Mac + iPad + Z6 Nikon software. In short, what do I need to download from the Nikon site? I have downloaded the wireless transmitter utility. Easily view and transfer photos & videos from your Nikon camera to your Mac. If you don't want to automatically sync every photo, simple controls let you manually sync specific photos, transfer images at larger resolutions, and sync videos. Built for macOS.
Whatever photo software you choose to use with the photos you take on your Nikon D3100, D5100, or D7000, you can take the following approaches to downloading images to your computer:
Connect the camera to the computer via a USB cable. The USB cable you need is supplied in the camera box.
Use a memory card reader. With a card reader, you simply pop the memory card out of your camera and into the card reader instead of hooking the camera to the computer. Many computers and printers now have card readers, and you also can buy standalone readers.
Invest in Eye-Fi memory cards and transfer images via a wireless network. You can find out more about these special memory cards and how to set up the card to connect with your computer, at the manufacturer’s website. Your computer must be connected to a wireless network for the transfer technology to work.
Connecting a Nikon DSLR to your computer for picture download
With the USB cable that shipped with your camera, you can connect the camera to your computer and then transfer images directly to the computer’s hard drive.
You need to follow a specific set of steps when connecting the camera to your computer. Otherwise, you can damage the camera or the memory card.
Also note that for your D3100, D5100, or D7000 to communicate with the computer, Nikon suggests that your computer runs one of the following operating systems:
Windows 7, Vista with Service Pack 2, or XP with Service Pack 3 (Home or Professional edition). The program runs as a 32-bit application in 64-bit installations of Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
Mac OS X 10.4.11, 10.5.8, or 10.6.6
With that preamble out of the way, here are the steps to link your computer and camera:
Check the level of the camera battery.
If the battery is low, charge it before continuing. Running out of battery power during the transfer process can cause problems, including lost picture data. Alternatively, if you purchased the optional AC adapter, use that to power the camera during picture transfers.
Turn on the computer and give it time to finish its normal startup routine.
Turn off the camera.
Insert the smaller of the two plugs on the USB cable into the USB port on the side of the camera.
Plug the other end of the cable into the computer’s USB port.
Turn on the camera.
What happens now depends on your computer operating system and what photo software you have installed on that system.
When the download is complete, turn off the camera and then disconnect it from the computer.
Turn off the camera before severing its ties with the computer. Otherwise, you can damage the camera.
Transferring photos from your Nikon D3100, D5100, or D7000 to your computer
After you connect the camera to the computer or insert a memory card into your card reader, your next step depends, again, on the software installed on your computer and the computer operating system.
Here are the most common possibilities and how to move forward:
On a Windows-based computer, a Windows message box appears. The dialog box suggests different programs that you can use to download your picture files.
An installed photo program automatically displays a photo-download wizard. Usually, the downloader that appears is associated with the software that you most recently installed.
Nothing happens. Don’t panic; assuming that your card reader or camera is properly connected, all is probably well. Someone simply may have disabled all the automatic downloaders on your system. Just launch your photo software and then transfer your pictures using whatever command starts that process.
Free mac os x download. As another option, you can use Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder to drag and drop files from your memory card to your computer’s hard drive.
To move pictures and movies from your Nikon D3500 to your computer, you need some type of software to download, view, and manage the files. If you don’t have a favorite photo program for handling these tasks, Nikon offers the following free software solutions:
- Nikon ViewNX-i: Shown below, the Nikon ViewNX-i program offers basic photo organizing and editing tools. In addition, a tool built into the program, Nikon Transfer, simplifies the job of sending pictures from a memory card or your camera to your computer.
Your program may not initially look like the one you see above because the screen layout was customized. You can do the same via the options on the View and Window menus after opening the program.
Two ViewNX-I features you’ll want to check out are as follows:
- Viewing picture settings (metadata): You can display a panel that shows the settings you used when shooting the picture. The settings are stored as metadata (extra data) in each picture’s file. Although other photo programs can display some metadata, they often can’t show all the detailed information that you can see in ViewNX-i.
Don’t see the panel? Open the Window menu at the top of the program window and choose Adjustments/Metadata. You may then need to click the triangle labeled Click to hide/display shooting data to expand the panel. One other note: You can toggle between the full list of metadata and a small graphic that contains just the basics. (The graphic looks similar to the Information screen displayed on the camera.) Click the button labeled Click to view minimal shooting data to switch between the two views.
- Displaying focus points: Click the button labeled Display focus point to display one or more red rectangles on the photo. The rectangle(s) indicate which focus point (or points) the camera used to establish focus, which can be helpful for troubleshooting focus problems. If the focus point is over your subject but the subject is blurry, the cause is likely not due to focusing at all, but to subject or camera movement during a too-long exposure (slow shutter speed). You don’t see the focus point if you used manual focusing, and it also may not appear if you used continuous autofocusing.
- Viewing picture settings (metadata): You can display a panel that shows the settings you used when shooting the picture. The settings are stored as metadata (extra data) in each picture’s file. Although other photo programs can display some metadata, they often can’t show all the detailed information that you can see in ViewNX-i.
Nikon ViewNX-i also contains some photo-editing tools; access them by clicking the Edit tab near the top-left corner of the program window. For more sophisticated editing tools, use Nikon Capture NX-D, described next. You can send the current photo directly to that program from ViewNX-i by clicking the Capture NX-D icon that appears with the other icons along the top of the program window. Or open the File menu and choose Open with Capture NX-D.
- Nikon Capture NX-D: Shown below, this program offers pro-level photo-editing tools, including a good Raw processing tool. You also can view camera metadata in this program. Click the tabs to toggle the panel display between the Information tab, which displays shooting data, and the Editing tabs, which contain editing tools.
Like ViewNX-i, Capture NX-D can display the focus point or points used to set focus when you took the picture. Toggle the focus point display on and off by opening the program’s Image menu and then selecting Show Focus Point.
You can download both programs from the Nikon website. Head for the Support section of the website, where you’ll find a link to camera software. Be sure to download the latest versions. You’ll need to use ViewNX-i Version 1.3.0 and NX-D is Version 1.5.0. Older versions of the software lack support for D3500 files. Also make sure that your computer meets the software operating-system requirements. (The program is available for both Windows-based and Mac computers.)
Getting help with Nikon software
For years, you could access a built-in user manual via the Help menu found in Nikon’s photo programs. But things work differently now: You can go online and download a copy of the user manual or simply check the online help pages for answers. (You might want to download a copy of the manual so that you don’t need an active Internet connection to get help.)
To take advantage of these options the first time, you do need to be online. When your Internet browser is up and running, launch the Nikon program whose Help system you want to access. In that program, open the Help menu and then choose Help from menu. Your browser then displays a window that offers two options: Click Go to Help Site to jump to the program’s pages at the Nikon website or click Get PDF Manual to download the instruction manual. The manual is provided in the PDF format (Portable Document Format), so you can read it in Adobe Acrobat (available free from the Adobe website) or any program that can display PDF documents.