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] | ???? |