEF file from the DPReview site, but it does not follow that I can open my own NEF files in Photoshop or ACR except in the limited circumstances explained in an earlier post. Which I believe may hold the clue to the problem. There must be some sort of processing going on as the NEF file gets downloaded to my laptop computer (I don't have to take my memory card out of the camera and put it into a card reader in these cases) from Camera Control Pro that allows the file to be read by Adobe Bridge and Camera Raw.

This really needs some Adobe Photoshop software guys/engineers to look at. You're not seeing more squawking online because the camera is expensive and not in the hands of lots of people yet.

[MadManChan2000]

This raw file does not have the usual metadata characteristics that Nikon NEF files have.

How did you shoot or copy this image?  The indicated software is Nikon Transfer 1.5 M.  Did you try copying the image directly off the card (e.g., using a card reader) instead of Nikon Transfer?

Eric

[trksterq]

I use Nikon Transfer in conjunction with a card reader to transfer these files to my desktop, either Windows 7 Ultimate or Mac Lion, latest version.

These NEF files are seen in Windows Explorer as thumbnail images, but do not open up in Photoshop or Bridge or Camera Raw. If I right-click on the Explorer thumbnail and request it to open with Photoshop 5.1, it produces the error messaqge: "Could not complete your request because the file appears to be from a camera model which is not supported by the installed version of Camera Raw."

My Camera Raw version in "Help" "About Plug-ins" is 6.7.0.319 

As I've said, the only time I've been able to open my NEF files in Camera Raw and Photoshop was when I used Nikon's Camera Control Pro 2(This software allows me to shoot my camera from software on a computer), in which, as the shots are exposed, they are automatically transferred to my laptop where Camera Control resides. That laptop runs Windows 7 Ultimate, 32-bit. The two desktops run 64-bit versions of Windows and Mac Lion, respectively.

To add to the confusion, I downloaded a trial version of PhaseOne's CaptureOne which is described as updated to handle D800 NEFs, but no go for me.

I just tried a shot with my Win 7 Desktop, which also has Camera Control Pro 2 on it, the files are automatically downloaded to my Users/My Pictures folder, and the NEF opens up in Camera Raw, and then in Photoshop when I request it. This works whether I shoot in "live View" or not.

Any thoughts?

[trksterq]

Maybe sending  you the file as it is from the Camera Control Pro download to a folder on my computer will reveal some differences that explain this phenomenon.

[trksterq]

Eric,

Taking a cue from your first question, I shot a picture handheld, and used a card reader to to transfer the image to my desktop by copying and pasting, instead of going through Nikon Transfer, and the image is viewable in Camera Raw and Photoshop CS5.1.

Great! I'll talk to Nikon Tech Support to let them know this.

[ssprengel]

I would stop using Nikon Transfer. Just use Finder or Windows Explorer to move the file from your card to your hard-drive, or even use LR’s function to do that. Nikon Transfer is apparently changing the contents of the files and making them unrecognizable to non-Nikon products.

[Jim Omaha]

I just took a few shots and transferred the files from the card to the hard drive by dragging them rather than using Nikon Transfer. I was able to get a preview and open the image in ACR and then to PS. I only use Nikon Transfer to renumbering the file to an id with my preferred format (yyyymmdd-nnnn). LR  will do that but since I have LR3 on the desktop (I have to upgrade the OS to OS X 10.6.8) I'll either have to do it via the laptop with LR4 or deal with the cameras file IDs.  One thing I had forgotten to do - I had not loaded the new software that came with the camera - it was in the Spanish documentation so I forgot about it and I was using whatever version I had on the computer. I'll try updating later and see if that makes a difference.

[trksterq · Accepted solution]

I talked to Nikon Tech Support.  Apparently Nikon Transfer as a stand-alone application is old and outdated. The transfer function is now included in Nikon View NX 2. They had me uninstall Nikon Transfer and use the transfer function within View NX2. That allows you to keep the numbering system you're used to, Jim, from Nikon Transfer, it's just that it's now contained in Nikon View NX 2, latest version 2.3.1. My NEFs are now viewable in all software, whether Photoshop, Capture One, etc.My questions are all solved now. I'll give myself the "correct answer" annotation, but it wouldn't have happened without the discussion we had here.

[Conrad_C]

Jim Omaha wrote:

I only use Nikon Transfer to renumbering the file to an id with my preferred format (yyyymmdd-nnnn). LR  will do that but since I have LR3

Not sure if you already know this, but since you said you are going through Adobe Bridge, Bridge CS5 has a powerful Tools > Batch Rename command (better than Lightroom's rename in some ways), so that you don't have to rename with Lightroom or Nikon Transfer.

[Mollysnoot]

Conrad Chavez wrote:

Jim Omaha wrote:

I only use Nikon Transfer to renumbering the file to an id with my preferred format (yyyymmdd-nnnn). LR  will do that but since I have LR3

Not sure if you already know this, but since you said you are going through Adobe Bridge, Bridge CS5 has a powerful Tools > Batch Rename command (better than Lightroom's rename in some ways), so that you don't have to rename with Lightroom or Nikon Transfer.

Very true. I've not bothered to even install any Nikon software on my computer - no need as the various Adobe applications do the same job, and often more efficently too. You could also use the Adobe Photodownloaded (comes with Bridge/PS) to transfer files from the card to your hard drive (or LR, as ssprengel notes); no need to even use Windows Explorer or Mac Finder.

M

[Jim Omaha]

After loading the Nikon View software  I was able to view the files via Nikon view and also using Adobe Bridge and process with ACR. Thanks to all - maybe the moral is - Read the manual and don't assume that everything is the same as previously.

[Guest]

So D800 RAW finally worked when the ACR 6.7 update came along, then I upgraded to CS6, got ACR 7 and again it doesn't work. Slightly disappointed here. 😞

[adriana ohlmeyer]

ACR 7.0 does not have support for the D800 or D800e, but ACR 7.1 does. If you would like, you can download ACR 7.1RC from the adobe labs. http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/cameraraw7-1/ Thanks!

[Guest]

Ah well... I guess I'll have to do another RC then. 😉

Thank you for the pointer.

[adriana ohlmeyer]

No problem, let me know if it works for you!

[Guest]

Well, it's midnight here... so I won't be doing much "testing" right now. But sofar it did open a NEF correctly for me. 🙂

[adriana ohlmeyer]

Great! Thank you for letting us know. 🙂

[sjprg]

I installed PSCS6 which on Snow Lepord which worked, but when I installed ACR 7.1 in Snow Lepord PSCS6 would no longer open. Error was program corrupted or incomplete.

If I upgrade to Lion than my network to PCs fail due to Apples change in Samba.