Photographers ask camera makers to open up

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It's not that easy: FirstNLastN,

it's not that easy. When you convert pictures from the RAW format, it's like developing a negative. There's not just one way (just like there's more than one mix of chemicals you could use) to develop the image. As a result, if you throw away the RAW, you no longer have the option of setting certain variables (including "white balance," for instance) differently.

Therefore, it's not "lossless" if you convert to TIFF.

What the article is not clear about is that obviously nobody forces you to download their new software. You can use the D30 (which I have, among others) perfectly fine if you use the software that came with it (and several other recent packages that support it). One day, a future version of Windows may not support the old app, and that's when you'd have to be ready with options to permeate pictures. Will your Word 2.0 files be supported for forever? Possibly not. In photography circles, this topic has been debated some, and by far not everyone (including me) feels that Canon or Nikon need to give up their trade secrets because a few computer techs think they need to try to improve on what these companies can do. We tend to use an analogy of cars: just because [your favorite car manufacturer] chooses to offer a certain feature with their latests models doesn't mean that they have to make it available for the car you bought five years ago.

I agree that we may eventually not be able to "develop" our early RAW images any more. DNG may be a solution to that (Adobe would obviously like it if they got to be in charge of the format). The early adopters may pay a price at that point (what else is new?).; Posted by: dunraven Posted on: 04/26/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use