NEF (Nikon)

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Introduction

The NEF format (Nikon Electronic Format) is used by several camera models manufactured by Nikon:

• D1
• D1H
• D1X
• D2H
• D2Hs
• D2X
• D40
• D40s
• D50
• D70
• D70s
• D80
• D100
• D200
• Coolpix 5400
• Coolpix 5700
• Coolpix 8700
• Coolpix 8800

A variant of the NEF format is the NDF (Nikon Dust reference Format) that contains a "dust reference" instead of a picture. A dust reference is a picture taken in a special way, against an homogeneous subject, in order to locate dust on the sensor. The dust reference is used by Nikon Capture Editor to automatically remove dust noise.

Header

The header for the NEF format complies with the standard TIFF header.

TODO: NDF files are different: they have 12 extra leading bytes start with the "NDF" string.

Raster formats

Makernote

There are three different types of maker note for the NEF format:

• type 1
• type 2
• type 3: used by all DSLR cameras

Type 3

code	name	type	enumeration	description
1	Firmware Version	undefined[4]		The firmware version of the camera.
2	ISO	short[2]		The ISO settings used to take the photo. The first number can be 0 or 1 and could be related to the Auto ISO setting.
3	Color Mode (?)	ascii	COLOR	The value is always COLOR. To check on D200, which has a b/w mode and probably uses a new value.
4	Quality	ascii	RAW, RAW2.7M	The quality setting used to take the photo.
5	White Balance	ascii	AUTO, CLOUDY, FLASH, INCANDESCENT, PRESET, PRESET1, SUNNY, WHITE PRESET	The white balance setting used to take the photo. The string is right padded with spaces.
6	Sharpening	ascii	AUTO, HIGH, LOW, MED.H, MED.L, NONE, NORMAL, empty	The sharpening setting used to take the photo. The string is right padded with spaces.
7	Focus Mode	ascii	AF-A, AF-C, AF-S, MANUAL	The focus mode used to take the photo. Note that the value is right padded with blanks.
8	Flash Setting	ascii	NORMAL, REAR, REAR SLOW, RED-EYES, LOW, empty
9	Auto Flash Mode	ascii	Comdr., MNEW_TTLOptional, TTL, empty
11	White Balance Fine	signed short[1]		Fine adjustment of white balance as set in the camera. The range is [-3..+3].
12	White Balance RB Coefficients	rational[4]		The first two numbers are coefficients to multiply red and blue channels according to white balance as set in the camera. The last two numbers can be 0/1, 1/1 or 256/256.
13	tag13	undefined[4]
14	Exposure Difference (?)	undefined[4]
15	ISO Selection	ascii	AUTO, MANUAL
16	Data Dump	undefined[]
17	Thumbnail Offset	long[1]		????
18	Flash Compensation	undefined[]		????
19	ISO Requested	short[2]		????
22	NDF Image Boundary	short[4]
24	Flash Bracket Compensation (?)	short[1]
25	AE Bracket Compensation (?)	short[1]
27	Sensor Size	short[2]		The horizontal and vertical photosite count on the sensor.
29	D2X Serial Number	ascii		The camera body serial number (only for the model D2X). This field is also used as a key for obfuscating some relevant information about white balance.
128	Image Adjustment	ascii	AUTO, NORMAL	????
129	Tone Compensation	ascii	AUTO, CS, HIGH, LOW, NORMAL	The tone compensation as set in the camera.
130	Lens Adapter (?)	ascii	OFF	????
131	Lens Type	byte[1]		A bitwise mask which describes the type of lens. If not bit is set the lens is a AF non-D lens.
132	Lens Range	rational[4]		Two pairs focal/max f-stop that describe the lens.
133	Focus Distance	rational[1]		????
134	Digital Zoom	rational[1]		The digital zoom used for taking this shot (it's always 1 for DSLR models).
135	Flash Type	byte[1]	0, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9	The type of flash unit used.
136	AF Focus Position	undefined[]		Which sensor was used to lock the focus.
137	Bracketing	short[1]		????
139	Lens F Stop (?)	undefined[]		????
140	Curve	undefined[]		A lookup table (LUT) to be used for applying the contrast (see also Tone Compensation)
141	Color Mode	ascii	MODE1, MODE1a, MODE2, MODE3, MODE3a	The color mode bas set in the camera. Note that the value is right padded with blanks
142	Lighting Type (?)	ascii		????
143	Scene Mode (?)	ascii		????
144	Light Type	ascii	COLORED, MIXED, NATURAL, NORMAL, SPEEDLIGHT	????. Note that the value is right padded with spaces; sometimes is zero-terminated.
146	Hue	signed short[1]		The Hue setting.
147	Flash Unknown Info (?)	short[1]		????
148	Saturation	signed short[1]		The Saturation setting.
149	Noise Reduction	ascii	FP, NR, OFF
150	Compression Data	undefined[]		This data block contains the initial value for the predictors and a lookup table used with the Nikon compression scheme (see the Raster Format section).
151	Block 151	undefined[]		The Block 151 contains some information about White Balance for D2X.
152	Lens Info	undefined[]		????
153	Bayer Unit Count	short[2]		The number of Bayer Units (horizontal count, vertical count).
154	Sensor Pixel Size	rational[2]
160	Camera Serial Number	ascii		An unique ID of the camera.
162	NDF Length	long[1]		The length of the raster data if this is a NDF image (dust reference).
167	Shutter Count	long[1]		A progressive number that is incremented at each shutter operation.
169	Image Optimization (?)	ascii	CUSTOM, NORMAL, empty	????
170	Saturation 2 (?)	ascii	ENHANCED, MODERATE, NORMAL	????
171	Vari Program	ascii	AUTO, CLOSE UP, LAND SCAPE, NIGHT PORTRAIT, NIGHT SCENE, PORTRAIT, SPORT, empty	For camera models that support it, this tag contains information about the automatic program that was used.
3584	Print IM (?)	undefined[]		????
3585	Capture Editor Data	undefined[]		When a NEF image is processed by using Nikon Capture Editor and changes are saved, this tag contains a block of bytes which contains the NCE settings.
3598	Capture Offsets (?)	long[1]		????
3600	tag3600	long[1]		????