Really Useful Software for Nikon DSLRs

Preview Extractor - "RAW+JPG" mode is now totally useless

FixNEF - Changing WB in Nikon Capture hurts your pictures!

Preview Extractor

Screen Shot

What it Does

Extracts the largest JPGs embedded in RAW files. D70(s) and D2X NEF files have full size, basic quality JPGs.
Works really fast.
Automatically detects orientation (if found in raw files) and rotates output images.
Supports command line execution!
Shows the number of shots you have taken so far!

What it Does Not

Preview Extractor does not remove hidden JPGs from source NEFs and it does not alter the source.
Preview Extractor does not perform RAW decoding and processing to generate preview images. It simply makes verbatim copies of the hidden JPGs in NEFs.
Does not copi EXIF information to the generated JPGs. New version will have an option for embedding EXIF.

What You Can Do

If your camera embeds large size preview JPG in RAW file,

You can stop shooting in "RAW+JPG" mode. Just shoot in RAW. You will probably store about 15% more pictures in the same CF card.
You can stop doing batch conversion using Nikon Capture. No need to wait for million years only to get preview images. Preview Extractor can extract preview images from 200+ NEFs in seconds!
You can stop reviewing your pictures in Nikon View. Nikon View requires too much time when opening a DEE-ed NEF file. Use Preview Extractor to extract JPGs and browse them with your favorite image viewer!
Put this little program in your CF card and bring it with you anywhere. You will be able to review your pictures even on computers where Nikon software is not installed.

Want to know the Mileage of Your D50, D70(s), D2H(s), D2X, D200?

Preview Extractor has an extra feature to extract the shutter count embedded in the picture. Run it on JPG or NEF files that came out of D50, D70(s), D2H(s), D2X or D200. In preview extractor, clicing on "Shutter Count" opens a new, small window. Use the "Load Image" button, or drag and drop any image onto the window. It will tell you how many times the shutter of your camera have operated, since it was manufactured. The internal counter increases every time you take picture, acquire white balance, acquire dust ref. photo or shoot with no CF card.

There is a strange number in ASCII format in the header of Nikon DSLR images. It appears to be unique for every camera. Someone told me that it is the CCD serial number. It's up to you whether you believe it or not. Anyway, this program also shows it to you.
Please do not ask me for D100, D1H, D1X or D1 support. I do not even know whether the shutter count exists in the raw files from such cameras.

Usage

If you can't figure out how to use it, then probably you don't need it.

Download

Download Preview Extractor V1.6
Important notice for users not using Windows XP: If Preview Extractor says gdiplus.dll is missing, please download gdiplus.dll here, and put gdiplus.dll in the same directory where Preview Extractor is, or in C:\Windows\system32
- A lot of bug fixes. Fixed freezing problem.
- Takes command line options!
  Example) previewextractor /src:"Source folder path. Path can have spaces, but be sure to enclose it in ""." /dest:"Destination folder path".
  /dest option can be omitted. Then destination folder will be the same as the source folder.
  When you run Preview Extractor in command line mode, the saved default checkbox options in the registry will be used.
- Auto rotate preview images! You can turn it off if you find it too slow.
- Folder browse windows now remember the last folder used.
- It seems to work with all Nikon DSLRs...It also can extract from 1D Mark II (.CR2) files.
- Shutter Count is still a part of Preview Extractor.
- Installer version is no longer supported for bandwidth issue.
Shutter Count - I discontinued the stand alone version of Shutter Count. Please use the Shutter Count in the Preview Extractor.
FixNEF - If you think Nikon Capture's WB tool causes serious negative effect on the quality of your picture, then you are right. Never use Nikon Capture's White Balance tool.

Version History

Version 1.6

Fixed the issue that Preview Extractor does not extract JPGs from optical drives and CF cards.

Version 1.5

A lot of bug fixes. Parser works better now.
Automatically rotates pictures according to the orientaion tag.
Accepts command line options.
Browse folder windows remember the last folder used.

Version 1.4

Thumbnail preview did not work well with vertically shot pictures. This issue has been corrected.
When you store "large preview" in Nikon Capture (by default, this option is turned off), version 1.3 of Preview Extractor did not extract this large preview (the file size is about 1.3~1.6MByte and the size is 1600x1063). This issue has been corrected in version 1.4.
If you edit and save a NEF file in Nikon Capture, the generated JPGs were very different from the original image. Some pictures looked very dull and dark. This issue has been corrected in version 1.4.
There are at least three images in NEF. In any case, Preview Extractor will extract the largest JPG file. However, the previous version of Preview Extractor extracted the first JPG it encountered while parsing NEF file. This resulted in extracting dark & dull images for edited NEFs.

To Do List

Embedding EXIF info in extracted JPG (in progress)
Extending Preview Extractor to work for other camera RAWs. To do this, I need SAMPLE RAW FILES from other cameras. I have RAW files from all Nikon DSLRs (compressed and uncompressed) and 1D Mark II. The current version supports all these cameras. If you have RAW files that I do not have, please let me know where I can download them. Please do not send me the RAW files by email!

Note that not all RAW files have useful JPGs for previewing purpose. D70(s) and D2X RAWs have full-size preview, but D1X and D100 have very small, heavily compressed (around 22KByte), ugly looking JPGs. Canon 1D and 1D mark II RAWs contain a good embedded JPG for previewing, but it is not full-sized.

Developement Log

Thursday, Jun 2, 2005: Updated Preview Extractor to V1.6. Some minor bug fixes were done. I'm so glad that the news about Microsoft's implementing RAW support in their new OS. It would be so great if they provide us a better and faster RAW preview feature. Then people will not need Preview Extractor any more. We, photographers, deserve a better solution than my program.
Monday, Mar 7, 2005: Updated this page.
Sunday, Mar 6, 2005: Tons of bug fixes in FixNEF and Preview Extracot. Discontinued the stand alone version of Shutter Count Extractor. Preview Extractor now accepts command line options, remember the last source/destination folder path used. It rotates preview images automatically according to the orientation tag in a raw file.
Saturday, Mar 5, 2005: I got some reports about bugs in my program. I know what to do, but I'm away from my computer...:( I updated this page: I removed FixNEF from this page and made a separate webpage at a different location. I'll make FixNEF available again by tomorrow.
Wednesday, Jan 19, 2005: Completely changed the internal algorithm. Combined Preview Extractor with Shutter Counter (copy&paste work). Made installer for my program. Uploaded a beta version.
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005: I've been busy for the past few days. I finally found some time to spend for upgrading Preview Extractor. I have rewritten from the scratch the internal algorithm for parsing image files. I needed to rewrite it because I wanted to copy metadata from an NEF to an extracted JPG without using MS GDI+. GDI+ is a cheap solution, but Preview Extractor becomes very slow when I use it for embedding Exif. At this moment, I'm not sure whether the next version will be using my implementation or GDI+.

Known Issues

Extracted JPGs do not contain any Exif metadata. Some people told me that they want to have some metadata like date, orientation, exposure. My beta version can store some Exif data but it's not perfect yet. When it becomes stabilized, I'll release the new version.
Extracted JPGs do not have embedded color profile. So, if an NEF file is edited and saved in Nikon Capture and if the color space used is different from sRGB, the extracted images will look different from what they are supposed to be. You can correct this problem by "assigning" a correct color profile in Photoshop. Does anyone know how to embed color profile in JPGs? Let me know if you know how to do it!

If there are other issues I'm not aware of, please let me know. Moreover, I'm looking for an easy and simple way to copy metadata from one picture to another. Is there a library for it? If you know how to do this, please share your knowledge with me! You can find out my contact info by clicking Paypal donate button at the bottom of this page. My email will be shown at the top of the page. (You don't need to donate.)

Support Me!

Preview Extractor is free software and you can even freely distribute it for non-commercial purpose. You do not have to pay to use this program and making a donation will not unlock any hidden feature. However developing software requires significant amount of time and effort. Moreover bandwidth costs money. If you find Preview Extractor very useful in your digital workflow, please support me by making a small donation through paypal to show your appreciation of my work.

Thank You for Your Support!

Date	Name	Amount	Comments
February 28, 2007	John Rodgers	US $10
February 27, 2007	Susan Modak	US $10
February 26, 2007	Croft Randle	US $5
February 8, 2007	Michael Huggan	US $20
January 19, 2007	Ken Jackson	US $5
August 22, 2006	Pamela M. Ryan	US $10
July 11, 2006	Richard Watts	US $20
July 5, 2006	Steven Stone	US $5
June 14, 2006	Eric Lee	US $15
June 7, 2006	Francesco Menzera	US $20
June 5, 2006	Guglielmo Braguglia	US $10
May 7, 2006	Karl Ulrich	US $5
May 5, 2006	Scott Strawn	US $20
March 21, 2006	Jerry Godwin	US $20
March 11, 2006	Amedeo Tommasi	US $10
March 6, 2006	Augusto Olivares Romo	US $10
January 14, 2006	Ross Alford	US $10
December 13, 2005	Christian Wasmeier	US $5
November 11, 2005	Nicola Dinapoli	US $20
November 10, 2005	Thomas Engstrom	US $10	Preview Extractor, wonderful!
September 27, 2005	Philippus Fahrenfort	US $25
June 25, 2005	Lee, Hyun Pyo	US $10
June 2, 2005	Henry Sluder	US $10
May 29, 2005	Steven A. Dingeldein, M.D.	US $15
April 7, 2005	Fabian Gonzales Photography	US $10
Mar 7, 2005	Richard Derkx	US $10	thanks for sharing your work
Mar 5, 2005	Ian Gilbert	US $25
Mar 3, 2005	Michelina Hamilton	US $10
	David Elfstrom	US $10
Jan 28, 2005	Shang-Yu Liu	US $10
Jan 18, 2005	Dennis Priebe	US $20
Jan 13, 2005	Robert Overlock	US $20
	Gennady Gurov	US $15	It would be awesome to get exif info transfered over to the jpegs
Jan 10, 2005	Andrew Levacy	US $5
	David Hofmann	US$15

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