Problems with certain Nikon RAW formats (High Efficiency Compression)

Problems with certain Nikon RAW formats (High Efficiency Compression)

Problem:
Photos saved in the camera as RAW with Nikon High Efficiency Compression are not displayed correctly in the 1:1 preview in Excire Foto.

Background:
Some Nikon cameras (e.g. Z6, Z7, Z8, Z9) offer the option of setting "High Efficiency Compression" for RAW photos in addition to "Lossless Compression". This is not supported by Windows and macOS. The photo can therefore not be developed by Excire Foto and this leads to an error in the 1:1 display as soon as this is selected.

Partial solution:
For Windows, Nikon offered the option of installing the Nikon NEF codec for a while. This ensures that Windows and thus also Excire Foto can read the problematic NEFs.
However, with the NEF codec installed, the correct rotation of photos with Exif orientation (e.g. portrait format photos) no longer works. The Windows image viewer also displays the photos incorrectly rotated.
A workaround is to switch off the rotation in the camera ("Auto Image Rotation") and to rotate the photos manually in Excire Foto.

Workarounds:
As an interim solution until the operating systems support the format, we can recommend the following measures;
  1. Use the embedded (not 1:1) previews for the affected photos and generally deactivate the automatic generation of 1:1 previews in the program settings of Excire Foto.
  2. If necessary, select a different storage format for RAW photos in the camera for new images.
  3. If the Nikon Codec Pack is used on the computer, deactivate the automatic image rotation ("Auto Image Rotation") in the camera and rotate the photos manually in Excire Photo.

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