Adobe Lightroom can't import afer removing Makernotes

[epsilon14]

Hello, was looking for some help with an issue. I used ExifToolGui v5.15 to remove Exif Makernotes on some NEF files. The log shows the image files are updated with no problems. But when I try to import those NEF files into Adobe Lightroom 5 and 6, I get the error message: "The files are not recognized by the raw format support in Lightroom (149)".

If I try to import those same NEF's without removing the Makernotes first, they import into Lightroom without any issues.

Appreciate any help. Thanks!

[StarGeek]

Any specific reason you need to remove the makernotes?

As you discovered, in some proprietary raw formats, makernotes are needed to determine the format of the raw file so it can be decoded.

[Phil Harvey]

Being based on the TIFF format, ExifTool can perform any operation on NEF files that it can on TIFF.  However, as StarGeek says, some proprietary information in RAW formats is necessary for the proper rendering of images.  To quote the ExifTool home page (although I realize this isn't mentioned in a very prominent location):

It is not recommended to remove all metadata from RAW images because this will likely remove some proprietary information that is necessary for proper rendering of the image.

- Phil