I'm asking this on behalf of a 'not online' friend (yes, one or two exist!) so I may not have all the relevant information.
Photos shot in Nikon raw (file type nef) import direct from the camera into Aperture 2 just fine but the same file format will not import properly from a file on the desktop. It imports and shows the thumbnail but on clicking the thumbnail, Aperture gives the error message 'not a recognised file format'.
Any suggestions?
Mac Pro Quad Core : macBook Pro 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo,
Mac OS X (10.6.4)
Give people a chance! That is certainly not my experience with 3.1 - in fact Aperture makes such a good job of my nef files that often no further work is required. If it proves to be an ongoing problem can I suggest conversion to .dng on import via Adobes DNG converter (free) and then upload into Aperture.
First I would say avoid DNG as appropriate only as a workaround when a new camera has not yet been supported in Aperture.
Second I would say that 100% of my D2x and D100 NEF files have always been imported into Aperture from desktop folders after backup. Never once a problem with v1/v2/v3.
So there is something anomalous in your friend's workflow. The fact that it works direct from camera tells us the camera is supported by Aperture. The place to start would be bringing apps and OS to most current versions. I do recommend Repairing Permissions immediately before and after every installation/upgrade of any kind.
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Over decades many of us on the Photoshop forums have formed the opinion that although Repairing Permissions is seldom a "fix," always Repairing Permissions immediately before and after every installation of any kind is very helpful to long term trouble free operation with heavy graphics apps.
Note before and after
installations, not every time an app is run. The "why" is a bit nebulous I am afraid. Simplistically the premise is arrange things properly prior to an installation so the Installer is starting from a proper arrangement; then rearrange after installation in case the Installer managed to screw things up somehow.
For many users, perhaps most, repairing Permissions is a waste of time. However things are different in the world of heavy graphics, enough so that empirically many of us have concluded that repairing Permissions before and after installations is worthwhile.
E.g. any time a Pro Epson printer hiccups I find reinstalling the driver to be a very useful step, and sometimes that quick simple driver reinstallation changes thousands of Permissions for some reason. Although incorrect Permissions may not be problematic for lesser apps, heavy graphics apps like Aperture or Photoshop may be more easily compromised.
In case if you haven't notice the org poster posted on October 9th, and macfan7 followed up the org post, Oct 27. How could you brush the org poster off the forum and tell him/her off to give people a chance.
Macfan--three things--
Aperture 2x had a bug in it when random Nikon nefs could not be displayed--you would see a purplish image box with the message file not supported. This could be part of your problem.
Second there may be a problem with how the images were downloaded to the desktop folder. When the folder is viewed in Finder, is it a standard list of .nef files? If so, it should import without incident.
Third, you may just have an old version of Aperture/OSx that was never updated to include the particular Nikon your friend shoots with. Make sure you have the most current versions of each (I had to wait a month or so for Nikon to update Aperture to include D3 support).
Thanks for all the input. I now have more info which may help:
In trying to create some hard disc space by removing unwanted files to the trash, the Aperture library was trashed too and the trash emptied! No, there was no backup (there will be from now on!). Files were recovered to an external hard drive using Data Rescue 3. Files show as .nef and are typically 12MB - 15MB in size, the size we were expecting so we thought all was well. However, almost none of them will import into Aperture (latest version of 2 or 3) and those that do will display a preview but any attempt to make an alteration of any kind produces the error message and the preview disappears.
I have been told that RAW files and the database that is the Aperture library consist of many parts which will need to be rebuilt. I know how to rebuild a library but not it seems a drive full of disparate files.
Gerry - no problem, I wasn't in the least offended. I guessed you didn't notice the gap between posts.
SierraDragon - thanks, I've tried that and also several file recovery programs that claim to be able to recover corrupt files.
The recovered files seem to fall into two groups. One group displays a thumbnail as an icon in the finder. These are the ones which will load, display a preview but vanish when adjustment is attempted. The second group display the default .nef icon in the finder and will not load at all. These may be rejects which had been intentionally deleted some time ago and partially overwritten since.
Marchand Technologies - I think I'm right in saying that Apple staff do not monitor these discussions so your plea will go unheeded. You can submit Aperture feedback from the main Aperture menu.
Also, if you have an issue, it's best to start a new thread as your current issue is not connected with the one being discussed here.
