iMac for D800

Would you say that for processing 75MB RAW Nikon D800 files the following would be sufficient?
iMac 21,5" 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 Quad-Core AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 12GB RAM

Yes definitely. I am processing 16 bit 5x4 scans (which are much bigger files than that) on a Mac with less RAM than that (9 GB) and it goes along just fine.

I was kind of certain RAM would suffice, was little bit concerned about the processor, but it seems like it should be no issue then. On my current laptop, which has 4GB RAM, Dual Core processor I noticed when converting 25MB NEF files in Capture NX2 it takes 3-5x longer than when I process them in Camera Raw, so I might to focus on CR, even though Capture has been my favourite, since it is simple and delivers well [dxo provides variety of options, yet one must master all the tweaks and settings to get the best possible result]

Ok - I don't know about Capture NX2. I tried it for a while a few years ago but stopped using it because it seemed to run very poorly on all of the various Macs we had. So I am just not current on that. Maybe someone else has some information about how well it runs for them. IIRC the last time I was using it it still needed Rosetta installed to run. Which tells you how long ago it was and why it ran so badly !

I am running Lightoom 4, Photoshop CS3 and the 64 bit version of Vuescan under Lion. Plus various Nik plugins. Normally on a 2006 Mac Pro desktop which has 2 dual core Xeons. I am not sure how they compare speed or power wise with later or current processors. I have never found processor power to be an issue with any of that stuff tbh. It all still zips along fine.

But like I say - I don't know about Capture NX2. So maybe look for a second opinion on that.

(Edited on 2012-06-20 15:48:55 by bunhill)

I have that combo of camera and iMac. Late 2011 imac 3.4 Ghz and 16gb ram and it flies with D800 files upto 1.4 gb layered 16bit files running  CS5 and Nik software plugins. It can take upto 32gb ram but I don't think that would make much difference. My mac book pro struggles with the files but that is a generation older,slower smaller HD,less ram etc.


I have tried NX2 but it is notoriously slow and an update never seems to come. I hear good things about the NX2 raw processing but I have always gone the adobe route. If they can update it I would give a try again.

If you want it to be faster then get a solid state drive (SSD) in it.

I just made a conversion from 5 year old Macbook (with 4 GB RAM) to 2.7GH i5 quadcore 27" iMac with 16GB RAM and 256 GB SSD.  I was surprised to find the speed difference.  Old Macbook often stalled with D800 files even with lossless compressed RAW setting but iMac processed them almost in the blink of an eye. I am not sure it is due to SSD or the RAM. May be both.  Capture NX2 is not turned out to be  compatable with OSX 10.7.4 but you can download Capture NX 2.3 and upgrade it to 2.3.2 which works fine with OSX 10.7.  Among other things, IMO noise reduction is probably the best with Capture NX2.  

(Edited on 2012-06-22 13:19:15 by David_Ahn)

I would think that 12 or 16GB does not make as much difference as your speedy SSD disc. I might want to have that as an option for the system [64gb should be enough] and 1TB/2TB of standard 7200 HDD, so when processing data the access is smoother and not as demanding as when 'turning' the disc. Should I worry about 2.5/2.7GH i5


Mind, that 27 inch screen must be pleasure to work with.

I don't think 2.5/2.7GH would make much difference in the processing speed. 64GB SSD may not be enough though because OSX and application programs takes over 40 GB in my case. !28 GB perhaps.  I also have 1TB standard HDD on iMac.