Since I upgraded to Lion (10.7.5), Finder doesn't display thumbnail previews of ARW files. ARW is a Sony RAW image format (in my case files were produced by Sony NEX-5 camera). Finder used to display the thumbnails under Snow Leopard (10.6.8), but not anymore. ARW files are opened as usual by the Preview app, their previews are shown in the Finder preview column and by Quick Look. Only the thumbnails are not shown.
I've googled and found this is a well-known issue but unfortunately there is no reliable solution. Somebody fixed it by removing Finder preferences files (~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.*
), somebody by installing latest versions of iPhoto and "RAW Compatibility Update" and somebody reported it was only fixed for him in ML 10.8.2 update.
So far I have:
- Fixed the permissions on system drive
- Removed Finder preferences files and restarted the Finder
- Installed updates for iPhoto (9.4.3) and RAW Compatibility Update (4.05)
- Danced with a shaman's tambourine
But still no luck. Any thoughts? Is upgrade to Moutain Lion my only choice? And will it indeed help?