When is .NEF not .NEF

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segref

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Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom version: 6.13 [ 1141928 ]
Operating System
  1. Windows 10
I use LR6 perpetual at the local university and at home, two separate licences, and both have the final upgrades installed.
I use a Nikon D800 at the uni and have my own D500.
I recently took some shots with the D500 and Lightroom at the uni would not recognise the .NEF files.
I imported them, without a problem, on my home version of LR and have done so with files from the D800.
  1. Why is it so?
  2. How do I fix this?
Generally this is not a problem as the uni system is dedicated to a single purpose. Times do arrive, however, when I need to import the D500 files.
The D800 is permanently tethered to a Windows 10 computer. The D500 card was read from a slot on the computer and the Windows photo software displayed these files immediately.
My home system is Windows 10 based.
Any help, suggestions or cures greatly appreciated.
Note. The version listed below is for my home installation. I can get the Uni version next Wednesday, if required.
 
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On your university computer, go to the Help->System menu item and make sure that the version is 6.5 or greater. It sounds like this is not the case. Note that 6.13 is greater than 6.5 in Adobe version maths. :)
 
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Not every NEF is the same. almost every body makes it's own version of it. So You have to use a version of Lightroom that does support that nef / camera. Look at Hal's advice to check. If you are not able to update the LR version on the Uni computer you could convert your D500 NEF's at home first to DNG.
 
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Hal P Anderson said:
On your university computer, go to the Help->System menu item and make sure that the version is 6.5 or greater. It sounds like this is not the case. Note that 6.13 is greater than 6.5 in Adobe version maths. :)
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Thanks for that Hal. If this is the case is it still possible to update the perpetual version?
 
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Yes. See: Download Photoshop Lightroom

There's an entry halfway down the page for Lightroom 6. Click on the greater-than sign to the left to expand it.
 
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Roelof Moorlag said:
Not every NEF is the same. almost every body makes it's own version of it. So You have to use a version of Lightroom that does support that nef / camera. Look at Hal's advice to check. If you are not able to update the LR version on the Uni computer you could convert your D500 NEF's at home first to DNG.
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Roelof,

I could be wrong, but I don't think any company other than Nikon produces NEF RAW files. That said, Nikon is always evolving the NEF format camera by camera.

Phil
 
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Phil, I rather think Roelof meant "every NIKON body" when he said "every body".
 
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Roelof Moorlag said:
Indeed. And all other manfacturers are doing the same with their RAW formats, it’s not a typical Nikon thing.
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And exactly how does that benefit the user?

Of course, if user benefit were the primary goal of every manufacturer, they would all use DNG. I'm not holding my breadth.

Phil
 
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It's true of many camera companies, using a single filename extension across many years of camera models. Even when the sensor data itself differs enough to require an update in Lightroom (or other raw editors).

But Nikon took it to another level. Even before .NEF was used as the filename extension for camera raw data, Nikon used .NEF for the files saved from the NikonScan software that ran Nikon film scanners. So when you see an .NEF file, it might not even be a digital camera file, depending on how old it is.
 
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PhilBurton said:
And exactly how does that benefit the user?
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It doesn't.

Conrad Chavez said:
But Nikon took it to another level. Even before .NEF was used as the filename extension for camera raw data, Nikon used .NEF for the files saved from the NikonScan software that ran Nikon film scanners. So when you see an .NEF file, it might not even be a digital camera file, depending on how old it is.
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Interesting!, i did not know this.
 
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