Updated October 14, 2026. Written for LightCraft 0.7.1 (what changed since).
Which NEF and ARW files convert
Nearly all of them. LightCraft's developers estimate that 98% of Sony shooters and 91% of Nikon shooters have a camera whose raws decode in full. The exceptions are specific file types:
| File | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| NEF: uncompressed, lossless or lossy compressed | Full decode | Checked on the D5100, D7000, D7500 and Z f; other Nikon bodies use the same decoder |
| NEF: High Efficiency (HE, HE★) | Embedded JPEG only | A per-shot setting on the Z 8, Z 9, Z 6III, Z f, Z50II and Z5II |
| NEF: Z 6II uncompressed | Not decoded yet | A known open issue with how these files are packed |
| NRW (Coolpix) | Full decode | Checked on the Coolpix B700. Drag NRW files in; the picker doesn't list them |
| ARW: uncompressed, compressed, lossless (L, M, S) | Full decode | Checked on 86 Sony bodies |
| ARW from the A7R VI (ILCE-7RM6) | Full decode | Its new Compressed and HQ modes decode; the 12-bit mode doesn't |
| ARW from DSLR-A200 to A390 and A850 | Embedded JPEG only | 12-bit compressed files from Sony's early DSLRs |
| ARW from the DSLR-A100, SRF files | Not imported | The oldest Sony raws |
"Embedded JPEG only" means you get the preview your camera stored inside the raw: you can still export it, but at the camera's own rendering, with nothing recovered from the sensor data. Thumbnails of those files carry an amber Preview pill. If you shoot a Z 8 or Z 9, check the image quality menu: switching from HE to lossless compressed makes future files fully convertible. Every other model is in the project's camera coverage list.
Convert one file
- Open the editor. The first visit downloads about 20 MB; after that it opens from the browser cache.
- Choose File › Import Photos… (Ctrl+Shift+I, or ⌘⇧I on a Mac) and pick the files, or drag them onto the window. They are copied into the library in your browser and appear in the grid.
- Select a photo and press E. If the raw looks dark or flat next to what you saw on the camera, press Shift+A for Auto Settings as a starting point, then adjust Exposure, Highlights and Shadows.
- Press Shift+E (or File › Export…). In the dialog, pick a preset: JPEG (Large) is quality 92 at full size, JPEG (Small) is quality 85 at 2048 pixels on the long edge. Click Export.
- The JPEG arrives as a normal browser download, named after the raw file.
Convert a whole shoot
The Export dialog works on every selected photo at once; its first line says how many ("24 photos"). The trick is to give them a consistent look before you export, without editing each one:
- Develop one representative photo.
- Press Ctrl+C (⌘C) to copy its edit settings. By default that copies everything except crop, masks and spot removal, which depend on each frame's composition.
- Go back to the grid with G, press Ctrl+A (⌘A) to select all, and Ctrl+V (⌘V) to paste the settings onto the selection. It is one step in the undo history.
- Fix the odd frames one by one, select everything again and press Shift+E.
In the browser, each finished JPEG is a separate download. If only the first file arrives, the browser has blocked the rest: in Chrome, allow automatic downloads for lightcraft.run in Site settings and export again. The export runs on your processor, so a big batch keeps the tab busy until the last file is out. For hundreds of files at a time, the desktop app exports into a folder of your choice and renders several photos side by side. After one export, Ctrl+E (⌘E) repeats it with the same settings for whatever you select next.
Export settings worth changing
| Setting | What it does | When to change it |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | JPEG quality from 1 to 100; the default is 90, the presets use 85 and 92 | Lower it for smaller files, raise it for prints |
| Limit file size | Picks the highest quality that fits under a size in KB (0 turns it off) | Upload forms with a 2 MB or 5 MB cap |
| Size | Full size, or a long edge, short edge, width or height in pixels | Social media and email: 2048 pixels on the long edge is plenty |
| Color space | sRGB, Display P3, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto or Rec. 2020 | Keep sRGB for the web and phones; change it only when a print lab asks |
| Sharpen | None, Screen, Matte or Glossy, at Low, Standard or High | Screen for displays, Matte or Glossy for prints |
| Metadata | All, No camera, Copyright or None, plus Remove location info | Remove location before posting photos taken at home |
| Watermark | A line of text in any corner, along an edge or in the centre | Proofs you send to clients |
PNG, TIFF and WebP export the same way if you need them. JPEG XL export is not available in the browser build.
Will the JPEG look like the camera's?
Close, not identical. LightCraft has no Nikon or Sony colour profiles from Adobe or the camera makers. For most bodies it fits its colour to the JPEG preview inside each raw, and it ships measured profiles for two Sony bodies, the A7CR and A7 IV. On Sony's bodies the fit was accepted for 81 of 87 models, landing at a median colour difference of about 5 ΔE from the camera's JPEG, a difference you can see when the two sit side by side. Thirteen Nikon test files landed between 2.9 and 7.8 ΔE.
Lens correction differs more. Apart from two lenses on the A7R IVA, LightCraft has no automatic correction for Nikon or Sony lenses, so wide-angle frames keep the distortion and vignetting that the camera's JPEG would have removed. The Optics panel corrects both by hand, and the settings paste across a shoot like any other.
Before you delete the raws
Open three or four of the JPEGs at full size: one with bright sky, one in low light, one with skin tones. If they look right, the batch is fine. Keep the NEF or ARW files anyway; a JPEG can't be re-developed. Canon shooters can follow the same steps with the notes in opening CR3 files online, and editing RAW photos online walks through the develop panels in more detail.