Check validity of a NEF file?

[hollyonline]

Hi everyone

Just wondered if it's possible to check the validity of a NEF file quickly?

I have a Perl script which organises all my timelapse data and renames the files etc and moves them into different folders. Is it possible to also check quickly the raws for errors? When I film, I shoot Jpgs + NEF in camera. The Jpgs are used immediately to check the shot, but the raws aren't touched until many weeks later. It would be good to check them automatically for faults.

Any ideas how this could be done?  I have a Perl software developer who makes small apps for me so I'm used to need to have things written on spec, but maybe Exif Tools can do this?

Thanks
Rob
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www.roberthollingworth.co.uk

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Rob,

ExifTool does some validation of the metadata, and will catch some structural problems.  You could try this to see if the bad files give a warning:

exiftool -warning FILE

where FILE is one or more file or directory names.  Add -ext nef to the command to only read NEF files in the directories.

- Phil

[hollyonline]

Hi Phil

Thanks for your advice. I'll give that a go. 

I'm not too hot on raw files (I know how they work, but not from an engineering perspective). Would -warning FILE pick up on errors that might stop the file being opened, for example copy errors or card errors?  What I'm trying to achieve is a rough check on the data (each memory card I download from a D800 is 64Gb) and that the raws are 'ok' without being opened.

Thanks
Rob

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Robert,

With the 5 files you sent, the first 4 give errors and are not recognized by ExifTool.  The 5th doesn't give any errors or warnings, but part of the raw data is bad.

- Phil