Nikon D40X and Photoshop CS3 - can't open raw files?

I have just spent several hours on the phone with two techs from Adobe. I even sent them two raw files taken directly from my camera.

It seems, they say, that CS3 cannot open the D40X raw files and does not support the D40X. It does support the D40.

The second tech seemed very knowledgeable and had me ftp two NEF files. She could not open either of them although she states she can open NEF files from a D40.

Does anyone know anything about this? And, perhaps more importantly, what's the best way to go? Adobe said they hope that the D40X will be included in their next upgrade :-)

TIA

Louise

"louise" wrote in message

I have just spent several hours on the phone with two techs from Adobe. I even sent them two raw files taken directly from my camera.
It seems, they say, that CS3 cannot open the D40X raw files and does not support the D40X. It does support the D40.

The second tech seemed very knowledgeable and had me ftp two NEF files. She could not open either of them although she states she can open NEF files from a D40.

Does anyone know anything about this? And, perhaps more importantly, what's the best way to go? Adobe said they hope that the D40X will be included in their next upgrade :-)

TIA

Louise

The nef files for different models are not identical. Even for such a minor change from D40 to D40X may cause a change in the internal structure of the file.

Perhaps Nikon has a plugin for the D40X. After all, they are the people who created the problem.

Otherwise, you must wait for Adobe to update their plugin.

Jim

Jim wrote:

"louise" wrote in message

I have just spent several hours on the phone with two techs from Adobe. I even sent them two raw files taken directly from my camera.
It seems, they say, that CS3 cannot open the D40X raw files and does not support the D40X. It does support the D40.

The second tech seemed very knowledgeable and had me ftp two NEF files. She could not open either of them although she states she can open NEF files from a D40.

Does anyone know anything about this? And, perhaps more importantly, what's the best way to go? Adobe said they hope that the D40X will be included in their next upgrade :-)

TIA

Louise

The nef files for different models are not identical. Even for such a minor change from D40 to D40X may cause a change in the internal structure of the file.

Perhaps Nikon has a plugin for the D40X. After all, they are the people who created the problem.

Otherwise, you must wait for Adobe to update their plugin.
Jim

After many hours, another Adobe technician was kind enough to have me ftp a raw file and she tried to open it in her own system - knowing that her own system is functioning. It didn't work. Apparently CS3 does not have a plug in for the D40X although they do have one for the D40. I had assumed the NEF files both cameras created would be the same - but clearly, as you suggest, not so.

Nikon included a trial version of their Capture NX software which does allow one to work with the raw images quite
successfully. However, if I have to purchase it because Adobe doesn't get a plugin in 30 days, I have to say I'll be disappointed to say the least.

The upside to this is the Capture NX appears to be a very competent photo editor and the qualtiy of the software is quite high.

Louise

"louise" wrote in message

Jim wrote:

"louise" wrote in message

I have just spent several hours on the phone with two techs from Adobe. I even sent them two raw files taken directly from my camera.
It seems, they say, that CS3 cannot open the D40X raw files and does not support the D40X. It does support the D40.

The second tech seemed very knowledgeable and had me ftp two NEF files. She could not open either of them although she states she can open NEF files from a D40.

Does anyone know anything about this? And, perhaps more importantly, what's the best way to go? Adobe said they hope that the D40X will be included in their next upgrade :-)

TIA

Louise

The nef files for different models are not identical. Even for such a minor change from D40 to D40X may cause a change in the internal structure of the file.

Perhaps Nikon has a plugin for the D40X. After all, they are the people who created the problem.

Otherwise, you must wait for Adobe to update their plugin.
Jim

After many hours, another Adobe technician was kind enough to have me ftp a raw file and she tried to open it in her own system - knowing that her own system is functioning. It didn't work. Apparently CS3 does not have a plug in for the D40X although they do have one for the D40. I had assumed the NEF files both cameras created would be the same - but clearly, as you suggest, not so.

Nikon included a trial version of their Capture NX software which does allow one to work with the raw images quite successfully. However, if I have to purchase it because Adobe doesn't get a plugin in 30 days, I have to say I'll be disappointed to say the least.

The upside to this is the Capture NX appears to be a very competent photo editor and the qualtiy of the software is quite high.

Louise

I would also be very unhappy with both Nikon and Adobe. It seems that there is always another program
to buy and load. How often does Adobe update their plugins? Jim

Jim wrote:

"louise" wrote in message

Jim wrote:

"louise" wrote in message

I have just spent several hours on the phone with two techs from Adobe. I even sent them two raw files taken directly from my camera.
It seems, they say, that CS3 cannot open the D40X raw files and does not support the D40X. It does support the D40.

The second tech seemed very knowledgeable and had me ftp two NEF files. She could not open either of them although she states she can open NEF files from a D40.

Does anyone know anything about this? And, perhaps more importantly, what's the best way to go? Adobe said they hope that the D40X will be included in their next upgrade :-)

TIA

Louise

The nef files for different models are not identical. Even for such a minor change from D40 to D40X may cause a change in the internal structure of the file.

Perhaps Nikon has a plugin for the D40X. After all, they are the people who created the problem.

Otherwise, you must wait for Adobe to update their plugin.
Jim

After many hours, another Adobe technician was kind enough to have me ftp a raw file and she tried to open it in her own system - knowing that her own system is functioning. It didn't work. Apparently CS3 does not have a plug in for the D40X although they do have one for the D40. I had assumed the NEF files both cameras created would be the same - but clearly, as you suggest, not so.

Nikon included a trial version of their Capture NX software which does allow one to work with the raw images quite successfully. However, if I have to purchase it because Adobe doesn't get a plugin in 30 days, I have to say I'll be disappointed to say the least.

The upside to this is the Capture NX appears to be a very competent photo editor and the qualtiy of the software is quite high.

Louise

I would also be very unhappy with both Nikon and Adobe. It seems that there is always another program
to buy and load. How often does Adobe update their plugins? Jim

I tried to get an answer to this from the tech and she was vague and couldn't promise that they would ever include a given camera. In other words, she was unwilling to commit that at some point in the future, Adobe would support the D40X.

She gave me a time frame to check for updates of about 3 weeks to a month. In other words, right around the time my free trial of Capture NX runs out :-) No - I'm not happy about it. In fact, I'm not at all sure I'd have upgraded to CS3 if I knew it wouldn't support my raw files. I guess I should have done my homework more carefully and been much more suspicious.

Louise

On Apr 27, 4:59 pm, louise wrote:

I have just spent several hours on the phone with two techs from Adobe. I even sent them two raw files taken directly from my camera.

It seems, they say, that CS3 cannot open theD40Xraw files and does not support theD40X. It does support the D40.

The second tech seemed very knowledgeable and had me ftp twoNEFfiles. She could not open either of them although she
states she can openNEFfiles from a D40.

Does anyone know anything about this? And, perhaps more importantly, what's the best way to go? Adobe said they hope that theD40Xwill be included in their next upgrade :-)
TIA

Louise

The Nikon NEF Plug-in for Photoshop

(In Windows, search "plug" to find "P2_NEFPlugin_En.pdf" in the NikonPictureProjectReferenceManual folder. You should have copied this manual to your HD from your PictureProject CD when you installed PictureProject.)

D40x NEF Photoshop Plugin -

file: "Nikon NEF Plugin LE.8bi"

Search Windows for "*.8bi"

These two plugins can be found at C:\Program Files\Nikon \PictureProject

Follow these instructions for (taken from the above reference manual)

***Note: before you uninstall PictureProject back up all of you NEF files.

"Installing the Nikon NEF Plug-in

Two Photoshop plug-ins are included with PictureProject: a Nikon NEF Plugin LE plug-in for viewing RAW images, and a Nikon YCC TIFF plug-in for viewing YCbCr-TIFF images (in Windows, these fi les have the extension "*.8bi"). These plug-ins can be used with Adobe Photoshop Elements version 2.0 or later and with Adobe Photoshop version 6.0 or later (Windows) or 7.0 or later (Macintosh). Both plug-ins are copied to the PictureProject application folder when PictureProject is installed (in the Macintosh version, the plug-ins are copied to the "File formats" folder in the PictureProject application folder). If a copy of Photoshop is detected at installation, the plug- ins will also be copied to the Photoshop plug-ins folder. Users who install Photoshop after installing PictureProject should fi rst uninstall PictureProject, and then reinstall PictureProject when installation of Photoshop is complete."

After you open the RAW NEF picture file in Photoshop save it in lossless .psd format for further editing.

A.S.

jmorton wrote:

On Apr 27, 4:59 pm, louise wrote:

I have just spent several hours on the phone with two techs from Adobe. I even sent them two raw files taken directly from my camera.

It seems, they say, that CS3 cannot open theD40Xraw files and does not support theD40X. It does support the D40.

The second tech seemed very knowledgeable and had me ftp twoNEFfiles. She could not open either of them although she
states she can openNEFfiles from a D40.

Does anyone know anything about this? And, perhaps more importantly, what's the best way to go? Adobe said they hope that theD40Xwill be included in their next upgrade :-)
TIA

Louise

The Nikon NEF Plug-in for Photoshop

(In Windows, search "plug" to find "P2_NEFPlugin_En.pdf" in the NikonPictureProjectReferenceManual folder. You should have copied this manual to your HD from your PictureProject CD when you installed PictureProject.)

D40x NEF Photoshop Plugin -

file: "Nikon NEF Plugin LE.8bi"

Search Windows for "*.8bi"

These two plugins can be found at C:\Program Files\Nikon \PictureProject

Follow these instructions for (taken from the above reference manual)
***Note: before you uninstall PictureProject back up all of you NEF files.

"Installing the Nikon NEF Plug-in

Two Photoshop plug-ins are included with PictureProject: a Nikon NEF Plugin LE plug-in for viewing RAW images, and a Nikon YCC TIFF plug-in for viewing YCbCr-TIFF images (in Windows, these fi les have the extension "*.8bi"). These plug-ins can be used with Adobe Photoshop Elements version 2.0 or later and with Adobe Photoshop version 6.0 or later (Windows) or 7.0 or later (Macintosh). Both plug-ins are copied to the PictureProject application folder when PictureProject is installed (in the Macintosh version, the plug-ins are copied to the "File formats" folder in the PictureProject application folder). If a copy of Photoshop is detected at installation, the plug- ins will also be copied to the Photoshop plug-ins folder. Users who install Photoshop after installing PictureProject should fi rst uninstall PictureProject, and then reinstall PictureProject when installation of Photoshop is complete."

After you open the RAW NEF picture file in Photoshop save it in lossless .psd format for further editing.

A.S.

Thanks for the info.

Between posting and seeing your post, I ended up purchasing Capture NX. I have to say I'm not sorry. I find myself doing a fair amount of editing in RAW, including the ability to change some of the camera settings, the kelvin temp and some other goodies.

I've also begun to use the color control points when I want to lighten or darken a particular small area and find them easier to use than PS.

What I've been doing is exhuasting the use of Capture and then saving as a tif and continuing in PS, CS3. Some things are done better there and some are compellingly easy in Capture.

I've no idea what I'll finally decide but am curious to hear others reactions to using Capture NX.

TIA

Louise