According to Nikon, NEF Codec is a module that makes Nikon RAW (.NEF) image files as easy to work with as JPEG and TIFF images. In a less nebulous explanation, it allows users to view the thumbnails of NEF raw photos and embedded metadata and preview raw images from within Windows Explorer and Windows Photo Gallery. There is no official 64bit support yet. The demand for official 64 bit support has grown louder and louder but Nikon is still slow to respond. That has caused some grief among certain Nikon RAW shooters.
Well, if you really want NEF raw codec with 64 bit support, there is a third party codec offered by Ardfry Imaging, LLC. It is not free, unlike the official Nikon codec, but it is not very expensive either: $19.95. Some even reported that it works in the upcoming Windows 7.
On NikonCafe forum, a visitor called Greg_B mentioned the following:
FYI…I was playing around with Windows Photo Gallery on my Vista 64-bit system today and discovered a way to view NEF photos using the available Nikon codec.
How I did it? I just ran the 32-bit version of Windows Photo Gallery which is located in the ‘\Program Files (x86)\Windows Photo Gallery\’ directory. When using this 32-bit version of Windows Photo Gallery the Nikon codec works fine and you can see NEF files properly. I then just created a shortcut to the 32-bit version on my desktop, so that I could access it easily.
I know this isn’t an ideal solution, but I don’t think it’s too bad until they release a proper 64-bit version.
Greg
I haven’t tried it because I don’t have a 64-bit system. Please let us know if it does work this way.
Personally I found raw codecs little useful even on the supported 32bit system. It seems to be able to display thumbnails only for unedited NEF photos in Windows Explorer. NEF photos edited in Capture NX show up as not thumbnails but only small part of the photo. If you don’t want to spend the extra money, you can get by with the Capture NX 2 that is not officially supported on 64-bit vista but actually works fine.
Keywords: 64-bit, Ardfry Imaging, Codec, NEF, NEF Codec, RAW, Vista, Windows 7
“NEF photos edited in Capture NX show up as not thumbnails but only small part of the photo.”
This is a bug in the Nikon codec. The Ardfry codec does not have this issue.
David,
Thanks for pointing it out.
Max
I am using 64 bit vista and the NEF codec does work when using the 32 bit version of Windows Photo Gallery (C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Photo Gallery\WindowsPhotoGallery).
However, if you open a photo from Windows Explorer (after changing the default program to the 32 bit Windows Photo Gallery), it will just open the photo gallery and won’t display the picture. All this means is you have to open the picture from within Windows Photo Gallery itself.
This problem also means you cannot see thumbnail images in Windows Explorer, although if using Photo Gallery properly you don’t need this feature anyway.
Regards,
Stuart
A different but free solution to this problem is a program called fast picture veiwer. It’s similar and supposedely faster than windows photo gallery. It supports raw picture formats in the 64 bit version. It also seems to create thumbnails in windows explorer.
http://www.fastpictureviewer.com/downloads/
Just make sure to check-mark the raw codecs you want to use when installing.
..actually the free version of FastPictureViewer does not support raw viewing, only the Pro version does and it relies on codecs to preview the files (the Nikon NEF codec for 32-bit and the Ardfry NEF codec for 64-bit). The thumbnails that can be seen in Vista and Windows 7 Explorer are created by Explorer itself, using the same codec(s).
Hopefully Nikon will release a free 64 bit version of the codec soon. Nobody from Nikon is saying it is coming but with 64 bit computers becoming very popular (It is needed to support more than 3GB of memory), the NEF codec and Nikon Capture NX should get supported 64 versions.
Btw, if you are interested in other RAW codecs, Microsoft has a website with many RAW codecs.
http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downloads/codecs.aspx
Max
Or you can “Run” your 32-bit windows explorer with this code:
%windir%\SysWOW64\explorer.exe /separate /e
Then you can see the thumbnails but it’s not a great solution.
Try this:
http://www.fastpictureviewer.com/codecs/
19 raw formats, 12 manufacturers, 300 cameras covered in both 32 and 64-bit
Try the excellent free Fast Stone Image Viewer for Windows. I am using version 3.9 with Windows 7 64-bit and it works fine with NEF images from my D80