Change Orientation of NEF Files in EXIF Data

Use exiftool on the command line to edit EXIF data of NEF files to control their orientation.

$ exiftool -orientation#=1 [myfile.NEF]

Orientation Values

1	Horizontal (normal)
2	Mirror horizontal
3	Rotate 180
4	Mirror vertical
5	Mirror horizontal and rotate 270 CW
6	Rotate 90 CW
7	Mirror horizontal and rotate 90 CW
8	Rotate 270 CW

The orientation is relative to the files original orientation, so for example applying a 90 CW rotation 3 times will leave the file rotated 90 degrees, not 270 degrees.

An alternate method:

$ exiftool -orientation="Rotate 90 CW" myfile.NEF

orientation values:

Rotate 90 CW
Rotate 180 CW
Rotate 270 CW

See also

• Command Line Image Tools