Can I edit Nikon D5100 RAW photos in iPhoto '09?

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Can I edit Nikon D5100 RAW photos in iPhoto '09?

I recently shot photos for an event with my Nikon D5100, using the RAW + jpeg setting. I uploaded my photos into an iPhoto event, and both the RAW and jpeg photos appeared in the event. I have read that iPhoto '09 supports lossless RAW file editing, so I selected one of the RAW photos and attempted to edit it. iPhoto entered the edit window, but the image appeared blurry and all of the editing tools were grayed out. Photo editing works fine with the jpeg files in my event. Also, when I double click one of the RAW images it opens it as a gray exclamation point icon.

More information: I am running OS X 10.6.8, and iPhoto 8.1.2. The page at the below link indicates that the D5100 is supported in 10.6.8, without mention of a specific RAW Compatibility update that must accompany the OS. I am assuming that since iPhoto '11 requires OS X 10.7.5 or later this information applies to my use of iPhoto '09, though any RAW compatibility updates on the Apple site for download are either only for iPhoto '11 or already installed on my computer.

Any insights on what may be going wrong? Thanks.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3825

Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Sep 29, 2013 3:34 PM

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Answer 1

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LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Sep 29, 2013 8:35 PM in response to trekker256

Shoot a couple of photos in RAW only and import - is there any difference?

And you can use iPhoto '11 on OS X 10.6.8 - but you need to purchase an iLife '11 DVD on Amazon or EBay - the app store version will not work fo ryou

LN

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Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,320 points

Sep 29, 2013 10:48 PM in response to trekker256

I believe that the 5100 will work on iPhoot 09 and 10.6.8 and these issues:

I selected one of the RAW photos and attempted to edit it. iPhoto entered the edit window, but the image appeared blurry and all of the editing tools were grayed out. Photo editing works fine with the jpeg files in my event. Also, when I double click one of the RAW images it opens it as a gray exclamation point icon.

are due to the fact that iPhoto cannot find the Raw file - that's what the ! means.

Are you running a Managed or a Referenced Library?

A Managed Library, is the default setting, and iPhoto copies files into the iPhoto Library when Importing. The files are then stored in the Library package

A Referenced Library is when iPhoto is NOT copying the files into the iPhoto Library when importing because you made a change at iPhoto -> Preferences -> Advanced. (You unchecked the option to copy files into the Library on import) The files are then stored where ever you put them and not in the Library package. In this scenario you are responsible for the File Management.

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Answer 3

trekker256 Author

Level 1

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Sep 30, 2013 11:08 AM in response to Yer_Man

First of all, thanks to Larry for the troubleshooting suggestion, as well as the tip about installing iPhoto '11- I didn't realize it was available for Snow Leopard. I shot a few photos in RAW only and imported them, and the editing worked fine, but in light of Terence's comment I don't think this problem was related to whether I was shooting RAW + jpeg or just RAW.

After your tip about the ⚠ indicating a missing file, I went searching through the iPhoto library files and found that, while the RAW photos appeared in my event on iPhoto, the source file had indeed been erased. I suppose when I copied the files into ViewNX I deleted them from iPhoto by accident. Anyway, I reimported into iPhoto and now RAW editing works just fine. Sort of a trivial mistake, but your insight was useful. Thanks.

(BTW, I am using the Managed Library, so the results from Larry's test make sense)

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