ViewNX-i problems

[David H. Hartman]

And today I bumped on a work-around that works. The OSX Photoloader is setup to accept my cards and transfer the files to a directory. But I don't. Instead I now start Nikon Transfer 2 ( the old one) and it reads the entire SD-card of my D90 without a stutter. Transfers the whole lot, creates a folder, erases the files, ejects the card and starts ViewNX-I in the newly created folder. The only thing I do is complete the folder name with some description behind the date. And close the OSX Photoloader. I on't onderstaand what happens, but somehow the OSX Photoloader creates a situation where Nikon Transfer2 can do it's job.

Might this mean the fault is with the Apple OS rather than Nikon Transfer 2?

Dave

[Ilkka Nissilä]

I updated to ViewNX-i 1.2.7 and it seems much improved. I have processed through thousands of images without crashing or weird behavior. Previously when I would delete an image it would move the cursor away from the thumbnail strip so I had to reactivate it by clicking on an image before it would let me move from one image to the next after deleting an image.

So far looks very good!

I have not yet tried the new version of Capture NX-D.

[CS]

I updated to ViewNX-i 1.2.7 and it seems much improved. I have processed through thousands of images without crashing or weird behavior. Previously when I would delete an image it would move the cursor away from the thumbnail strip so I had to reactivate it by clicking on an image before it would let me move from one image to the next after deleting an image.

So far looks very good!

I have not yet tried the new version of Capture NX-D.

I updated to v1.2.7 also, but, only to be current. I don't use any of the Nikon software because I just don't like it. I keep it on hand, just in case I suppose, but I haven't opened any of it in years. It's really too bad that Nikon can make great hardware and not match that with great software.

I'm not making any claims about which editing program is the best, there's more than one capable post processing program, with new ones coming out regularly. Much of it comes down to personal choice. There are some folks that put considerable effort into finding alternatives to PS and LR for no more reason than they're pissed off at how Adobe has moved to subscriptions for it's software. Personally, I like PS/LR, which doesn't mean that I wouldn't like other programs. What it does mean, in my case, is that PS/LR work for me, and I don't care to learn every other program that hits the market just so that I can replace one that's serving me well and that  I already like. I do like, and use, plugins that expand my use of PS/LR.

Then again, there are some people that want to try out every new program that they find, and I see nothing wrong with that, it's their time, trouble, and expense involved, not mine. Maybe it's a personality thing, for example there are certain foods that I like prepared in a certain manner, and I do not care to experiment with alternate preparations, just to be different. To some folks, I'd be missing out on a new experience, and to me I'd be avoiding an adulteration of  cherished recipe.

The last group are the folks that want everyone to use what they use, certain that everyone will like what they use more than any other program. We hear a "Oh, you must try blah blah". But see the above paragraph, not everyone agrees on everything, not that these folks get that. Many people think that there's something wrong with people that don't like goat cheese, and I'm one that doesn't. They also think that there's something wrong with people that like Limburger, and I'm one that does. Different strokes for different folks.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Nikon software is the only one that shows active focus point and AF fine tune setting used. This is information I must be able to see. I use ViewNX-i for browsing, not for modifications to the images.

It shows images properly resampled for display; e.g. Adobe Bridge shows quite often additional aliasing that is not present in the original. ViewNx-i also follow camera settings for the appearance of NEF images which I also consider a must. Finally it is a lot faster for browsing than lightroom on my computer(s).

Anyway looks like most of the bugs that annoyed me are now fixed and I am a bit less stressed about Nikon software. Hopefully this signifies they understand the importance of correctly functioning software and put more resources into software development in the future.

[CS]

Nikon software is the only one that shows active focus point and AF fine tune setting used. This is information I must be able to see. I use ViewNX-i for browsing, not for modifications to the images.

It shows images properly resampled for display; e.g. Adobe Bridge shows quite often additional aliasing that is not present in the original. ViewNx-i also follow camera settings for the appearance of NEF images which I also consider a must. Finally it is a lot faster for browsing than lightroom on my computer(s).

Anyway looks like most of the bugs that annoyed me are now fixed and I am a bit less stressed about Nikon software. Hopefully this signifies they understand the importance of correctly functioning software and put more resources into software development in the future.

Since it has been so long that I've looked at it, I opened up the new version. I saw the focus point info that you mentioned in the few old images that I was looking at. However, nowadays I import into LR from the card, and convert to dng at that time. That makes those images show up as Tiffs in ViewNX-1.2.7, so no focus info available like it is for NEFs. I guess I can go back to having NEFs and dng copies, but I'd have to consider that because of the extra space needed for the expanded file sizes to cover both versions.

Moreover, the NEF files that I looked at were from my D200, and that predates focus fine tune, so nothing for me to see there, and my D7200 pics were converted to dng on import, so nothing there either.

Anyway, when I closed View out I got an error message saying that it had quit unexpectedly. Of course that wasn't the case, so I opened and closed a few times more, and got the same error message each time. So, there's still at least one fly in the ointment with v1.2.7. This might be an issue only with MacOS, I dunno. I did not use it enough to find any more issues.

[CS]

Well, I'm told that Adobe Illustrator exhibits the same behavior under MacOS 10.12.5, that is it crashes on the quit command. that from a fellow Mac & Nikon user. I hope that I've not besmirched Nikon with my comments suspecting that they were to blame for that behavior with ViewNX-i v1.2.7.

A "Mea Culpa" may well be in order here. 

[norda72]

I like to use Nikon browsers for going through the images for several reasons. One is that they follow the picture controls set in the camera. Another is that it is reasonably fast to browse and check focus quickly, and you get to see hardware details such as the active focus point, AF fine tune setting in use, etc. You cannot get all of these details in e.g. Adobe software.

However, for the past couple of years Nikon ViewNX-i has been available, it has been quite unreliable. It crashes from time to time, especially it seems to happen when accessing older directories which have seen use by Nikon ViewNX2. And sometimes when it crashes once, it will always crash when restarting the software.

I discovered a way to temporarily solve the problem of this program being in a seemingly permanent crash loop. I deleted the c:\users\username\AppData\Local\Nikon\ViewNX-i directory. After this the software seems to work normally again. For a time at least.

I always knew Nikon software had glitches, but the frequency of them occurring since ViewNX2 and Capture NX2 were discontinued, is alarming. I have to wonder if they have any competent software engineers working for them and whether they have any people whose primary task is to test and make sure that the software works correctly on any platform that is supported.

I sent Nikon a message about this, though I am not sure if it will do any good. Everyone seems to just use 3rd party software. But I want those device dependent data to be displayed when I'm browsing images.

I have Mac Pro with SSD. Now is ViewNX-i crashing every time I open it. This is the second time this happens. The first time I had to formate the whole SSD, load in everything and then the programme worked again. Do I have to do this now again? I don´t know if I have the energy for it. I have latest Mac OS. I have tried to uninstall it and load down the latest version from Nikon, but it didn´t help. I have also sent Nikon messages about this, to Nikon Nordic, but they couldn´t help me. And Nikon Transfer isn´t working either. It stopped working when MacOS Sierra came.

With regards
Pär Nordqvist, Sweden

[David H. Hartman]

There are a number of programs that crash when generating thumbnails. I found a couple of PDF files that crashed IrfanView 64 bit. I ran them through Adobe Acrobat Pro and it reported masks that were removed is reprocessing the PDF(s). The newly precessed PDF(s) no longer crashed IrfanView 64. It happens probably more often than people know. Now if a program crashes while creating thumbnails an irregular file is what I suspect first.

Dave who is suspicious of your thumbnails.

[Ann]

Just a single faulty file in a folder can be the cause of thumb-nail browsers crashing.

I beta-test software so have sometimes seen that happen.

If the files are RAW files, simply trashing all recent XMP metadata sidecars that are attached to those images is all that it takes to fix the problem.

[David H. Hartman]

Just a single faulty file in a folder can be the cause of thumb-nail browsers crashing.

I beta-test software so have sometimes seen that happen.

If the files are RAW files, simply trashing all recent XMP metadata sidecars that are attached to those images is all that it takes to fix the problem.

Have the developers forgotten or are they too lazy to implement error trapping? Besides crashing I've seen layer registration problems in Photoshop after straightening an image. I now crop, I have to trap the error after straitening images in CNX2, CNX-D and Photoshop. I also crop after using the Canvas Size tool in Photoshop. It's a solid habit now and saves me much grief. 

Dave Hartman (who no longer pounds his keyboard with his fist).

[David H. Hartman]

Nikon software is the only one that shows active focus point and AF fine tune setting used. This is information I must be able to see. I use ViewNX-i for browsing, not for modifications to the images.

I just downloaded and installed ON1 Photo 10 (not RAW) and I think I'm going to like this browser. It does not show the focus points but it does show the EXIF data I want to see most often.

ON1 Photo 10 can easily hand off a NEF file to ViewNX-i where I can see the focus points and dig deeper into the EXIF data if I want. Some migh find this handoff useful if they use ON1 Photo 10.

Dave

[David H. Hartman]

If the files are RAW files, simply trashing all recent XMP metadata sidecars that are attached to those images is all that it takes to fix the problem.

Thanks for this information! I just noticed an XMP file and wondered what it was.

Dave

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One more time: if thumbnail cache is crashing VNX-i here is how to delete the cache os VNX-i can build another one...

Nikon ViewNX-i Cache Location and Clearing For MAC OS X 10.11.6...

1) Open your "house" in Finder
2) Below the folders in a blank area right click and select "show view options"
3) Select "Show Library Folder"
4) Navigate to...

Macintosh HD> Users> User Name> Library> Application Support> ViewNX-i>

5) in the ViewNX-i folder locate the "Cache" and "DB" folders and move them to the trash.

Nikon ViewNX-i will create new Cache and DB folders when it needs them. The corrupted files in these folder will be gone and VNX-i will create new ones.


Nikon ViewNX-i Cache Location and Clearing For Windows 7 SP-1...

1) Right click Windows Explorer and select "Run as administrator"
2) In Windows Explorer click Tools> View Tab> and under "Hidden files and folders" set "(x) Show hidden files, folders and drives."
3)
4) Navigate to...

C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Local\Nikon\ViewNX-i

5) in the ViewNX-i folder locate the "Cache" and "DB" folders and delete or move them to the Recycle bin.

Dave Hartman

Please let me know if you are running OS X 11.x.x or 12.x.x and if the path and method is the same

Also those using Windows 10 please let me know if the path is the same as Windows 7. I'm guessing but not sure: I don't think one can get as far into Windows without an administrative account. I hope this helps someone.

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I used to have problems with Photoshop 7.x getting its preferences messed up and I learned to backup the preference files so Nikon software is not alone in occasionally needing a cache or preference file deleted and replaced.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

I today used the rating feature of my D850 to mark good pics between breaks in a figure skating competition. I can see the star ratings in ViewNX-i but if I choose a filter based on the stars,  it only shows a few of those marked in camera. So the markings are there the filtering based on them just doesn't work. Windows 10.

[Seapy]

Not sure if I can help in any way here, I was sure I had read a post asking for confirmation of the location of the pref's files for Nikon ViewNX-i, now I can't find that post.

Anyways, I have loaded Nikons ViewNX-i software which I found on the UK Nikon site.  The version I downloaded was specific to my OS: 10.13.4.



This evening looking for a little excitement I decided to launch it and look at some of my less important images.

While the software seems very basic after Lr, it worked OK.  I am trying to discover what file the location was being asked for in the library?  Maybe tell me the the hierarchy?  Then I will have a look.  The files should now be in place since I have run the software.

If I can clear any queries up I will be happy.

[arthurking83]

I today used the rating feature of my D850 to mark good pics between breaks in a figure skating competition. I can see the star ratings in ViewNX-i but if I choose a filter based on the stars,  it only shows a few of those marked in camera. So the markings are there the filtering based on them just doesn't work. Windows 10.

I don't use ViewNX-i(much) .. but about the only reason I can think of for the situation could be that you may have inadvertently also clicked one of the colour/number label settings as well?
I doubt that's why .. but the possibility is there.