Best Photo Editing Software: Nikon Zf (2026)
People buy the Zf with their eyes: machined ISO and shutter-speed dials, a body styled after the 1982 FM2, a top-plate switch that commits the camera to black and white. Under the brass sits Nikon's newest electronics — a 24.5-megapixel back-illuminated sensor, the same processor generation as the Z8 and Z9, and a RAW menu whose compression choice quietly decides which apps can open your files. This guide takes seven editors through what the Zf writes, including the two things its owners actually ask about: the B&W switch and the film look. We build one of the seven, and we'll say where it falls short.
Quick answer: Lightroom, Capture One, DxO PhotoLab, ON1 and Nikon's free NX Studio open every NEF the Zf writes, High Efficiency flavors included. macOS itself, darktable, RawTherapee and RevelRaw read Lossless Compressed only — so Lossless Compressed is the menu setting that keeps every door open. The B&W switch and pixel shift both come with editing homework; details below.
The short version
| App | Price model | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Lightroom / Lightroom Classic | Subscription, from $14.99/mo | The default: full Zf support and a tutorial for everything |
| Capture One | Perpetual license or subscription, premium pricing | Client work; hand-built Nikon color, every Zf compression |
| DxO PhotoLab | One-time purchase | Available-light shooters whose keepers live at ISO 12800 |
| ON1 Photo RAW | One-time purchase or subscription | The widest toolset for a single payment |
| darktable / RawTherapee | Free, open source | Deep free editing — Lossless Compressed files only |
| Nikon NX Studio | Free (Nikon) | Every NEF flavor, your monochrome as shot, pixel-shift merges |
| RevelRaw | Free download, one-time purchase available | Film-look grades finished on a Mac in minutes |
What the Zf asks of your software
The Zf writes a 14-bit .NEF from a 24.5-megapixel sensor, in three compressions: Lossless Compressed at roughly 30 MB a frame, High Efficiency★ (HE★) near half that, High Efficiency (HE) near a third. Files this size are light work for any 2026 Mac, so raw speed separates these apps less than it would on a 45-megapixel body. Three other things separate them plenty:
- The compression menu is a compatibility contract. The two HE flavors ride on licensed compression technology; commercial editors pay for the decoder, open-source projects legally can't, and Apple never built it into macOS. Shoot HE★ for the small files and part of your toolbox goes dark. At street prices near $2,000 for the body, a 30 MB file three times the size is the cheap insurance.
- The B&W switch writes color files. Flick the selector and the Zf shoots through Monochrome, Flat Monochrome or Deep Tone Monochrome — but a Picture Control travels in the NEF as a note on top of full-color sensor data. Nikon's own NX Studio renders the black and white you composed; every other editor opens the frame in color and leaves the conversion to you. Annoying the first time, useful forever after: you frame in mono, then grade with control the camera never had.
- Pixel shift finishes on your desk. A 2024 firmware update taught the Zf to shoot 4-, 8-, 16- or 32-frame pixel-shift series from a tripod; the longer two merge into 96-megapixel images. The camera saves only the pieces. NX Studio does the merging, into a .NEFX file that little else opens — plan on finishing those in Nikon's software or exporting a TIFF from it.
Lightroom and Lightroom Classic
Adobe has read Zf files since late 2023 — all three compressions, with correction profiles for Z-mount glass down to the retro-styled Special Edition primes people pair with this body. The B&W crowd is well served too: camera-matching monochrome profiles get you near the Deep Tone look as a starting point, and the masking tools make quick work of the classic red-filter sky. The bill is the bill: the Lightroom-only plan went from $11.99 to $14.99 a month in March 2026, the Photography plan with Photoshop runs $19.99, and stopping payment locks the Develop module. Our Nikon Lightroom alternatives guide covers the exits; if you already subscribe, the Zf gives you no reason to leave.
Capture One
Capture One reads every Zf compression, HE★ included, and its hand-tuned Nikon profiles are the argument: skin and foliage land closer to finished out of the box than Adobe's neutral take, which matters on a camera bought for how photographs feel. The pricing moved again in June 2026 — a 6% increase across the line puts the annual subscription around $18 a month, with the perpetual license near $300. That's working-pro money. For a dial-driven camera that mostly shoots family, travel and street, it's more software than the job requires; for a Zf that earns its keep on portrait bookings, it's the strongest color tool here.
DxO PhotoLab
The Zf's sensor already flatters dim rooms; DxO extends the party. PhotoLab 9 is a one-time purchase — $149.99 Essential, $239.99 Elite — and its denoising remains the best on this page: candlelit frames at ISO 12800 come out with grain structure instead of mush, corrected through modules measured for your exact lens. It reads the HE flavors, so the compression menu doesn't constrain you. Two gaps: the library tools are thin enough that you'll organize in Finder, and it won't touch a pixel-shift .NEFX, so the 96-megapixel workflow still routes through NX Studio.
ON1 Photo RAW
One payment — $99.99 for the 2026 release, $169.99 for the plugin-capable MAX version — buys browsing, RAW development, layers, masking and an effects rack that includes a wall of film and B&W looks Zf owners tend to enjoy. It reads the HE flavors. Nothing it does leads the field, and its interface has more going on than a dial camera's owner may want to meet every evening. The trial is the answer: run a real card through it on your own Mac and see whether the breadth earns the clutter.
darktable and RawTherapee
The free pair rewards exactly the kind of person who bought a camera with a shutter-speed dial: both expose the processing pipeline instead of hiding it, and darktable's film-emulation community — LUTs, grain, split-toning — runs deep. The hard limit lives in your camera menu, not theirs: neither app opens HE or HE★ files, and the licensing that keeps the decoder out of open-source code shows no sign of changing. Set the Zf to Lossless Compressed before your first serious outing and both apps develop its files happily. Expect the first good edit to cost you an evening; that's the tuition.
Nikon NX Studio
Free, and on this body it's less a courtesy download than a required accessory. NX Studio opens all three NEF compressions, renders the exact Monochrome, Flat Monochrome or Deep Tone Monochrome you had on the switch, and is the only software that merges a pixel-shift series into its 96-megapixel .NEFX. Editing in it tests your patience — the interface is dated and slow — so most Zf owners use it as the reference for "what did the camera see" and the translator that turns HE files and pixel-shift stacks into TIFFs for a real editor. Install it the day the camera arrives.
RevelRaw
Our app, so judge accordingly. RevelRaw is a native macOS editor for every major camera brand, and the Zf sits close to what it's for: getting a keeper to a finished, film-flavored photograph in minutes. Drop in a Lossless Compressed .NEF and AI scene detection reads the frame, then ranks 40+ curated presets so the fitting looks surface first — and the library leans the direction this camera points, with a Film Emulation category that includes a named Kodak Portra preset and silver-toned B&W looks that pick up where the Deep Tone switch position leaves off. What it doesn't do: catalogs, layers, local masking, or the HE flavors — one more reason Lossless Compressed is the right menu setting. Everything runs on your Mac with no account and no cloud. The free download includes one full-quality export, and Pro costs $3.99 a month, $24.99 a year, or $94.99 once for lifetime access. Requires macOS 26 or later.
How to choose
- You already pay Adobe: stay put; the Zf is fully covered, monochrome profiles included.
- Portraits pay for the camera: Capture One, and take the perpetual license.
- Your keepers come from dim rooms: DxO PhotoLab, at least for the hard frames.
- One payment, maximum tools: ON1 Photo RAW, after a trial on your own Mac.
- Free and deep: darktable — with the camera set to Lossless Compressed on day one.
- Everyone: NX Studio alongside whatever you pick, for the B&W rendering and the pixel-shift merge.
- Film looks on a Mac, finished tonight: RevelRaw.
FAQ
Does Lightroom support the Nikon Zf?
Yes. Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and Adobe Camera Raw have read Zf NEF files since late 2023, in all three compressions: Lossless Compressed, High Efficiency★ and High Efficiency, with correction profiles across the Z lens range. Older perpetual versions predate the camera and reject its files; Adobe's free DNG Converter is the bridge if you're stuck on one.
Why do photos from the Zf's B&W switch open in color?
The switch selects a monochrome Picture Control, and a NEF stores Picture Controls as metadata riding on full-color sensor data. Nikon's free NX Studio is the only editor that renders the Monochrome, Flat Monochrome or Deep Tone Monochrome you composed. Every other app opens the file in color, and you rebuild the black and white in the edit — with more control than the camera had.
Can macOS Preview and Photos open Nikon Zf files?
Current macOS versions read the Zf's Lossless Compressed NEFs in Finder, Preview and Photos, though Apple shipped that support well after the camera launched. High Efficiency and High Efficiency★ files do not open anywhere in macOS itself — for those you need an editor that licenses the newer compression, or Nikon's free NX Studio. Our guide to opening NEF files on a Mac walks through every route.
Which editors read the Zf's High Efficiency NEF files?
Lightroom, Capture One, DxO PhotoLab, ON1 Photo RAW and Nikon's NX Studio all read High Efficiency and High Efficiency★ NEFs from the Zf. macOS, darktable, RawTherapee and RevelRaw read Lossless Compressed only. If any app in your workflow sits on the second list, set the camera to Lossless Compressed and spend the card space.
How do I edit the Zf's 96-megapixel pixel-shift photos?
The camera saves pixel-shift shooting as a series of ordinary NEFs; the merge happens on your Mac in Nikon's free NX Studio, which combines a 16- or 32-frame series into a 96-megapixel NEFX file. Third-party support for NEFX is thin, so finish the file in NX Studio or export a 16-bit TIFF from it to grade in your editor of choice.
What is the best free photo editing software for the Nikon Zf?
Nikon's NX Studio, for three Zf-specific reasons: it opens every NEF flavor the camera writes, it renders the B&W switch's monochrome Picture Controls as shot, and it is the only app that merges pixel-shift series. As a general editor, darktable and RawTherapee go far deeper for free — just set the camera to Lossless Compressed, since neither reads the High Efficiency flavors.
Free to try with a real file. Download RevelRaw, drop in a Zf .NEF, and export one finished photograph at full quality on the house. Get it on the Mac App Store (requires macOS 26 or later).
Related reading: Nikon RAW editing on a Mac · Best editing software for the Nikon Z8 · Best editing software for the Nikon Z6 III · What is a NEF file? · A Kodak Portra preset for the Mac · How to open NEF files on a Mac