Thumbnail previews in Windows 7 for Nikon NEF files

It’s a common complaint from Windows 7 users that they cannot see the thumbnail previews of their images when using Windows Explorer. Essentially they get a NEF logo as shown in the screenshot below. Not very helpful when you’re trying to find an image quickly!

NEF Thumbnails without codec

This can be very frustrating for the RAW shooter. Nikon has an excellent RAW codec which adds this capability to Windows 7. Once installed you can work with RAW files just like you would JPEG and TIFF.  To download Nikon RAW CODEC visit Nikon’s download page. A screenshot from after the installation is shown below.

NEF Thumbnails after Nikon codec install

As with any system update you always want to make certain you have backup of all your important data, information, pictures, etc. before installation. This RAW codec is updated regularly and the most recent version 1.14.0 includes support for the new Nikon D3200 camera.