Nikon, Canon, Adobe and Fujifilm are cooperating in an effort to enable future operating systems to handle the popular digital photography format.Microsoft Corp. is teaming with imaging companies like Canon and Nikon in a move designed to give Windows XP and Longhorn users more control over digital image editing.
Current and future versions of the Windows operating system will be enhanced to enable users to work easily with Raw files.
Sometimes called "digital negatives," Raw files are uncompressed digital images that are collected by a digital camera and can be transferred directly to a computer and later converted to file formats like JPEG and TIFF.
Click here to read more about support for digital negative in Photoshop.
Raw image capture is becoming increasingly important to digital photographers, because of the format's ability to preserve an image's fidelity, according to Microsoft. A Raw file contains more detailed image data than a JPEG or TIFF, and users can tweak exposure and color with greater range and precision.
The difficulty with using Raw files currently is that most camera makers use proprietary file formats for storing the data on their devices, which means each new camera model introduces changes to the Raw image files. In turn, digital imaging applications have to be updated to support the changes.
"There are many benefits to Raw, but there are a number of workflow challenges," said Josh Weisberg, group product manager for Windows Digital Media. "It requires special software because it's not a broadly supported file format like JPEG."
To make the process less frustrating for digital camera users, Microsoft has been working with Adobe, Canon, Fujifilm and Nikon to deliver native support for digital camera Raw images for the next major version of Windows, code-named Longhorn.
The Raw image capability is expected to be included in a future version of Microsoft Digital Image Suite as well, Weisberg noted.
Click here to read more about Raw image handling in Photoshop.
Microsoft is also developing a certification program for third-party Raw image codecs so that hardware and software vendors can contribute codecs for certification and implementation in Windows.
Users of current Windows XP software can tap into enhanced digital imaging capabilities in the near future, Microsoft noted.
A tool will soon be available on the company's site that lets users view photo thumbnails and preview and print Nikon and Canon RAW files from Windows Explorer.
The impetus for providing better support for digital camera Raw files is the sharp rise in popularity of digital photography editing on Windows, said Weisberg.
Prices for many digital SLR cameras have also been dropping, which has led to a wave of interest in digital photography, and subsequently, in Raw files.
"Our goal is to make the format broadly supported, so that whoever wants to use it will be able to do so easily," Weisberg said.
