Okay Aperture support for D700 files - easy way

[jonoslack]

Okay, Now we can use D700 files in Aperture.

First of all, you'll need the new version 4.5 DNG converter from Adobe:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3940
it's a free download, but make sure you get the actual version and not the release candidate (which doesn't work).

THE EASY WAY
Convert the files to DNG, and you will be able to import them into Aperture and they will use 2.0 DNG for the conversion - this works fine, but of course it doesn't add specific camera support for the D700, only generic support for .DNG


ENJOY!

 

[jonoslack]

Re: Okay Aperture support for D700 files - THE BEST WAY

THE BEST WAY
On the assumption that the conversion for the D700 is the same as the D3 (which really does seem to be the case). You can edit your raw.plist file to cover the D700 (which means that you'll get 2.0 support as well as camera support) - as I gather this will be updated automatically when Aperture finally get around to supporting the D7, but, in the meantime, I think it produces just as good results as the D3 support which is already there:

Now you will need to hack the raw.plist file in the system - don't panic, it's quite easy, I'm sure that there are many other ways of doing it, but I'm not that tech, and I use Plist Edit Pro
You can download a trial version here:

http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/plisteditpro/

Find the raw.plist file in your macintosh HD

(You will need to right (Ctrl) click on RawCamera.bundle and choose 'show contents')

System / Library / CoreServices / RawCamera.bundle / Contents / Resources.

keep this finder window open (so you don't have the bother of getting there again)

Open a new finder window

Copy the raw.plist file two two different places:
1 for a backup (very important - although I've never broken it)
2 to change - because it won't let you save it in place.

Edit the 2 copy in plist edit pro - in the top pane scroll down until you find:
Nikon D3
click on the New Sibling option on the taskbar - this will create a new record:
Change the first column (property list) to Nikon D700, leave the class as 'string' and change the Value to Nikon D3

Save the file

Now copy the new saved file over the file in the window you kept open (you’ll need to enter your admin password to do this)

System / Library / CoreServices / RawCamera.bundle / Contents / Resources.

When you convert your .nef files to .dng, then you should find that these will open properly in Aperture, they will also give the D700 as the camera

PS - of course, this is all at your own risk, but I have tried it without apparent issues.

 

[jonoslack]

Re: Okay Aperture support for D700 files - Observations

Hi There
I have tried to hack into the raw.plist file so that there is native support for the .NEF file - but it simply doesn't seem to work.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it Aperture 2.0 provides 2 levels of RAW support:

2.0 DNG (this provides basic support for all DNG files - it doesn't take into account camera specific values, but it does work pretty well (for ricoh etc.)
(the easy way above will allow this)

2.0 - this takes into account information in the raw.plist which is specific to the camera - this can either be on a DNG file - OR on the camera's generic raw file . . . the support however, as I understand it, is the same.
(the Best way above will allow this support, but only on the dng file).

Unfortunately this still won't work on the original .NEF file - however, I'm increasingly thinking that if there is .dng support in so many programs, it may be a better way of storing one's RAW files.

By the way - I haven't yet tried this with the 14bit raw files.

I hope this is helpful - don't be frightened by the best way, it makes a long screed, but it's really pretty simple.