Nikon Software Problems--NX-D and Capture NX2--and the Nikon D500

<p>I have been using NX-D to process NEF images from my D810 and D500 since NEF files from these two bodies cannot be opened in Capture NX2. <br /> My workflow (until this week) had been to process NEF D810 and D500 images in NX-D, make a 16 bit Tiff in NX-D and then open the tiff in Nikon Capture NX2 for finishing touches with Control Points. I had no problems doing this in May, 2016. Capture NX2 had no problems opening tiffs made in NX-D from NEFs in either body.<br /> Pictures I took yesterday with my D810 had no issues. However, tiffs made in NX-D from yesterday's D500 NEF's cannot be opened by Capture NX-2. This D500 problem exists on both my laptop and desktop. On my desktop I even reloaded NX2 to see if that would fix things, but I got the same result.<br /> The D500 tiffs from NX-D from yesterday can be opened in Adobe Bridge and NX-D, so I do not think there is anything wrong with the tiffs.<br /> I cannot recall when I started to use the D500 MB-D17 battery pack from Nikon. I know it was on the camera yesterday and maybe an earlier day too when I had the same tiff d500 problem. I know that I used a Nikon Li-ion20 battery in both the camera and in the battery back.<br /> I may have used an Li-ion01 battery before I knew about the recall. If I did do this, the camera performed normally as far as I know. I think the chance that I did not use the battery that came with the camera is pretty low. <br>

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what may be causing this? I will remove the battery back and see if the problem remains or goes away. Any other diagnostic steps I should take?<br>

Guesses as to what is going on or causing this? What I need to do with Nikon or my retailer if anything? <br>

Can anyone else with a D 500 try and replicate the situation with Nikon software?</p>

<p>Thanks for any thoughts on this puzzler. <br /> Joe</p>

<p>.</p>

<p> </p>

I am quite sure that batteries, grip, etc. have nothing to do with this.

 

Can you find an older D500 NEF from, say a week ago that used to work under this workflow and try to go thru the

workflow again? I wonder any piece of software has been updated. Once the NEF file is converted into TIFF, thr camera

model shouldn't matter any more. A lot of software programs should be able to process TIFF.

<p>Although all my latest camera's (DF, D800) still work with NX2, I wanted to play around with some D750, D810 and later D500 NEF's to see what the improvements were. When the D500 was introduced, NXD was the only (free) option available<br /> <br /> But I ended up with similar problems when I installed NXD to play around a bit with in particular some D500 files, in my case I couldn't process DF and D800 files in NX2 anymore<br /> <br /> Never found out why, ended up just uninstalling and then again (re)installing NXD, but obviously vowed to stay away from NXD if possible.<br /> Did find the whole 'saving as a Tiff in NXD and processing the Tiff in NX2' a bit of a pain anyway, considering the size the Tiff's would end up in (DF approx 95 MB, D800 approx 160+MB)</p>

<p>Better alternative IMO and experience is this (free) program<br /> http://www.bagnon.com/raw2nef/<br /> (although the maker is open for donations as a sign of appreciation for his efforts :-) )</p>

<p>Basically renames the files in such a way they becomes recognizable for NX2 (eg a D750 file becomes, in the exif, a D600 file, a D810 becomes a D800 file, etc), after which hey can be processed directly (as a NEF, no Tiff's) in NX2 (i.e. NX 2.4.6, not 2.4.7).<br>

It has been updated and now also works with a.o. D500 and D5 NEF's,<br>

<br /> Works very easy (just drag and drop), and does the job in a quiet way, but well</p>

<p>So it does (not)!<br /> I had similar problems couple of weeks ago, even when the camera type has not been upgraded - unfortunately. This seems not to be a D500 or similar camera model related issue.<br>

<br /> After reading OP's post I made a quick test with CNX2 newest version 2.4.7 and CNX-d newest version 1.4.1.<br /> The test (took three minutes):<br /> 1. nef file rated and labeled, previewed in CNX-d. Open with Capture NX2 -> "cannot open"<br /> 2. nef file rated and labeled, converted to tiff (16 bits,,,) select in CNX-d and open with Capture NX2 -> "cannot open".<br /> 3. final test step:<br /> I did again the step 2. At this time I only removed label and rating from the same tiff file using CNX-d. Then Open with Capture NX2 -> WORKS NICELY!<br>

<br /> It seems that in the CNX-d upgrade to 1.4.1, the labeling and/or rating management has been made incompatible with the CNX2.</p>

<p>I hope this helps!</p>

<p> </p>

Thanks for the responses. Here is some additional info on my workflow that might be relevant.

1. Images downloaded using downloader pro, from breeze systems.

2. Nef images from my d810 and d500 viewed, culled, keyworded and rated with stars in Nikon view nx-I.

3. The Nef image to be proceeded in Nx-d was highlighted in view nx-I and then processed in nx-d by clicking on the nx-d

icon in the toolbar in view nx-I.

4. Tiff made in nx-d using file convert.

5. Open capture nx2. Select the file folder that holds the tiff. Click on tiff only in the toolbar. Click on tiff file to open it and

get the cannot open message.

 

I will do more homework when I get on my desktop and try and check versions of all programs used.

 

Thanks again for your help.

 

Joe

<p>If it is for the control points mainly you go to CNX2, do consider that the Nik plug-in collection became free, and contains Viveza - this is the same U-Point technology as was used in CNX2. The plugins can be used in Lightroom as well as numerous Photoshop plug-in compatible programs (i.e. PS Elements, PaintShop Pro, Serif PhotoPlus, and quite some others).<br>

As CaptureNX2 has been end-of-life now for a considerable while, at some point you may have to make this jump anyway, so it could be worth it taking this apparent bug as a sign that that moment is now ;-)</p>

<p>You are right. I downloaded Adobe CC about a month ago and am just trying to figure out what parts of it are best for me. NXD and Capture NX2 and interim fixes.</p>

<p>Joe</p>

<p>I did some controlled software tests today on the same D 500 images.<br>

I downloaded the images again to a different file folder. <br>

1. Used NXD only to view the image and process it. Used file convert to create my 16 bit tiff. Closed NXD. Opened Capture NX2. Tiff could be opened and processed. No problems<br>

2. I opened an image in Nikon View NX-i first. Made no changes to XMP/IPTC data and made no ratings. Then I clicked on NXD icon within NX-i to load NX-D. Processed the image, made a tiff. Opened it in CNX2. No problems.<br>

3. Same as 2, except that I made additions to XMP/IPTC and saved them. Then proceeded with all of the other steps in 2. Tiff could be opened in NX2. No problems. <br>

4. Same as 3 and I added star ratings using the drop down box that appears near the bottom of the image when the mouse's arrow key triggers it. Then proceeded with all of the other steps. Tiff created in NXD could be opened in CNX2. No problems.<br>

5. Same as 4 except that I added a colored label (1-9) using the drop box as well as a star rating. Proceeded with all of the other steps. The tiff COULD NOT BE OPENED OR VIEWED as a THUMBNAIL IN CNX2. <br>

6. Same as 3 except that I added a colored label only (1-9) and did NOT apply a star rating. CNX2 could not open the tiff. <br>

I DID NOT TRY AND APPLY LABELS OR STAR RATINGS JUST IN NXD. </p>

<p>CONCLUSION. VERSION 1.2.1 OF NIKON VIEW NX-I HAS A BUG IN ITS "APPLY LABELS" SUBROUTINE. THIS NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED BY NIKON. <br>

I believe that when I downloaded View NX-i I did it separately from the NXD download. </p>

<p>Joe<br>

5. </p>

<p>The labeling in the 'i' versions is using side car files, whereas in the ViewNX2/CaptureNX2 it is stored in a separate directory away from the image files, as far as I know. Maybe there is some glitch related to handling of the labels across the two.</p>

<p>I really miss the convenience and practicality of control points in CaptureNX2. I find Nik's plugins very slow and clumsy to use from PS, and it is looking like there may not be much further development of the plugins judging from the fact that the whole set of plugins is now offered for free. I find this highly regrettable. </p>

<blockquote>

<p ><a href="/photodb/user?user_id=19054">Ilkka Nissila</a><a href="/member-status-icons"><img title="Subscriber" src="/v3graphics/member-status-icons/sub10plus.gif" alt="" /></a>, Jun 12, 2016; 05:57 p.m.</p>

 

<p>The labeling in the 'i' versions is using side car files, whereas in the ViewNX2/CaptureNX2 it is stored in a separate directory away from the image files, as far as I know. Maybe there is some glitch related to handling of the labels across the two.</p>

 

 

</blockquote>

 

<p>I believe the original View and Capture NX2 store all metadata in the files. It seems that the creation of the tif file and putting label data in the tif file by ViewNX-i is the problem. It is my impression that how label data is handled is not particularly industry standardized, however, you would think that Nikon would be able to create a tif file that would not be a problem for other Nikon software. As a side note, I have seen instances where other raw processing software was used to create tif files with metadata added to the tif that caused problems for ONLY Nikon software. In particular, Rawtherapee and Photoninja.</p>

 

<p>So the bug is there reducing the compatibility between Capture NX2 and (ViewNX-i and CaptureNX-d). The bug is in the label management.<br>

At least I can now, learnt from this discussion, make a small change to my workflow, and continue to use CNX 2 when needed.</p>

<p>Instead of using labels for selecting what files to take to the CNX2, I just group select labels I want from the ViewNX-i or CaptureNX-d. Then I rate selected as a group, reset the labels and proceed based on rating.</p>

 

<p>I did some more testing. The problem seems to be the "apply labels" function in Nikon View NX-i. It affects NEFs from d500 and D810 (and maybe more bodies.) Files converted using NX-D, either tiffs or jpegs, cannot be opened in Capture NX2. The bug is in both versions of Nikon View NX-i on my computers: 1.2.0.and 1.2.1 The version of NXD used, ver 1.4.0 and 1.4.1, did not make a difference.<br>

I reported the matter to NikonUSA today. </p>

<p>Joe</p>

 

I suspect fixing tiff/jpeg compatibility with a discontinued version of Capture won't be a high priority for Nikon. This looks more like a limitation of the older Nikon software, which as Tom notes can also choke on other tiff metadata, than a bug in the current software - going from NX-D back to NX2 via tiff is a pretty unusual workflow. It's a shame that control points aren't in NX-D (blame Google), but the free Nik plugins might provide a reasonable alternative for now (thank Google). What happens if the labels are applied in NX-D itself? The built-in image browser is pretty decent, much better than in earlier versions of Capture, and for me makes NX-i redundant. It might also be worth experimenting with something like ExifTool to strip the Nikon-specific metadata from the tiff after conversion, generating a 'vanilla' tiff that NX2 may be able to read.

<blockquote>

<p>going from NX-D back to NX2 via tiff is a pretty unusual workflow</p>

</blockquote>

<p>On the contrary, this is not so unusual. What the NX-d does it does it better than CNX2. The only thing I am aware of, CNX2 does and CNX-d does not do, is the local edits using control points. So if you want those local edits, then you have to use tiff or other similar image formats.<br /> If one likes to use CNX2 still for something specific, the the easiest way is to unlabel images that are to be converted to tiff for CNX2.<br>

As far as I know Nik package does not operate on nef, but on tiff, if I open a file from CNX-d with Nik.</p>

<p>Please correct if I am wrong.</p>

<p>Yes, you would be operating on a tiff file if you used Viveza instead of CNX2 for control point editing, but my assumption is that whatever program you use to host the Nik plugins (e.g. Photoshop) won't care about the Nikon metadata and will be directly compatible with NX-D tiffs. CNX2, on the other hand, seems to be unusually fussy about its input tiffs.</p>

<p>Incidentally, just tried the Nik Viveza 2 plugin as a filter in Irfanview and it was fine, so there's no need to buy any additional software if you want to continue to use control points. Worth comparing with the implementation in CNX2 to see if you find it an adequate replacement.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"Richard Williams , Jun 14, 2016; 09:32 a.m.<br /><br />Yes, you would be operating on a tiff file if you used Viveza instead of CNX2 for control point editing, but my assumption is that whatever program you use to host the Nik plugins (e.g. Photoshop) won't care about the Nikon metadata and will be directly compatible with NX-D tiffs. CNX2, on the other hand, seems to be unusually fussy about its input tiffs."</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Fussy yes. In particular, regarding metadata fields not the image data itself.</p>