NEF Support in Photo Mechanic

[Waters]

I'm fairly stunned with Photo Mechanic's Nikon NEF support. Not even View NX is able to output from NEF files that have been 'adjusted' in Capture NX 2 (the context menu - output -> convert files, is just grayed out on adjusted NEF files i.e. levels, cropping, color control points, selection control points etc.)

Is Photo Mechanic really generating its output from the raw NEF image data and edit instructions?

Even viewing the 'Combined RAW+JPG' setting works better than Nikon's own. And the contact sheets/thumbnails load at least twice as fast.

One quick question - is it possible to have the Combined RAW+JPG setting on by default? It doesn't appear to be staying on after PM restarts.

Fantastic product...

Tony

[Kirk Baker]

Tony,

I'm fairly stunned with Photo Mechanic's Nikon NEF support. Not even View NX is able to output from NEF files that have been 'adjusted' in Capture NX 2 (the context menu - output -> convert files, is just grayed out on adjusted NEF files i.e. levels, cropping, color control points, selection control points etc.)

Is Photo Mechanic really generating its output from the raw NEF image data and edit instructions?

No, that would be fairly impossible for Photo Mechanic to do since all of that information is proprietary.  Photo Mechanic is using the embedded JPEG which Capture NX2 updates when you adjust your NEFs.

Even viewing the 'Combined RAW+JPG' setting works better than Nikon's own. And the contact sheets/thumbnails load at least twice as fast.

One quick question - is it possible to have the Combined RAW+JPG setting on by default? It doesn't appear to be staying on after PM restarts.

Yes, you can set that in the Contact Sheet tab of the Photo Mechanic Preferences dialog.

Fantastic product...

Thanks!  Please spread the word about Photo Mechanic.

-Kirk

[Hayo Baan]

I'm fairly stunned with Photo Mechanic's Nikon NEF support. Not even View NX is able to output from NEF files that have been 'adjusted' in Capture NX 2 (the context menu - output -> convert files, is just grayed out on adjusted NEF files i.e. levels, cropping, color control points, selection control points etc.)

Is Photo Mechanic really generating its output from the raw NEF image data and edit instructions?

No, that would be fairly impossible for Photo Mechanic to do since all of that information is proprietary.  Photo Mechanic is using the embedded JPEG which Capture NX2 updates when you adjust your NEFs.

Tony, to add to Kirk's comment: the quality of the in the NEF embedded JPG (especially once you've processed it with NX2) is excellent!
This JPG can be used for most applications (including medium-sized printing!). Only if you require the highest quality and bit depth would you need to export to (e.g. TIFF) from NX2.

Cheers

[kobold]

Tony, to add to Kirk's comment: the quality of the in the NEF embedded JPG (especially once you've processed it with NX2) is excellent!
This JPG can be used for most applications (including medium-sized printing!). Only if you require the highest quality and bit depth would you need to export to (e.g. TIFF) from NX2.

Cheers

I fully agree!

[Waters]

Ok understood - and thanks for the replies. That fits with my understanding of the NEF format. Capture NX 2 has pretty good batch support for final conversions which is what I typically use for generating final TIFFs and well as high-quality JPEGs.

Still - Photo Mechanic is a great replacement for View NX (which is also broken under Windows 7 at the moment).

Cheers,

Tony