RAW file support

[CanonUser]

:?:

Will future release support Canon RAW format (CRW files) ?  

I tried renaming a CRW file to .RAW extension and ended up loading a bunch of random pixels on my display.

[Juan Conejero]

Will future release support Canon RAW format (CRW files) ?

Of course. As you probably know, all processes, file formats and their associated user interfaces will be implemented as installable modules, thanks to the modular and extensible design of the new PixInsight application.

A Canon CRW support module will surely be available. Even if it is not included in the initial default set of file format support modules, it will be implemented and will be easily installable, as soon as released.

I tried renaming a CRW file to .RAW extension and ended up loading a bunch of random pixels on my display.

The current implementation of the RAW format in PI LE refers to a user-defined, arbitrary raw format. Basically, you define the sample format (number of bits per sample, integer or floating point, etc.), how pixels are organized, and the length of an optional initial header in the file. Then the PI application reads pixel data, trusting user-defined parameters. Hence if you define an existing file incorrectly, you'll get incorrect results.

Thank you for using PixInsight LE.

[jhousel]

Any news on Canon EOS20D RAW file (.cr2) support or how to convert them to a format recognized by PI? Is is just as good to open the Canon files as 16bit TIFFS w/minimal processing and take it from there in PI?

Thanks

[Juan Conejero]

Hello guest,

PixInsight LE cannot read CANON RAW files, as you know.

In theory, there would be perhaps a way to load them as user-defined RAW files, if a suitable set of parameters could be defined describing where and how pixel data are stored in a CR2 file. I don't know if that is possible, and I haven't tried it. Please let me know if you do.

We plan to include CANON RAW support as a module in the new PixInsight Standard release. However at this point I cannot ensure that such module will be included in the default set of file format support modules of the initial PI Std release; that depends on our time line, which is extremely saturated at the moment. Anyway, even if it isn't included in the initial release, it will be available very soon after, rest assured.

Regarding your question about a 16-bit TIFF file as a way to load the contents of a CR2 file in PI, I think there should be no difference at all if you have some means to store the exact contents of the original CR2 in TIFF format. PI LE can read and write TIFF files including 8, 16 and 32-bit integers, as well as 32 and 64-bit floating point sample formats.

Hope this answers your questions. Regards,

Juan

[celstark]

Hello guest,

PixInsight LE cannot read CANON RAW files, as you know.

In theory, there would be perhaps a way to load them as user-defined RAW files, if a suitable set of parameters could be defined describing where and how pixel data are stored in a CR2 file. I don't know if that is possible, and I haven't tried it. Please let me know if you do.

This will not work.  CRW and CR2 are not RAW files in this sense.  The raw sensor data is ebedded in each in compressed format along with other data (thumbnail JPEG versions of the image, etc.).  For example, in CR2, there is a TIFF structure to the file and one of the entries gives a pointer to the RAW data, but to save space, the RAW data are in a lossless JPEG compressed mode (note how an 8 megapixel image takes about 8Mb, yet is at 12 bpp).  So, there is in no simple offset / bit-depth / dimension set of parameters that will let you decode it.  

If you want to get at this, you need to do one of two things.  Either a) traverse through the TIFF structure, find the raw data and do the decode or b) use Canon's SDK.  The latter, while quite easy, will only give you 16-bit RGB data.  That is to say it will do the debayer routine and give you access to the full-color data but it will not give you access to the raw sensor data.  Thus, if you would like to use an alternate debayer or would like to do substantial processing of the data before the demosaic process (which I wanted to do in some software of mine), you are left with option (a).

Craig

[Juan Conejero]

Hi Craig,

Of course you are right.

As you probably know, PixInsight Standard supports now DSLR raw formats for virtually all digital cameras in the market, including all Canon and Nikon formats. The DSLR RAW PixInsight format module is built around Dave Coffin's dcraw.c (http://cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/), and it can load raw images with and without debayerization, along with several Bayer interpolation algorithms and schemes. More options are available through preferences. The RAW format module is included in the public free time-limited beta version of PixInsight.

By the way, congratulations on your Nebulosity; very nice software indeed :wink:

Any chance to count with you as a PixInsight/PCL developer?

Cheers,