Capture NX and Photoshop.

[jim]

Here's an odd problem that I haven't experienced before today. Photoshop is refusing to open Tiff images from Capture NX. The problem appears to be that CNX is saving the files in two pages, which Photoshop then baulks at. So does anybody have any idea why I'm just seeing this now after using the two programs together for several years, and is there anything I can do about it?

[Goatch]

I gather it must be Capture CNX2 , I just tried it with Photoshop Elements 9 and it worked fine , are you talking about the full blown Photoshop ?

[arthurking83]

Sorry I can't be more specific, but I vaguely recall an issue with tiff files, but only when I accidentally used some compression or something?
it was a veerrryyy long time ago.

The two pages on a CNX generated tiff file is normal. The other page(which is almost certainly page 2) is just a thumbnail image file.

So did you save as a tiff file and then open with Ps, or did you just "Open With" directly in CNX2?
I suppose the only difference is that as you save as tiff, you get the option to save as CMYK, or RGB, 8bit or 16bit and obviously compression.
When you 'open with' .. there is no option, it's RGB, 16bit and no compression.

** NOTE:
If your Ps is the Elements version, and it doesn't support 16 bit tiffs, then this is a problem to know of.
In CNX2 you would have to save as and choose 8bit in the options box.
(you haven't specified which Ps nor with method .. hence the questions).

Like I said tho, the 2 page tiff is normal. Something about allowances for multiple subfiles. In the case of both CNX2 and VNX2 any generated tiffs have the 2nd page subfile, which is a thumbnail image.
Can't remember the exact dimensions of the thumbnail file, but about 160pixels or so along the long edge.

FWIW: try FastStone Viewer(FSViewer) to see if it'll open the tiff files too.
it's about the only other software that helps me to confirm any tiff file incompatibilities I get on the odd occasion.

A note about FSViewer if you have it or try it. When you view through a set of images and if one of those images is a CNX2/VNX2 generated tiff file, if you use the full screen browser, as you cycle through the images, you will see this 2nd page of the tiff file. So the first image you see is the properly sized image, and then on the next image you click too, it'll be the same image(page 2) but the smaller thumbnail file.

Hope this helps.

[jim]

Thanks guys. Software is CNX2 and Photoshop CS6.

It appears that I've misidentified the problem though. Photoshop just ignores the second page(as Arthur says, it's a thumbnail), which is fine... and I've got CNX doing something else which is throwing Photoshop. Haven't figured out what it is yet.

[arthurking83]

OK, so the 16 bit file type shouldn't be a problem then.

Like Goatch, other than this one time I've never had issues with CNX generated tiff files.
It's always the other way around for me, in that you need to be careful how you save tif files in other software if you want to open them in CNX(or VNX).

If you still have the problem(say with this particular file) opening in CS6 .. try opening it in any other imaging software to begin with.
Even something as simple as M$ Paint(if you have Windows PC) or any equivalent Apple software.

1. to see if it opens the tif file(so to confirm that CNX isn't causing the problem)

2. to save it again(with no editing!) to another file name with this other software to see if CS6 opens it now.

Basically the idea is to have two files that are (near) identical but saved via different software, to work out any differences between them .. figure out if it's CNX or Ps that is the problem in this instance.

Remember that CNX is (on the whole) really only meant to operate on Nikon generated files. It generates tiff files as per the camera would.
If you shoot tiff format in camera, you get the same 2 page style tiffs output(like CNX creates).


one other relevant question .. what version of CNX do you have.
The latest version is 2.4.7. There won't be any more updates to CNX2.

Does the tiff file open with ViewNX2(if you have it) .. or CNX-D(not withstanding the fact that NX-D is a slug of a program! )

[jim]

CNX is 2.4.7

File opened fine in Windows Photo Viewer and Irfanview, but Photoshop couldn't parse it, and Even CNX itself refused to open it.

Re-saving with Irfanview seems to have remedied the problem and it hasn't recurred so perhaps I should write it off as a glitch. Wish I could figure out what happened though.

[arthurking83]

When you say writing it off as a glitch, I assume that you've tried the same process again(ie. save in CNX and open in CS6) and it's now working for 'ya.
(Or that resaving the tif file in IrfanView is all you needed and you're not interested in what the CNX-CS6 issue may have been).

This glitch thing is basically what happened to me once and my only ever issue with tiff files made in CNX that wouldn't open with other software(in my case PTGui).
Files opened ok in VNX2 and FSViewer and what not, but these (3 I think .. can't remember) files wouldn't open in PTGui. Never figured out why and a subsequent retry after lots of fluffling about trying to see what's going on(about an hour later) .. and they just worked all of a sudden with no changes on my part!

Like you said .. at my end it must have just been some weird glitch .. maybe a writing/saving glitch of some kind.

One thing I worked out when I had my strange problem .. CNX and VNX write tiff files in basically identical manner(obviously apart from the bit that describes the software used to create it).
Not all software write tiff files in the same manner. Not just the 2 page bizo that CNX/VNX create(have yet to try it in CNX-D, yet I assume it'll be the same) .. all this cryptic other stuff is created differently.
Offsets and byte orders and all this internal code like garbage I can't make heads nor tails of! They all appear differently made in so many ways.

[ameerat42]

OK. Had a little camera way back that saved Tiffs like this, as AK said, with a 2nd page as a thumbnail. Photoshop CS2 did the same - balked!

I got around it by opening the tiffs in ACDSee, but the free FastStone Viewer should also do, and then saving again as tiff - normal tiffs, with the thumbnail going... wherever, but only one page.

Now, I reckon you should be able to tell Capture NX how to save tiffs so that they are on one page only. - But I don't know how.

Am.

PS: Just saw the "glitch" reference. It's not, but see if you can save tiffs another way.

[jim]

All seems to be working normally now, which probably means I'll never get to the bottom of it. Not that I wouldn't love to.

[ameerat42]

[QUOTE=jim;1250894...which probably means I'll never get to the bottom of it. Not that I wouldn't love to...[/QUOTE]

So about the tiff save settings? Anything?
Am.

[jim]

Nothing I can see, Am.

[ameerat42]

OK, ta Jim.

[arthurking83]

......

Now, I reckon you should be able to tell Capture NX how to save tiffs so that they are on one page only. - But I don't know how.

..... you get the option to save as CMYK, or RGB, 8bit or 16bit and obviously compression.
When you 'open with' .. there is no option, it's RGB, 16bit and no compression.

......
Hope this helps.

While the level of options to save to tiff are limited in CNX2(and VNX2) in general they're not all that important anyhow.
Apart from my glitch years ago too .. I've never had any issues opening CNX2 generated tifs in any software that I remember.

Must have just been one of those glitch/bugs that we sometimes get.

[ameerat42]

...Must have just been one of those glitch/bugs that we sometimes get...

Jim. Next time you get a glitchy bug like that, try sclatching yourself

[arthurking83]

.....

Remember that CNX is (on the whole) really only meant to operate on Nikon generated files. It generates tiff files as per the camera would.
If you shoot tiff format in camera, you get the same 2 page style tiffs output(like CNX creates).


.....

Ooopsy!

slight correction needed here.

While it's true that the camera creates the same 2 page type tiffs, they are not identical to what you can convert too in VNX2 or CNX2(and I suspect CNX-D).

As far as I can see(haven't checked all options yet) but the camera outputs tiff files to 8bit only.
I see no options to set tiff file quality other than size(pixels).