Paul Shields wrote:
>
> Yes, but the problem is that *no* RAW format is supported by any image
> editing software apart from those supplied by the camera manufacturer.
>
This is simply not true. Many manufacturer RAW formats are supported by
many image editor/RAW converters
> It's fine so long as you continue to use say Studio/Master etc. Personally
> I've never liked those pieces of software so always use RAW editors that have
> to reverse engineer the RAW data as the
> manufacturers keep it a closely guarded secret.
Just because Oly makes odd software doesn't mean others do or don't.
Sounds like over generalization to me. The Canon RAW software is
perfectly competent and easy enough to use. And I believe the Nikon
versions are considered excellent.
I know the big boys used to provide SDKs for converter/editor makers, so
they wouldn't have to reverse engineer or mess with low level details if
they don't want to. I assume they still do.
Of course that solution doesn't allow them to improve on the
manufacturer's work.
As to reverse engineering, what's wrong with that? Dave Coffin, whose
dcraw is the engine underneath the majority of independent RAW
conversion/reader software doesn't try to reverse engineer the various
software, like Studio/Master. He works directly from the RAW format
files to do his own demosaicing, highlight recovery, etc.
Adding new RAW formats to dcraw is generally a matter of a handful of
lines of parameters. I know 'cause I just added his patch to support the
A650. I sent him sample shots of RAW files from the CHDK add-on software
within a couple of days of its availability and he had a dcraw patch
done in another day. That's FAST.
> That's the whole point of DNG (and OpenRAW - though they seem to have given
> up). It's already proved its usefulness recently when Aperture 2 came out
> without any native support for E-3 ORF files. Thankfully Aperture 2 handles
> DNG version 2 files perfectly well.
>
I like the IDEA of DNG, but have never found any particular reason to
use it in practice. I believe like CH that support for all RAW formats
will go on for a long, long time. Once the code is written and in a
product like dcraw or ACR, why bother to take it out as you add new
formats? And if it does happen in the future, there will be plenty of
opportunity to deal with it. using existing software to make the
conversions.
dcraw added E-3 support quite promptly. I assume Aperture will read
TIFFs? dcraw itself is command line only, but very good quality and very
flexible, and does batches well. And many of the GUI apps built on it
are very good. Of those I've tried, I like RAW Therapee. Irfanview and
BreezeBrowser, which several folks here like, also depend on dcraw for
RAW file handling.
Personally, I think the format likely to last the longest is ADOBE .PSD,
the format in which billions of professional/commercial image files
exist in their final forms. My image backup is in RAW for all images I
keep plus PSD for those I've processed.
> I'd safely put my money into Adobe rather than Olympus when it comes to
> handling my RAW files. Ironically you mention that TIFF was once one option
> and of course that format is under the control of Adobe already.
>
Huh? TIFF is (was?) an independent standard (Tagged Image File Format).
I won't use it except as an intermediate format from VueScan, dcraw, et.
al. to PSD because PS reads and writes it so sloooowly. Multi-level is
just impossible. And lossless compression is a joke. When I was trying
that with VueScan output, the "compressed" files were as big or bigger
than without compression.
>> In case my RAW images get no support in the future, I can always convert
>> them to the new format before it happen
> I'd rather have them in a format that I know will still be around rather than
> relying on anticipation ;).
>
I'm not so sure of DNG in that regard. Existing conversion options and
camera output will last a long time - for the same reason existing RAW
formats will - the code is written and will live on. If DNG languishes
as a major player, Adobe could stop adding new RAW formats to its
conversion software and let it die a quiet death.
Moose
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