Windows 8 Gimp and raw files: I need some help fast. I am leaving tomorrow for a trip out west. I bought a windows based laptop to download my photos on. It won't let me view raw (NEF)...

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

I need some help fast. I am leaving tomorrow for a trip out west. I bought a windows based laptop to download my photos on. It won't let me view raw (NEF) files. The Geeks at Best Buy said to download Gimp. I did. It won't open my raw files either.
Does anyone have any experience with either of these and a solution.

wilikioti Loc: Deep South, USA

Country's Mama wrote:

I need some help fast. I am leaving tomorrow for a trip out west. I bought a windows based laptop to download my photos on. It won't let me view raw (NEF) files. The Geeks at Best Buy said to download Gimp. I did. It won't open my raw files either.
Does anyone have any experience with either of these and a solution.

I have the same problem. I open my NEF files in ViewNX and change them to Jpeg to open in PS or Gimp.

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

wilikioti wrote:

I have the same problem. I open my NEF files in ViewNX and change them to Jpeg to open in PS or Gimp.

Have you had any problem with viruses with View NX? The guys at Best Buy told me most of the converters have malware problems.

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

wilikioti wrote:

I have the same problem. I open my NEF files in ViewNX and change them to Jpeg to open in PS or Gimp.

Just realized that this is the program that comes with the camera. I am going to try and install it and see what happens.

Bill Houghton Loc: New York area

You can also bring them into Picasa and save as JPG if that helps. I believe Gimp only does JPG's.

wilikioti Loc: Deep South, USA

Country's Mama wrote:

Have you had any problem with viruses with View NX? The guys at Best Buy told me most of the converters have malware problems.

I've never had a problem with ViewNX and I've used it for a long time. I bought my last computer from Best Buy and wasn't impressed by their experience.
I always opened my RAW files with Photoshop but when I bought a D7000 camera, Photoshop would not open the NEF files from it. Adobe has an upgrade that would allow it if I knew how to install the upgrade into Photoshop

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

wilikioti wrote:

I've never had a problem with ViewNX and I've used it for a long time. I bought my last computer from Best Buy and wasn't impressed by their experience.
I always opened my RAW files with Photoshop but when I bought a D7000 camera, Photoshop would not open the NEF files from it. Adobe has an upgrade that would allow it if I knew how to install the upgrade into Photoshop

I have been on the phone for the last hour with Best Buy. The computer is going back. windows 8 won't let me install capture NX and nobody at Best Buy seems to know how to get it to do it.

wilikioti Loc: Deep South, USA

Country's Mama wrote:

I have been on the phone for the last hour with Best Buy. The computer is going back. windows 8 won't let me install capture NX and nobody at Best Buy seems to know how to get it to do it.

I went to Nikon's web-site and downloaded ViewNX which is free. The capture NX is probably a trial that you would have to pay for to use.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

This may help -
http://digital-photography-school.com/opening-raw-images-in-gimp-with-ufraw-for-windows-the-basics

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

I ended up taking the computer back, then talking to half the sales people at Best Buy. I found someone that had a solution so ended up taking the computer back home. Whew. What a day and a hassle. But the sales people were fantastic, so skip the Geeks. I haven't checked to see if the program they put on works. If not I will check out the link. I could not down load ViewNX because it was not compatible with Windows 8. At least that is the error message I got.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Country's Mama wrote:

I need some help fast. I am leaving tomorrow for a trip out west. I bought a windows based laptop to download my photos on. It won't let me view raw (NEF) files. The Geeks at Best Buy said to download Gimp. I did. It won't open my raw files either.
Does anyone have any experience with either of these and a solution.

For the latest version of ViewNX-2:

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product/Imaging-Software/NVNX2/ViewNX-2.html

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

If all else fails try RAW Therapee which works fine with GIMP. You can set up Raw Therapee to bring up your developed image into GIMP with one click.

Download here: http://rawtherapee.com/downloads

Have fun on your trip.

darkmanCANADA Loc: Calgary, AB Canada

You need to get the NEF codec for Windows 8:

http://www.nikonimglib.com/nefcodec/

This will allow you to open a NEF file like it was a JPG (JPEG) in Windows Explorer, Windows Live Gallery, etc. There is no need to get special programs to convert. However ViewNX2 is a quick way to convert from NEF (RAW) to JPG

idrabefi Loc: Michigan

Try UFRaw. Not sure if it will work with Windows 8, but GIMP 2.8 and UFRaw .18 (not .19) works for me on an older version of Windows.

jmb6800 Loc: Amherst, MA USA

Rawtherapee is a (free) great program. Not as Photoshoppy as Gimp, but very strong -- reminds me of Lightroom.