Photos: How to convert NEF files to JPGs & then store NEF files to external drive

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Level 1

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Photos: How to convert NEF files to JPGs & then store NEF files to external drive

My computer's drive is getting full. I'd like to convert my Nikon RAW files (.nef) to .jpg and then store all the NEFs to an external drive. I have my Photos library organized in albums by years going back to the 1960s (and beyond). Most of the albums for earlier years (1960s-2009) are a mix of jpgs and tiffs and I can leave them as is. From 2010 on they are a mix of jpgs, heic, and nef files. I've exported these albums as jpgs to new folders on my desktop and have reimported them. So now I have for example, an album called "2010" and one called "2010 jpg" in Photos. Is there any way to export only the nef files from the "2010" album (individually easily identified by using the "get info" command, but not so easy to bulk identify the nefs that are interspersed within the album) , while maintaining the EXIF info and file structure of Photos?

Posted on Apr 29, 2019 4:33 PM

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Answer 1

HD

Level 5

4,945 points

Apr 29, 2019 11:00 PM in response to woolybully

Hi,

You can set up a Smart Album to match the conditions "File name ends with .nef" and "Date captured is in the range..." (I've done it below with .rw2 files):

Hope this gets you started!

H

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Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,840 points

Apr 30, 2019 7:07 AM in response to woolybully

File -> Export -> Export Unmodified Original...

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Answer 3

woolybully Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 30, 2019 6:42 AM in response to léonie

Thanks very much to both HD and léonie for your smart album suggestions. I wasn't familiar with this option and both variations work well to identify my raw files. That solves half of my problem. However, getting them out of Photos poses yet another issue. Export allows only the "Photo Kind" options of jpeg, tiff, or png. It appears I can't export my edited nefs as nefs. I only see the option to export the unmodified originals in their original format. Am I missing something?

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Answer 4

woolybully Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 30, 2019 7:49 AM in response to Yer_Man

Yes, thanks. I realize that I can export the unmodified originals but I've done extensive post-processing on my nef files and would like to find a way to export the edited nefs in their original format.

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Answer 5

HD

Level 5

4,945 points

Apr 29, 2019 11:56 PM in response to HD

(I think that stray .jpg in my screen grab came from a previous incarnation of the smart album search conditions.) 🤪

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Answer 6

woolybully Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 30, 2019 2:33 PM in response to Yer_Man

That's a great explanation of something I didn't understand at all. Many thanks!

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Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

200,525 points

Apr 30, 2019 12:39 AM in response to woolybully

You could also try a smart album with the rules

Match all the conditions:

Photo is RAW
Albums is "2010"

This smart album will include all RAW files from the "2010" album. It should work, if all your RAW files are Nikon .NEF files. Otherwise it will also include DNG files, or other RAW formats. Older versions of Photos even included TIFF files in the "Photo is RAW" rules.

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Answer 8

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,840 points

Apr 30, 2019 10:26 AM in response to woolybully

No, that's simply not possible in any case.

A Raw file is not really a file at all. it's just a dump from the camera sensor. When you manipulate it in Photos or ACR or Lightroom or anything else, you're not actually "editing" the file, what you're actually doing is "interpreting" it, that is, manipulating the information from the camera sensor, and that is then saved as an actual image file - jpeg, tiff etc.

When you view a Raw in your camera, you're not actually seeing the Raw - there's nothing to see. What you see is a jpeg preview of the image, that is stored as part of the Raw. You can't actually do anythings with Raws except interpret them and save the interpretation as an image. You can't print a Raw, use it in slideshow, add it to a Word file, nothing. Just interpret it.

In essence, there is no such thing as an edited Raw file of any kind. There are Raws and there are interpretations of Raws, saved in an image format.

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Photos: How to convert NEF files to JPGs & then store NEF files to external drive

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