How to edit Nikon D7200 files in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop

A reader sent me a very quick and simple hack that will allow you to edit Nikon D7200 files in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop (D7200 is not yet supported by Adobe):

1. Install Adobe 8.8 DNG converter (Windows | Mac). Make shortcut to desktop.
2. Install (30 day free trial) of UltraEdit (or any other text editor)
3. Open NEF with UltraEdit, find and change 7200 to 5500 and save.
4. Drop NEF file on converter and convert.
5. Import DNG in Lightroom.

Here is a detailed video describing the same process:

Update #1 – I already reported on the RAW2NEF software that allows you to convert D7200 files into a “sort of” Nikon Electronic Format (NEF) raw file that can be edited in Nikon Capture NX2.

Update #2 – from a reader: if you work on a Mac and aren’t afraid of a bit of Perl code and the Mac command line, you can convert all of the NEF files in a directory with one command. The script reads like this:

############################

#!/usr/bin/perl

@files = `ls *.NEF`;

foreach $oldfile (@files){

chomp $oldfile;

@parts = split /\./, $oldfile;

$part1 = $parts[0];

$newfile = “${part1}a.NEF”;

open IN, “$oldfile” or die “Open failure: $oldfile\n”;

open OUT, “>$newfile” or die “Open failure: $newfile\n”;

print “Converting $oldfile to $newfile\n”;

while ($data = <IN>){

$data =~ s/D7200/D5500/g;

print OUT $data;

}

close IN;

close OUT;

}

##########################

Put the script in the directory containing the raw files, make it executable, and run it.  If you don’t know how to do those things, you’re probably best off passing this tip by. The script leaves the original NEF file intact and makes a converted copy with “a” attached to the name.  So if your raw file is “_DSC1234.NEF”, the converted copy will be “_DSC1234a.NEF”.

Update #3 – another solution provided by a reader:

Using a hex editor, I opened “Adobe DNG Converter.exe” and searched for “D5500”. I found six occurrences of this string, and changed each of them to “D7200”. The .EXE file thus modified will open a D7200 NEF file straight out of the camera, without modification.

I have not done much testing to see how good the DNGs produced by the modified converter are. They may well differ somewhat from files that will be produced when Adobe officially releases D7200 support in the next DNG converter.

Changing the Adobe DNG converter executable file is probably a violation of the terms and conditions of the download. Don’t ask me to provide you a copy of a modified EXE — distributing such a file probably violates copyright. But “I’m just sayin'” that the Adobe EXE can be modified to open D7200 NEFs.