When will Adobe support Nikon NRW file format?

Question

Adobe guys and ladies,
Is there any information that you can add to the dialog shown below that will help me decide if the NRW format used by the Nikon P7000 P&S will be compatible with my >> 10,000 image Lightroom collection?
thanks,
WK
Customer 09/15/2010 11:13 AM
I now shoot topside and underwater (using an Ikelite housing) with a D300S. My work flow is to copy the nef files to Lightroom 3 (for Mac) as dng files for tweaking either in LR3 or occasionally in Photoshop. I'm presently considering a P&S such as the P7000 but I'm concerned that the proprietary nrw format will be a "deal killer". How do I convert nrw files to either raw, nef or dng but not tif? WK
Response 09/15/2010 10:25 PM
HI Thanks for the question. As with any new model software to convert RAW images will have to be updated for newer models. The Microsoft WIC compatible NRW should easily be read and converted by your software once they update for the newer model. Of course for the best conversion we'd recommend using Nikon Capture NX2. Thanks -David
Customer 09/16/2010 08:35 AM
Hi, The issue of file incompatibility is of great concern for many potential P7000 buyers. Let me ask the question a bit differently: Can the NRW format used by the P7000 camera be read directly (or converted to NEF or DNG formats) by available Mac software such as Aperture, iPhoto, Adobe Lightroom 3 or Adobe Photoshop 5? thanks, WK
Response 09/16/2010 08:35 AM
HI Thanks for the update. I'm sorry but you'd have to ask Adobe and Apple about their plans to support the P7000 images. I'd guess based on their support for other RAW format we've produced that they would but since it is their software they would be the ones who could answer. Sorry we can't help more. -David

Answer 1

clvrmnky wrote:
Of course, Nikon does its best to obfuscate their file formats...
That's a load of CR@P - please cease this continued misinformation.
Even in the earliest days when Nikon encrypted their white balance, it was decryptable via the Nikon SDK (without having to use the rendering feature as well...). Its just that Adobe wasn't using the SDK because the Nikon formats are all based on tif and as such are easy enough for Adobe to deal with without resorting to the SDK that they hadn't bothered. At that time, Thomas Knoll made some off-hand remarks that started a huge wave of misinformation that has been propagated on the internet ever since. In my opinion, he owes Nikon and the photography community an official public apology.
Nikon's purpose in controlling access to the information in NEFs was aimed at quality control, so idiots like me didn't start futzing with their camera data via plugins and fly-by-night applications and smearing Nikon's good name to people who didn't know enough not to blame things on Nikon. In the beginning, Nikon required approval before releasing their SDK to third party vendors. Now, it is available immediately to anyone willing to fill out a form on their website (and it includes complete documentation). Until you, or anybody else claiming this that or the other thing about the accessibility of information in Nikon's camera files, downloads the SDK and plays with it, to see for yourself, you don't know what you are talking about.
The fact that there was a delay between the release of the P6000 and its support in CaptureNX does not prove anything except Nikon was eager to release the camera, and followed up with changes to the SDK and/or CaptureNX after the fact.
I apologize if the tone of this post seems stern, but in my opinion, its time for the misinformation to stop, and the huge body of erroneous information on the internet to begin to be dismantled.
Note: I am not a Nikon defender. I just don't like to see people being unfair to them.
Rob