Converting NEF RAW Files

[jb007]

I am having trouble with NEF files........

Firstly, the NEF previews are small & so are pixellated in the preview window - can PM generate jpgs from the RAW files to stop this happening?

Secondly, I am unable to convert the NEF files to jpegs. When I highlight a NEF & click on 'Save Photo As' it comes up with a dialouge box saying 'none of the selected photos can be saved at high resolution'

Am I doing something wrong? I can't see any other way to display the NEF files (& thus have a high enough resolution original to allow conversion to jpeg)

Thanks

**EDIT** I have just read the PM user guide & now see that RAW conversion is not supported, which unfortunately means that PM won't fit into my workflow. Is there any plan to support it as PM works for me otherwise...

[Kirk Baker]

I am having trouble with NEF files........

Firstly, the NEF previews are small & so are pixellated in the preview window - can PM generate jpgs from the RAW files to stop this happening?

Secondly, I am unable to convert the NEF files to jpegs. When I highlight a NEF & click on 'Save Photo As' it comes up with a dialouge box saying 'none of the selected photos can be saved at high resolution'

Am I doing something wrong? I can't see any other way to display the NEF files (& thus have a high enough resolution original to allow conversion to jpeg)

Thanks

**EDIT** I have just read the PM user guide & now see that RAW conversion is not supported, which unfortunately means that PM won't fit into my workflow. Is there any plan to support it as PM works for me otherwise...

Photo Mechanic uses the embedded JPEG previews inside various RAW file formats to display thumbnails and previews.  If the embedded JPEG preview is of poor quality there is not much PM can do since it is not a RAW converter (the Mac OS X version does have an option to use Apple's ImageIO technology to render RAW files, but it really slows things down).   If PM were to have the capability to render RAW files it could provide higher quality previews than what you're seeing.

Fortunately for NEF files, there are a couple of options.  First Nikon's NPrevCreator3 application can bulk generate high quality previews for your images.  Secondly, Nikon Capture NX puts a very nice preview containing the results of any adjustments made back into the NEF files.  Many Capture NX users are finding the PM/NX combination to be very effective for their workflow.

Another option (if your camera supports it) is to shoot RAW+JPEG and PM will combine the two images as a single item in the Contact Sheet, but will use the JPEG which is full resolution for all thumbnail and preview generation.  When you edit the image, you can have PM send either the JPEG or the NEF off for editing.

We plan to have RAW rendering at some point on both platforms, but it won't be in the near term.

-Kirk

[Geoffrey Hervey]

Many Capture NX users are finding the PM/NX combination to be very effective for their workflow.

Count me as one of those Nikon Capture NX users who is finding the PM/MX workflow to be effective.  After spending years toiling to learn Photoshop 7, then CS, then CS2, and facing the prospect of learning CS3, I decided to give NX a whirl.  In a fraction of the time it took to learn PS, I was up and running and creating great images with NX.  The only thing missing was a great lightbox, like Adobe Bridge.  But, Bridge takes forever to process a directory of images, and it uses a lot of memory.  When I found PM, I realized it was a great fit with NX. 

I just started using PM a few weeks ago.  I liked it so much after only a few uses that I bought a registration key. 

The PM/NX is a very good combo, and for a fraction of the cost of PS.  (I will still use PS for pixel-level editing, but 90% of my work now is with NX and PM.)

Anyway, so far so good.   

[lapresle]

Same here. I use NX and love the PM/NX interface. Good job!