RAW

Lots of photographers are now enjoying the benefits of using RAW files with their cameras. Once the darling of the pro camera fraternity, it is now becoming the norm even in small point and shoot cameras that have incredible 10.1 mega pixel sensors these days. And why not? There are hundreds of good, well seasoned amateur photographers out there who like to carry a small camera on occasions, and they still want to get the best from their images as they do when they take out their heavy DSLR's. Nothing wrong with that.



I have a Panasonic Lumix LX3 which I have adopted for my street candid photography. It's light, convenient, in as much that it is unobtrusive, and I don't have to carry a bag on my shoulder all day long.



So what's the problem? The problem is that to shoot RAW I must either work with the user unfriendly Silkypix converter that comes with the LX3, or upgrade my perfectly adequate CS2 edit software to CS4 to enable Adobe Camera Raw to read the files. Why should I? Using an EOS 5d, I already have two Raw converters on my computer, and that doesn't include Silkypix which I don't use anyway. And if I decided to buy a Nikon, I would have to have their brand of converter software on my computer too. What nonsense all this is.



Adobe have already created a universal answer to the problem - the digital negative file. DNG has been available to all manufacturers gratis free for a few years now. It would solve the problem of getting your RAW files to the edit suite of your choice once and for all, without the frustration of non-recognition. NO! Manufacturers are far to protective of their products to allow such a move. But hasn't anyone told them yet? It's what their customers want. It's about time that RAW users pushed manufacturers to stop holding them to ransom and start thinking of their customers needs. After all, we never had this problem with different film cameras. A roll of 35mm film fitted everything from a cheap point and shoot to an expensive Leica, or Hasselblad.



So come on manufacturers. Pull your finger out.