Color Me Stupid

[jeknepley]

I don't understand why my NEF files only display the file title in the results window but no image (but - images are visible in the Quickview panel). In contrast, jpeg files display as expected.

I have no doubt it's something that I'm doing wrong, but after several days of searching & experimenting - I give up.

The image in this link illustrates what I'm trying to describe.

http://ed-k-photo.smugmug.com/Other/Miscellaneous/i-MjKS9WK/A

[attachment deleted by admin]

[jeknepley]

I forgot to add that this is not always the case. There are times when the NEF images do appear in the results window as they should. It's the "sometime they do; sometime not" that's got me puzzled.

[J.D. McDowell]

Interesting that the icons are all Lightroom. I'm guessing you have the nef files associated with that by default?

If you install the latest version of Nikon View NX2 it should install the latest version of the Nikon codec. Hopefully (probably after a reboot) that will fix your problem.

You may have to reassociate the files with Lightroom again afterwards.

EDIT: Actually scratch that, you can download just the latest codec here,

http://nikonimglib.com/nefcodec/

[jeknepley]

Yes, NEF files are associated with LR by default. I can change that to NX2 but the same problem prevails.

I downloaded the codec you provided the link for - thanks. That made no difference either - even after rebooting, re-associating NEF files, etc. etc.

The really strangest part of this is that some NEF files do display their images while others do not. This can occur with two NEFs from the same shoot literally right next to one another in a result window sorted by capture time - from the same camera & download. So NEF xxx01 displays properly but xxxo2 just shows the LR (or NX2) icon.

Makes no sense. 

[Mario]

I downloaded the codec you provided the link for - thanks. That made no difference either - even after rebooting, re-associating NEF files, etc. etc.

That's to be expected. IMatch will not rescan all files just because you have installed a new codec.
Try this:

Select some of the problem files and press <Shift>+<Ctrl>+<F5> or choose "Rescan" from the context menu while holding down <Ctrl>.
In the dialog, choose "Force Update". This will reload the files using whatever codec is currently installed. If the problem was caused by a code not handling the files correctly, this solves the problem.

If this does not solve the problem, please attach the log file from that session.

Also, select one of the problem files and go the Help > Support > WIC diagnostics. Attach the output of that command. It will show us which codec is used, and what it responds when IMatch tries to load the NEF file.

[jeknepley]

Thank you very much. Problem solved. I tried the forced rescan on a dozen files and can now see the images instead of the LR icon. IM is now handling 11,638 files similarly and it will take a while, but I have time as this is a test DB and I have other things to do while the rescan takes place. Not all of the 11K had problems but just doing a select all was easier than visually examining each one.

On another note - mainly for Mario
1. I'm using two computers - 1 Win7 & 1 Win8 - with IM at present. File storage is in two places - a locally connected drive for my main computer and a four 3TB-drive NAS (Synology DS413) RAID 0 unit. One day I'll attempt adding a Win 8 tablet to the mix.

2. My "production" IM setup (IM3) uses the Win7 PC and the files are on a locally connected drive (and backed up and separately synced to the NAS). The IM5 tests are primarily on the Win8 system. The imdb5 database file is on the PC's internal hard drive, but I'm using the NAS files (the synced copies of those on the IM3/Win7 setup.

3. The production version has nearly 250K files (about 10-20% need to be removed some day - which will happen during or after my switch to 5). Also about 25% need to be (re)categorized (I tend not to rely much on metadata - some but not like many folks do). I have been gradually adding files to the IM5 test bed (up to ~ 50K now) and almost starting from scratch with everything. I may  (or not) convert the IM3 production version when 5 is released.

4. The experiment thus far - apart from learning & trying 5's new & improved features - was the NAS. Although 99% of my IM5 work is on the Win8 PC, I have run the Win7 system using IM5 and the DB created using IM5 (copied the Win8 imdb5 file to the Win7 PC and ran IM5 - worked without a hitch). I have confirmed that the imdb5 DB file needs to be installed on the PC and not then NAS for performance - but that was to be expected and that you've already written about. Keeping the two local copies of the DB file synced (manually) is the only stumbling block.

Mario, I mention the above in case there are some things you'd like me to try in terms of mixed IM3/IM5/local/NAS/syncing/etc. Being retired, I have some time.

[Mario]

Good to hear that you got it solved.

Your setup is not that uncommon (fast PC, mass storage on a NAS or server). I use a similar layout myself for production work, but also work with local image sets and even a very old laptop to test the low end.

IMatch performance stands and falls with disk performance - like all database applications. Keeping the database on the local disk is a good move, a NAS box is usually an order of magnitude slower (or more). Network, latency, SAMBA overhead etc. this all adds up. The IMatch database on a SSD or a high-speed (!) USB 3.0 stick is the fastest way to work with IMatch.