NEF to DNG Converter for SL

[bunnspecial]

I have a use case in some photo applications where I need to run SL(and I need it on physical hardware, not virtualized).

I'm getting ready to, ideally, set up an MP 1,1 as a dedicated box for doing this.

With that said, I'm looking at spending a decent amount on monitors and the like, and because of that would really like to edit from my modern cameras on there as well.

I THINK I can run Lightroom 6(for which I purchased a license a while back) on SL, but I'm stuck with needing to actually be able to import RAW files into it.

I can probably run Adobe Camera RAW new enough to do files from my Nikon D800, but I'm guessing the D810 is out and the D850 I'm planning on purchasing soon is definitely out unless LR 6.14(and its accompanying ACR version) will run on SL.

Does a stand-alone DNG converter exist that will allow me to convert newer files to DNG? As long as they are DNGs I can open them in any version of Lightroom...

 

[originaldotexe]

i'm not sure about a standalone program but i believe adobe cs6 is the newest version that will support snow leopard. it's actually quite modern compared to those older versions like lightroom 6 (which i believe was released around the time of cs3 or something like that)

 

[bunnspecial]

lightroom 6 (which i believe was released around the time of cs3 or something like that)

LR6 is the contemporary to CS6. It received its last update right around the time the Nikon D850 and Sony A7RIII-an update to support both of those-in late 2017. From about LR2 to LR6, the LR version number and the "CS" number generally matched up at least decently closely.

The first version of what is now Lightroom Classic was Lightroom 7.x as a continuation of the line.

I know I can run CS6, but for bulk sorting/editing it's Lightroom for me....

It looks like this might be a moot point, though, since fro what I can find LR6(even 6.0) needs 10.8 or higher.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Have you looked at Affinity Photo? They require 10.9 nowadays, but iirc they dropped 10.6 support relatively recently, so it might work with your camera.

If that doesn’t do it—the next thing I would probably do is look for an open source command line program, and then see if I could get that to build for 10.6 via MacPorts’s toolchain. (I’d be willing to try helping with this if you find something.)

Edit: Also, what is the oldest version of macOS which supports these cameras? I successfully backported Nikon D750 support from Yosemite to Mavericks. Snow Leopard is probably going too ambitious but worth a shot, maybe? Especially if there’s a similar camera which works on Snow Leopard, we can base the profile on that and change a few values.

 

[bunnspecial]

Soooo...here's my situation with switching programs

I'm about 7 years into regular LR use at this point, and there's a lot of inertia there in changing.

I CAN bit the bullet and do it, but there's a whole lot I like about Lightroom.

A bit of research:

The D800 works with ACR 6.7, which is 100% SL okay.

The D810 works with ACR 8.6, and I can't find system requirements on it. I think it's a ~2014 camera, so I'd not be surprised if SL is gone. Also, in all of this, even though ACR itself and the accompanying stand-alone DNG converter are free, it's not always easy to find old version.

I'd honestly be shocked if the D810 couldn't be hacked into something that supports the D800. The two cameras are EXTREMELY similar. They use the same sensor, albeit without an AA filter on the D810. Aside from that, the D810 is basically "massaged" in every way(deeper/more ergonomic grip, MUCH quieter-the D800 is probably on F5 volume levels while the D800 sounds more like a D7200 or such). The thing that MIGHT throw them off is that the D810 uses a different image processor than the D800(Expeed 4 vs. 3).

The D850, which I don't yet own, is a different story and much newer in a lot of ways than the others.

I do have an SL laptop here I can play with this on, although eventually I'd like to do it on my desktop.