LR 5.7 and Nikon D7200. unable to import NEF files.

[WimlexNL]

I have LR 5.7 and a brand new Nikon D7200. I upgrades LR3.x to 5.7 and now i am unable to import NEF files. Is there a solution? did i do something wrong?

[bluishbird]

Jao, I want you to know that I appreciate your posts. You obviously know quite a bit more about the subject than I do and I want to thank you for your contributions. Very helpful.

[orries123]

the new lightroom 6.0 will recognize the nikon d7200

[mikeb30137142]

‌Can anyone clarify then if Elements 12 will ever support a Nikon D7200 NEF file or will I have purchase something else (Elements 12, Lightroom etc) thanks

[JP Hess]

According to this list:

Camera Raw-compatible Adobe applications

Photoshop Elements 12 will not utilize a version of Camera Raw that will support the camera. You will either have to upgrade to Elements 13, or add Lightroom 6/CC to your workflow, or download and use the latest version of the DNG converter from Adobe (free).

[mikeb30137142]

In that case would someone kindly point me to an 'idiots guide' for using the DNG converter - many thanks.

Sent from my iPad

[JP Hess]

This video might help you:

Camera Raw: How to use Adobe DNG Converter - YouTube

[mikeb30137142]

Thank you Jim.

Once converted as outlined in the Video, can I assume that the normal Elements 12 processes can be undertaken.

Sent from my iPhone

[JP Hess]

Yes. The DNG files contain all of the original raw image data. They work just like working with the NEF files would work. The only difference is that all of your adjustments and all of the exif are stored within the DNG file rather than in a XMP sidecar file.

[NorthernExposures_com]

Regarding the comment A NEF is a NEF. No they are not. Every manufacturer has their own version of RAW files. Every camera they make with new MegaPixels, new Features, Updated or Upgraded Features requires its own new NEF file. Every software package needs to get its own new set of Instructions on how best to handle the new NEF file with new settings and new features. Lightroom 5, Lightroom 6 and Photoshop all have different RAW Engines. When LR6 came out, they dropped support for LR5. So any new camera will not work with LR5. You can trick LR by playing around with EXIF data but its a lot of work and it can get you in trouble re crashes and other problems. Best is just to upgrade to LR6.

[lordjohn48]

It is unfortunate that Adobe had to play the marketing game in March last year by not providing NEF support on LR5 for the D7200 and forcing users to LR6.  Unfortunately it is not as simple as saying upgrade to LR6 or CC LR as both of these run like a dog on all but the fastest PC's, which means that you inevitably end up with having to buy a new PC.  As I see it there was no technical reason why LR5 could not support the D7200 NEF's as has been said, by fiddling with the EXIF you can import D7200 NEF's into LR5.  The latest update to LR6 beggars belief as to what on earth the software developers are doing as besides the new look import screen the program has a number of bugs that are irritating and mean you have to religiously check that all the develop settings have been applied when importing.

As the Secretary of a Photographic Society I used to recommend LR5 without hesitation to people asking what software they should get.  That is no longer the case with LR6.

[wigwam4000]

I actually logged in to post here for the first and last time ever purely to point out how colossally obnoxious and unhelpful your post, and a number of others in this thread, are.

It is perfectly reasonable that a person who pays $1000+ for a DSLR and potentially hundreds of dollars for a piece of professional photo editing software would be bewildered that the photos taken with the camera cannot be opened with the software.

It reflects pure idiocy by both Adobe and Nikon that this situation exists at all.  Suggesting that users should check some random list of cameras before expecting this to work displays little to no understanding of human nature.

[Keith Reeder]

wigwam4000 wrote:

I actually logged in to post here for the first and last time ever purely to point out how colossally obnoxious and unhelpful your post, and a number of others in this thread, are.

Oh, grow up. Joshua had added infinitely more value to this discussion than you have.

[wigwam4000]

"Grow up".  I'm not the one who dedicates my life to defending poor corporate practices on a corporate forum.  I hope you guys at least get paid for your efforts.

[Keith Reeder]

wigwam4000 wrote:

Suggesting that users should check some random list of cameras before expecting this to work displays little to no understanding of human nature.

In other words "everything is someone else's fault, and I refuse to take any personal responsibility for problems caused by my own laziness and inability to understand even the most basic facts about camera support..."

[wigwam4000]

In other words, "if people don't spend their sad lives memorising corporate policies like me, I should regard them as inferior and scorn their pathetic expectations that recently purchased cameras and recently purchased camera software should work together".  Gotcha.

[JoeKostoss]

wigwam4000 wrote:

I actually logged in to post here for the first and last time ever...

You Lied!

[wigwam4000]

Nope, still logged in for the first and last time ever, I assure you!

[JoeKostoss]

LOL.

[Jao vdL]

Oh and one caution: There is a large chance that since no support showed up in ACR 8.8, there will be no support in LR 5.8. This means that one might have to go to LR 6 to get D7200 support natively since that could come out any time now.

[kcossabo]

Well LR6 would be fine for me, as a cloud subscriber that would be fine, and once again a plus of the cloud, but right now, there is limited value in using LR5 and no Nikon D7200 RAW support. As an amateur on this, I am amazed that this is not more publicized that new cameras do not work for 1/4 of the year with Adobe? Kinda like a foot note on all the reviews of 'should you upgrade to D7200'.

Thank you for the note, my decision is pay $30 to wait, and use a crippled program (the only way I could see to put it, but I know it is not the software's fault, it is the adoption cycle), or drop the cloud, and resubscribe when they support my Camera? I would NOT today get Adobe Create Cloud for Photographers with this camera, so why keep it was my point, and the reason would be to access the old libraries I have.

I went from Aperture to Lightroom a year ago, and be curious on what Apple's new Photos will support. It might steal me back from Adobe, even though it will be feature lacking, the feature of supporting my camera is a BIG feature.

Once again, thank you all.

[Jao vdL]

Well LR6 would be fine for me, as a cloud subscriber that would be fine, and once again a plus of the cloud, but right now, there is limited value in using LR5 and no Nikon D7200 RAW support. As an amateur on this, I am amazed that this is not more publicized that new cameras do not work for 1/4 of the year with Adobe? Kinda like a foot note on all the reviews of 'should you upgrade to D7200'.

I would agree with this. There is no third party support whatsoever for these brand new cameras. Adobe is not the one to single out here as Aperture and every other raw converter doesn't support it either. This should be a main reason to wait to upgrade. It is widely reported on by the independent reviewers (e.g. Tom Hogan always notes it as a problem and he keeps railing on this as something Nikon gets wrong every time) but the sites that depend on sales somehow or are part of sales conglomerates do not draw attention to this.

I went from Aperture to Lightroom a year ago, and be curious on what Apple's new Photos will support. It might steal me back from Adobe, even though it will be feature lacking, the feature of supporting my camera is a BIG feature.

Apple adds support by updating the system raw conversion libraries, so Photos supports what Apple supports. Traditionally they have taken about twice as long as Adobe to add support for new cameras. You can see what they support currently here: OS X Yosemite: Supported digital camera RAW formats - Apple Support

[BigMouse]

For those users of a newer models of a Nikon camera, including D7200...........................

Nikon's View NX-i software will be your best option until Adobe makes their updates available. It is very simple to open the nef files in view nx-i and convert to tif. Then import to Lightroom, PSE or PS and work what you wish.

Are those working in photography for money seriously shooting jpg?

View NX-i can be downloaded from the following link:

Nikon Imaging | Global Site | ViewNX-i

[BigReach]

I think one thing that needs to be pushed is for these manufacturers to adopt a DNG format option. After learning about DNG in detail due to this problem, it makes no sense why manufacturers would not use DNG that solves so many of these stupid compatibility problems. It's a win for software companies, consumers, and manufacturers.

NEF can be different between manufacturers, by how the fields are ordered in the file. That's it, it contains all the same information, but in different order. This is why companies like Adobe need to make a stupid update is to read the order of the file. Plus dealing with those stupid sidecar xmp files is ridiculous. If everyone followed DNG then life would be good, for everyone. Also, DNG has better compression, so you can get more shots per card and hard drive. If Charlie Sheen was here right now, he'd be running around the room yelling at the top of his lungs, "WINNING! WINNING! DNG IS WINNING!"

I encourage you to go ape sh*t on Twitter, Facebook, etc...and complain to Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc...to adopt the free and open DNG format to prevent this from happening ever again.

It took 8 crazy guys to get the American Revolution started apparently.

[ssprengel]

The math for DNG Profile system is deficient in extreme lighting situations. I can’t imagine a camera manufacturer adopting the DNG specification until things are better than what they can do in house, since if the competition didn’t and could create better photos they’d be at a disadvantage for doing so.

[Jao vdL]

There is no reason for camera manufacturers to use the DNG profile system at all though. It is just a container for raw data and you can store any metadata you want so they can do all the proprietary processing you want. There is no technical reason why Nikon/Canon couldn't use dng and get identical raw rendering to their nef/cr2 files. It is a Nikon/Canon marketing decision to use their own proprietary format, not a technical one.

Expecting camera manufacturers to adopt dng is a complete pipe dream for other reasons though. It is pretty clear that the big two have no clue whatsoever about how their customers actually use their cameras and what are issues that really impede their work. Clearly very few or none of the executives are photographers themselves and few of the engineers are either. Workflow is a really big problem and the big two camera makers keep getting it wrong and appear to actually actively impede it by pushing their own terribly flawed software on us. Instead they give us solutions that do not actually work like wifi that only works with cellphones and then only if you do a series of incantations and are lucky. Even if it works it is extremely slow and unwieldy (looking at you Nikon - your wifi stuff is worse than useless). It is crazy that the pro with the big Nikon D4 has to juggle flash cards into readers and laptops to get their images somewhere while if you have a cellphone, you can have an edited image online with just a few taps. No wonder that DSLR sales have been plummeting over the last years. Clearly they have no idea what we really want. They honestly think that everybody uses their raw software and if not would be better off using it, so they have no clue we want interoperability with third party software from the get go. That seems inconceivable from how hard many complain but very little ever reaches them. Read this: "Camera Makers Don’t Really Pay Attention" for an insiders perspective on this.