Q: Raw Camera Support-Nikon D600

Sorry, but the Nikon D600 is neither on the list of cameras supported by Aperture nor by MacOS X Mt. Lion:

Apple - Aperture - Technical Specifications - RAW Support

OS X Mountain Lion: Supported digital camera RAW formats

If, and when, this will change, we cannot know. This is a User-to-User forum. While you are waiting for  Apple to program the raw support for the camera, you can use the software that came with your camera to convert the images to tiff.

Regards

Léonie

raw and D600 Nikon

I consulted Apple concerning this issue and was directed to the website that lists the supported RAW file formats. D600 was not amongst them. The person I was talking to offered to either use the DNG raw file format, or to return the camera. I did the latter.

DNG is an Adobe generated raw file format and Aperture accepts it. All EXIF data are in it unaffected.

I found tonnes of information on the DNG format as well as DNG vs. NEF. I found no clearcut statement that DNG is just as good as NEF.

NEF was suggested by most to be kept.

I have a question:

If Adobe released DNG that is a recognized raw file format, why do camera makers create their own? Why is there a free raw file format converter also released by Adobe that converts e.g. a NEF file to DNG?

Why do Photoshop and Aperture fail to open a D600 NEF file? Consequently, why do NIKON create a different NEF format for each ot their camera? Is it related to pixel size? What is it related to?

Is NEF not equal to NEF that comes from a different camera? If they are not equal, why are they called the same NEF?

Regards,

géza

géza,

each camera has a specific way to sample a digital image at the sensor and the camera specific raw format reflets this. Raw is as close to the sensor as you can get, without any preprocessing. So for each camera the raw files have a different format, because each camera has to beetreated differently, when the raw image is developed by the image processing software. Even if all Nikon raw formats are NEF, the files are different and need to be treated differently.

The camera manufacturers frequently keep the details of the camera sensors secret, until the camera has been released to the market. Only then the software companies can begin to write programs for the new camera. So it usually takes some time, until Aperture or Lightroom will be able to support the new camera.

DNG unifies the raw formats by removing some camera specific features.

You will get the best raw processing with the raw converters that come with your camera, for  the camera manufacturer knows the camera best.

Regards

Léonie

Hi Léonie,

I appreciate your answer.

You have given me a basic understanding of the relationship of RAW image to the sensor and its intricacies.

I am still frustrated, bacause buying a camera for me involves a lot of research and I feel I let the reviews convince me to purchase the D600. Now I realise, none of the reviewers talked about how they looked at the pictures. What software they used is not in the limelight. When I buy something, I would like to use it without feeling uncertain that the camera will ever come to life and the picture it takes will be what I should be seeing.

The word RAW is a fairly generic term for me. NEF, on the other hand is like a number which is equivalent to the same number. I.e. 2=2 NEF=NEF. My conclusion is attributable to my scientific background. I am wrong.

Buying a camera whose product must be first converted to be used by a multitude of software is unfair to me. Release of the structure of the sensor makes the software industry able to adjust the missing link. Well, this suggestion makes me think. At this moment I am not sure I accept it. I want to be able to use the camera the next day I buy it and I don't feel like waiting for an unspecified length of time before it turns out, I am faced with yet another purchase. Purchase of CS6, because it will have an update that will process my pictures.

I wish to build up enough knowledge on the features of DNG which is the best candidate at this time. I found many uncertainties about the DNG structure and content. I want to make sure it is the real image I should be seeing.

Thanks again for you reading my lines and taking time to reply.

Best,

géza

Have you seen the recent upgrade:

Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 4.01 for Aperture 3 and iPhoto '11

The D600 is now supported. And many more newer cameras.

Cheers

Léonie

There's no D600 support on Tiger, either.

Right.  You upgraded your camera to a brand new model.  You'll need to upgrade your OS to something newer than 3 years old to support it.

Your old camera works perfectly well with Aperture 3.2.4 on Snow Leopard.

RAW support for the D600 is out today. Get it from the App Store.

I  have just purchased and installed Aperture 3.4.3 ( I still have  iPhoto 8.1.2) after just purchasing and installing Mountain Lion 10.8.2 . I did all this so I could download NEF images from my new Nikon D600,a nd note that the update to the OS to accomodate files from the D600 came out in October so assume that update would be incorporated into the latest Mountain Lion os that I bought. However I still cannot download images from the D600 and get the icon with the words "unsupported file format" when I try to do so. Help?

Are these on images you're downloading now, or ones you previously imported into Aperture?

If the latter, you need to select them in Aperture and choose "Reprocess Originals" to have Aperture give another go at them, since the support came after you imported them.

If the former, what happens if you try to open one of the images in the Finder?  Can you view it there in Preview?

You're using full sized RAW files, and not shooting sRAW or mRAW correct?

These are the 1st images that I tried to download from the D600. It says they are NEF files on the data screen for each but doesn't show an image . On the 1st stage of the download all appear as pictures but when I click the import button they all turn into the black triangle emblem with the words "unsupported image" when I try to open them. If I click the "Adjustment " button while a project with all it's images is open then as soon as I click on each black square with the ! on it the image appears permanently, still identified on the data screen as a NEF file. So now I've got my image but I don't know why or how or how to get it to do that as a group for the project.

OK now I've got the process for Reprocessing a whole project at a time but I still don't understand what is going on when it does this reprocess.