Submission + - Your camera-raw images unreadable in future? 1
MessyBlob writes: "Given the recent renewed interest in open file formats for Office applications, perhaps we could apply the same scrutiny to closed camera-raw file formats?
This subject has many facets. Nevertheless, I'll attempt a concise summary here: There are hundreds of proprietary file formats for camera raw images, but very few are openly documented. It is very easy for a camera manufacturer to stop supporting a format. Users of old cameras can lose access to their raw images, as software developers also drop support. It is difficult for software developers to write libraries to read and write undocumented formats. Some data is deliberately encrypted (e.g. Nikon colour data) to give proprietary vendors a competitive advantage. Scientific and historic organisations can not trust proprietary raw formats for fear of losing the ability to read the archives in future. Digital raw photographers are not afforded the same rights to their original image as film photographers. Adobe's DNG has some answers, but not all of them. Open documentation gives developers a chance to write encoders and decoders. A common file format would give developers a better chance of supporting all compliant cameras. Standardisation might inhibit innovation by camera manufacturers. Finally, an idea: can object-oriented images help, or would this have the same problems as undocumented proprietary raw formats?
More info on the OpenRAW initiative: www.openraw.org"
This subject has many facets. Nevertheless, I'll attempt a concise summary here: There are hundreds of proprietary file formats for camera raw images, but very few are openly documented. It is very easy for a camera manufacturer to stop supporting a format. Users of old cameras can lose access to their raw images, as software developers also drop support. It is difficult for software developers to write libraries to read and write undocumented formats. Some data is deliberately encrypted (e.g. Nikon colour data) to give proprietary vendors a competitive advantage. Scientific and historic organisations can not trust proprietary raw formats for fear of losing the ability to read the archives in future. Digital raw photographers are not afforded the same rights to their original image as film photographers. Adobe's DNG has some answers, but not all of them. Open documentation gives developers a chance to write encoders and decoders. A common file format would give developers a better chance of supporting all compliant cameras. Standardisation might inhibit innovation by camera manufacturers. Finally, an idea: can object-oriented images help, or would this have the same problems as undocumented proprietary raw formats?
More info on the OpenRAW initiative: www.openraw.org"
