OPENING NEF RAW IN PHOTOSHOP CS6 on MAC 10.7 LION OS

challydeano

Any solutions with this? I have contacted Nikon and all they can offer is their own version of editing software to open NEF RAW files for my D4. I really don't understand because this is a professional camera that was made in 2012, which is about the time I purchased my MAC with 10.6v on it ! Professionals usually use PS to edit their RAWS. I'm confused by this. Any suggestions out there?

Ironheart

Photoshop can't edit RAW files from any camera directly. You need to use the Adobe Camera Raw plugin.
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/camera-raw.html
Might I humbly suggest you get a few books? Diving into Photoshop cold is a very steep learning curve, people spend a decade or more just getting competent. Lightroom is a bit more photographer friendly, and many pros go straight to apps like captureone, or DxO for better workflow.
Speaking of workflow, photoshop has exactly none. It's a bit like an artists canvas and a set of paints and brushes. Where as Lightroom is, well, more like a a darkroom. You get to develop, then enhance, and there is a bit more of a logical flow to things. Many pros find the tools in Lightroom to be more than sufficient, and also efficient in terms of time, investment, and results. You know, the bottom line? Photoshop is considered "the big gun" and is for the artist/photographer types that spend hours and days perfecting a single shot. If I were, say a wedding or event photog, I would use LR or C1 to process my photos as a batch, then go back and spend 15-20min on each one doing smaller adjustments. Finally I might use photoshop on just a few, say the close up photo of the bride and groom, to get that "something special". That's just my opinion of course. Others will chime in.

Lightroom is also a DAM:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_asset_management
"Digital asset management (DAM) consists of management tasks and decisions surrounding the ingestion, annotation, cataloguing, storage, retrieval and distribution of digital assets. Digital photographs, animations, videos and music exemplify the target areas of media asset management (a sub-category of DAM)."

WestEndFoto

I would recommend that you get Lightroom and Photoshop. Two years ago I bought both. I just paid for photoshop for two years without using it but have become fairly competent in Lightroom. I am now half way through the first photoshop course (total of 3) in the photography program that I am taking.

First thing I do is import everything to Lightroom. Second I organize everything in Lightroom making heavy use of Lightroom tags in a hierarchal structure. Second, I do basic editing in Lightroom. Many adjustments like contrast, saturation, white, black, shadows and highlights can be adjusted in one image, then applied across hundreds more easily.

Third, and only if I can't do it quickly in Lightroom, I right click on the image in Lightroom and open in Photoshop and do my editing in there. Lightroom deals with the raw files. As I save, it is updated as a copy in Lightroom, so I preserve my original (and if you use photoshop, there are ways to maintain the originals in Photoshop too).

Two things to think about:
1.
If you are going to use Photoshop, master layers before everything else with particular emphasis on the ability to do everything non-destructively.
2.
Your file sizes will become large quickly, so you don't want to edit everything in Photoshop unless you have 30 or 40 terabytes of disk space. On one files I was working on last night, my 45mb file (D800 Raw File) became 976mb after I was finished with it in Photoshop.

Ironheart's recommendation about some books is a minimum. What you should really do is take a course. Few books will teach you the basics properly like a good course will.

challydeano

Hah! I guess I should have explained better. I have professionally shot for over 35 years. I have used photoshop for over 15 years. It's the staple in the industry and is very powerful. I never had any problem opening up canon raw files in photo shop until I switched over to Nikon. :-( I have friends who swear by Lightroom but they are non pros so they use it for more archiving. Anyhow, this has been frustrating.

Ironheart

"Second, I do basic editing in photoshop."
I think you meant to say "Lightroom"

Ironheart

Hah! I guess I should have explained better. I have professionally shot for over 35 years. I have used photoshop for over 15 years. It's the staple in the industry and is very powerful. I never had any problem opening up canon raw files in photo shop until I switched over to Nikon. :-( I have friends who swear by Lightroom but they are non pros so they use it for more archiving. Anyhow, this has been frustrating.

Just download and install the latest version of ACR, Adobe camera raw
Adobe sucks at keeping up with camera releases, so it's no surprise you have to keep updated.
Your question is so basic, I assumed you were a noob :-)

challydeano

Photoshop CC is what I use at work. CS6 is what I am trying to get to work at home with my D4. I have no problems opening up NEF raw at work in CC on s Mac with 10.8v OS.

challydeano

Adobe does suck ! Amen !

paulr

TRY photoshop CC for free, comes with Lightroom CC too. There are hundreds of free Tutorial videos depends how long you can spare. Adobe camera raw is your starting point, and in the Photoshop CC you can switch backwards and forwards from Photoshop CC to ACR under filters.

Ironheart

CC is always up to date. CS6 needs to prodded along occasionally

challydeano

Adobe also made it impossible to burn s DVD of a Adobe premiere video project with their new online version !!!

WestEndFoto

"Second, I do basic editing in photoshop."
I think you meant to say "Lightroom"

Whups! Thanks for the catch.

WestEndFoto

Hah! I guess I should have explained better. I have professionally shot for over 35 years. I have used photoshop for over 15 years. It's the staple in the industry and is very powerful. I never had any problem opening up canon raw files in photo shop until I switched over to Nikon. :-( I have friends who swear by Lightroom but they are non pros so they use it for more archiving. Anyhow, this has been frustrating.

Funny! I thought you were a Newbie too. Sorry for the presumption.

challydeano

Sometimes I wish I was because I would be thousands of dollars ahead !

haroldp

PS and lightroom both use the same ACR code for raw processing.

... H

Ironheart

Yes, but the develop module in LR is completely integrated. In PS it is a plugin, and a separate download. http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=106&platform=Macintosh

paulr

Although ACR is a Plug-in, In the latest PCC you can now return to ACR while in PCC by Menu Filters, this was a major task in the old version, so I believe Adobe are trying to improve their software.
I was unaware it was the same coding for both ACR and LCC Thanks for the information "haroldp".

manray

I recently switched from Canon to Nikon and had to explore new ways to handle RAW files. I have found that there are two options better than opening and converting RAW/NEF files with Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe DNG: Nikon's Capture NX-D, and even better, DxO Optics Pro 10. One of the things I have found, and perhaps someone else here can corroborate this, is using Nikon Capture NX-D and converting to TIF reduces noise significantly. Shoot at ISO 800 or above, import the NEF files using Adobe Bridge without converting them and then use Nikon's software to open and convert to TIF. Compare (in Photoshop) that to the same file converted by Adobe Camera RAW or Adobe DNG and see the difference. DxO Optics Pro is also a great program to get the most out of your NEF files. Try a demo and see for yourself. You can download Nikon Capture NX-D from Nikon's site.

Ironheart

We have a discussion about this:
http://forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/4204/best-raw-converter/
I have provided links in the above discussion that show scientifically what you say is true, Adobe's RAW conversion is not the best. Also their Noise Reduction is quite primitive. Nikon's NX-D is the best RAW converter for NEFs, due to the simple fact that they are the only ones who don't have to reverse engineer their own format. The PRIME noise reduction in DxO is considered best-in-class. Shhhh... Don't tell the Lightroom Fanboys or they will shout you down; we'll just keep quietly using the superior RAW converters for ourselves.

haroldp

Nikon's NX-D is the best RAW converter for NEFs, due to the simple fact that they are the only ones who don't have to reverse engineer their own format. The PRIME noise reduction in DxO is considered best-in-class.

I agree completely for Nikon RAW's.

I mostly used NX-2 / D and open a TIF in PS if I need more manipulation. I use DXO for very high ISO (> 3200) images.

I use ACR for Leica, Fuji, and Sony RAW.

... H

challydeano

I wonder what ACR version I can use with Mac lion 10.7 ?

Ironheart

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