Raw images from Nikon Z50 II not showing in Photos

It doesn't appear to me that RAW files from you rcamera are supported. See this:

Digital camera RAW formats supported by iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and visionOS 2 - Apple Support

Look at how many just Nikon cameras are on this list! Every camera model and sub-model has its very own RAW format that's different from all the others. My Nikon Z8's NEF is different from my Nikon Z5's NEF and different from your Nikon Z50 II's NEF. Apple doesn't seem interested in writing new code to support them all, and I find it hard to blame them for that.

Adobe apps and many others offer RAW support, and Photos doesn't offer much value for RAW formats, anyway. I edit RAW files in Nikon's own NX Studio editor or in Lightroom Classic, and I use those to generate jpgs for additional work in Photos. 

You can use Adobe's free Digital Negative (DNG) converter to make a universally acceptable RAW picture file. This is the format that Lightroom uses when it creates a new (edited) RAW file, and Apple and Photos supports it. 

HoLeSm wrote: …I edit with Luminar Neo but like to share images quickly from Photos. I think for ease I'll set the Z50 II to save Raw+JPEG and use the latter from Photos.

Here's my "workflow:" My Z8 and Z5 have two cards, so I send NEFs to one and jpgs to the other. I copy both to Finder Folders, and I import the jpgs to Photos, where I curate and organize the pictures.

I have a keyword, "NotFav," and I have a Smart Album that shows only not NotFav. So I go through the album rejecting pictures by marking them NotFav using a keyword shortcut. I'll go through them several times, rejecting more as I go along. As I'm left with just the better ones, cropping and editing helps to see which ones will look like keepers. A few, generally the best ones, will look as though they could benefit from RAW editing, so I load those few NEF RAW files into Lightroom and use its advanced tools. Then I export jpg versions back to Photos. Sometimes I can use Photos' editor to help them even more. All the ones left at the end I mark Favorites-- usually about 15%. Then I start attaching stars to indicate the very best ones.

I haven't had experience with RAW+jpg. I think Photos shows the jpgs. Nikon's NX Studio is free, and it might offer some choices. You can also convert RAW files to DNGs, but some say that there may be some loss of RAW information--maybe nothing that matters.

Let us know how it goes…