.NEF files in PHOTOSHOP 7

Hello

 

I am have Nikon D80 and have been shooting raw files. However, my PHOTOSHOP 7

does not recognise the .NEF files. I have read how to solve this in the CS

versions of photoshop but not 7. Can anybody advise me on how to solve my problem?

 

Many thanks

You have various options available to you.

 

1) Download the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) plugin from the Adobe.com web site. Google "Adobe Camera Raw" and search for it on adobe.com.

 

IMO, that is the least palatable approach.

 

2) Use Nikon Capture NX to "develop" your NEF files, and then perform a Save As operation and convert the NEF into a TIFF (16bit or 8bit as desired). Then edit the TIFF in Photoshop as needed.

 

3) Use Adobe Lightroom to "develop" your NEF files. Setup Lightroom to auto generate a matching TIFF or PSD to auto-load in Photoshop for external editing from Lightroom. Lightroom remains the primary photo organizing database.

 

I mostly use option 3, although it is easy to mix in option directly from Lightroom by configuring Capture NX as an external editor from Lightroom.

 

Option 1) sucks because it doesn't provide any way to store the settings applied while loading the NEF file via ACR. Lightroom on the other hand, basically contains all the functionality of ACR within its develop module. Lightroom stores the "development" settings, and can even store more than one set of "development" settings for a given RAW NEF file. Lightroom has proven to be the photo database tool of choice at the moment for anyone who is the least bit serious about DSLR photography.

 

So get Adobe Lightroom, read its documentation carefully about configuration: to automate loading files from camera / or NAND media, to automate "development" if desired, to configure it for external editing with photoshop or other editor(s) - including automatically file increment naming and so on. Lightroom also provides excellent features for outputing JPEGS from a "collection" of one or more photos maintained by the Lightroom database. If you have both Nikon and Canon cameras as I do, Lightroom provides a single application that works with most RAW formats, TIFF, PSD, JPEG and so on. It is an unsurpassed way to manage photos at the moment. Lightroom simply rocks.

Convert a dup file to DNG format or get a copy of Elements which will have the latest converter that will recognise D80 NEF.

 

Might also be a good opportunity to try Lightroom or Nikon Capture NX.

 

 

Use one of the free converters out there.

 

Esentially this is how Adobe is going to try to get you to buy upgrades, but 7 is no longer upgradable.

Before Nikon changed their software you could download a program that converted your files to be used in PS7. I have it but don't know the name of it. Perhaps someone with more knowledge here does. If no luck here then try to email Nikon.

The last I looked, you could download a copy of Nikonview from Nikonusa.com by providing the serial number of your camera. Nikonview allows you to view NEF files and convert them to JPEGs. It also installs a light version of their Capture converter in Photoshop (displacing ACR in the process).

 

The free, Adobe DNG converter does not alter the original NEF file. The DNG version is always a copy. IMO, this is the best option short of upgrading to the latest version of Photoshop or using Lightroom.

I thought 7 was still upgradeable, along with CS and CS2. You may wan tto check that out. James

the only reason to shoot raw files is that you want to process them as raw files. I'd say just shoot JPGs if you don't plan to upgrade your software. Your camera is much newer than PS 7 -- and when you bought it, it was not guaranteed to be compatible with cameras not yet invented (you DID buy it, right -- if so, you are the only one! <G> )

 

Nikon View is free, and does minimal conversions. NX is the best for picture quality, and there are lots of tools that people like better than NX for convenience, including Lightroom, Bibble, and many more.

Download the latest version of Nikon View. (NX) free here....

 

http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin/nikonusa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=14534&p_sid=f236PE1j&p_lva=61&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NzUsNzUmcF9wcm9kcz00Miw0NCZwX2NhdHM9MCZwX3B2PTIuNDQmcF9jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MQ%2A%2A&p_li=

Description of software here....

 

http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Imaging-Software/NVNX/ViewNX.html

You really should update /upgrade to PsCs3 it is far superior to Ps7 in very many ways and if you have a fairly current computer you'll see some speed gains as well. I beleive the update price is around $170 if you have legit version of Ps7 and Ps & is the oldest vrsion you can update from.

The latest version Adobe Camera Raw plug-in will not work with PS7. And I'm pretty sure any ACR version compatible with PS7 will _not_ recognize D80.

 

So you won't be able to open these in PS7 period.

 

The best suggestion is as Ellis says, upgrade to CS3.

 

Other options, including some previously mentioned are

 

1) Find the free Adobe DNG converter and batch convert your NEF files to DNG. Clumsy but cheap and retains the benefits of RAW.

 

2) Get Lightroom. If you like living on the edge, try the version 2 beta. Free but time limited. $300 (educational discounts available)

 

3) Get Elements. Latest versions will work with NEF. Latest version of Elements costs about $100. If you are "real" Photoshop user used to actions and some other Photoshop features, Elements might feel limiting.

 

4) There is other free or inexpensive software such as Picassa which can read NEF files. But I'm not really sure if they actually convert the NEF or just use the embedded jpeg. If you are advanced enough to shoot NEF, you probably don't want to use Picassa anyway.

 

Personally, I'm a huge Lightroom fan.

I have PS 7 but ended up getting PS elements 6, too, which will open NEFS from a D300. But I still usually do my initial processing in Capture NX, save as tifs of jpegs and then do fine tuning in Photoshop.

The Picture Project software that came with the camera will install a plugin that will allow you to open a NEF file into PS7. One problem is that it may take 5 minutes or so to fully open. I open my D80 RAW files into Rawtherapee and convert to tif. so they can then be opened in PS. The Picture Project software will do the same thing, but with fewer options for working with the RAW file.

There's some contradictory information in the above replies. I believe the situation is:

 

(1) You can't install a compatible ACR plugin. PS7 is only compatible with ACR 1.0, which was a paid upgrade, is no longer available, and doesn't work with D80 files.

 

(2) The DNG converter won't help you. Although you can use it to convert your NEFs to DNGs, you can't then import them into PS7 (DNG compatibility was introduced in one of the ACR 2.x series plugins, and you need at least CS = PS8 to use these).

 

(3) The Picture Project software that came with the camera will work. The main application allows you to convert to 16-bit tiff, though without true raw adjustments. It also comes with a PS plugin that should work with PS7, allows you to adjust exposure comp and white balance, but is 8-bit only. This plugin is automatically installed if you put Picture Project on a PC that already has Photoshop.

 

(4) The current View NX software (free download) will also work, though it has no PS plugin. You need to convert to tiff or jpeg (ideally 16-bit tiff) and load this file into PS7 directly. There are minimal raw adjustments in the main application, but you can use the included Picture Control Utility to make other changes (tip: save and backup an untouched copy of each NEF before loading it into View NX - once View NX has saved changes back to a file, it can no longer be used as the Picture Control reference image).

 

(5) The more sophisticated Capture NX software is not free, though it has recently been bundled with cameras like the D300. It's not the fastest converter available, and would benefit from tighter integration with View NX than it has right now, but does a really good job of handling NEFs (lots of options, high quality conversions, reads camera settings ignored by other converters, uses Nikon's own colour profiles, etc.).

Lightroom fans, please enlighten me: Are you able to store the changes made to a specific image separately in a location of your choice, or is it bound to be stored in a common database?

Lightroom will do what you want. After making the adjustments in LR, you can export the result as a jpeg, psd, or tiff, 8 or 16 bit, with or without resizing.

 

Strictly speaking, LR does not "store changes" of any sort in it's database. LR instead stores the adjustments you make to the original file. It never changes the original file.

 

It's like having a permanent history. You can backtrack at any time just like using the history feature of Photoshop except the depth of the history is nearly unlimited and the history is maintained between sessions instead of getting reset each time you restart.

Lightroom is apparently not working exactly like RawShooter, which I'm using for the time being. Since RawShooter is now discontinued it's a matter of no general interest. Thanks for clarifying.