Faulty images from 3100 in raw

I have a 2 year old Nik 3100. Recently started to use RAW, (now I have access to PSE 11). Im have intermittent results once I have d/loaded the images to ANY image manage s/ware ([Picasa, LR5, CS6, PSE11). Using JPEG is not a prob, they always come out great. I have changed SD cards, Upgraded Firmware on the camera. Used a card from a Canon from a friend. Changed card readers…. I have a Mac Pro. s/w 10.7.5I can load the images onto an "old" Mac Book. No Problem. They Look great. My local independent Photo shop man is as confused as I am. The images have striped/streaky colours across them once, some are completely covered, some are partially stripped with all the rainbow colours ! once they are processed onto the lap top.. If viewed via the cameras view finder, all looks good.
Any help. would be appreciated, (I can't seem to load any images via the button on the top of the typing area here.
many thanks Ian G Smith

Grabbing at straws but I wonder if the NEF codec is bad since you say that using a different computer it works.

thanks but I can't find any locations for a MAC update. Ian

adobe.com?

You have an obvious problem with the USB file transfer.. probably the card reader (possibly could be the computer USB?) It could be the card, but you have tried a different one. The camera did not take any pictures like that.. The files were corrupted during file transfer. Your Raw files are twice as large as the JPG, and something does not like that. The top third seems to come out OK, then the transfer goes bad.

Try it at a friends house, their computer and card reader won't do that (they may not be able to view your Raw files, but free software like Irfanview or Faststone ought to show them (as minimal as they are for Raw).

Hi Folks,

Wayne thanks for some excellent advice and the "process of elimination" route. I have tried a selection of card readers, without a solution. I have used good quality sd cards. I have a really old, 9 years ! mac book. The images go on thier no prob. I have been to my friends house & used his cards/ windows PC/readers, all worked great. Looking at nikon.com, these guys reckon you should only use the Nikon down loading tool to ensure the best results. I can't believe that things are so restrictive. Ian.

Ian Smith said:

Hi Folks,

Wayne thanks for some excellent advice and the "process of elimination" route. I have tried a selection of card readers, without a solution. I have used good quality sd cards. I have a really old, 9 years ! mac book. The images go on thier no prob. I have been to my friends house & used his cards/ windows PC/readers, all worked great. Looking at nikon.com, these guys reckon you should only use the Nikon down loading tool to ensure the best results. I can't believe that things are so restrictive. Ian.

Click to expand...

Could be Nikon speak for we don't like you using anything none Nikon,not seen any thing about this problem anywhere else

Thanks Horoscope Fish (love the name!) for the comment re "fried processor" . when I took my camera to the "local shop" (here in the UK, we don't use the term fried!!) more like, F******D, that was the initial diagnosis from the guy. However, the problem is not on ALL images, just some at random, and only on RAW files. Puzzling man. I really appreciate your contribution. Nice to know Im not alone with my troubles. Ian.

Do you have the option set "compressed NEF" and "Uncompressed NEF"? That would change processing on the file.The artifacts look like something you get with a data path error, or compression error.

Use Nikon Transfer (it is free and part of Nikon View NX2) and you probably won't have any issues.

For what it's worth I have never had these problems shooting RAW on my D3100 and importing straight to iPhoto using my MacBook Pro's built-in card reader. Does you still have this problem if you attach the camera to your computer and transfer the files that way (i.e. don't remove the card at all)?