iPad supports RAW files [Merged]

[Alnitak]

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I have the same problem with RAW + JPG loading with my iPad 3G 64GB too. I've had experiences where it's taken as many as 10x restarts to load on 200+ raw/jpg from an M9 SD card. Not cool.

 

Hmm. I've had no trouble, and have downloaded as much as 8GB of images. Same model iPad, too.

 

Jeff

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[Alnitak]

Interesting point. Is it Apple offering an OS update . . . or is it Leica putting better jpgs in the DNG files. RAW files from other cameras do very nicely without shooting jpg as well - for me both the Sony A900 and the Olympus EP2 give good pictures without shooting RAW+jpg (there, I got it right that time

 

. . . . Actually, thinking about it, it may be that the embedded jpgs are too good - I know there is a 3mb (about) limit to the size of file the iPAD will display.

 

When the iPad first came out, I tested this quite extensively and it's a Leica DNG issue, NOT an Apple issue. Leica embeds a very tiny low-resolution jpeg in the DNG. I found that if I used Adobe's DNG converter and used the options to select different embedded jpeg's, I could get a good preview. It seems pretty typical for manufacturers to embed really small jpegs in their DNG files. I tried a few other manufacturer files with similar results.

 

Jeff

[jonoslack]

It's a screen about the size of a 120 roll film contact print. Ok, but by no means superb to view photographs.

 

Well, for old fools like me (and you?) you are, of course, right, but for children like my son, who still has decent eyes, the 960 x 640 screen on the new iphone is quite good for looking at pictures (so I'm told )

[jonoslack]

When the iPad first came out, I tested this quite extensively and it's a Leica DNG issue, NOT an Apple issue. Leica embeds a very tiny low-resolution jpeg in the DNG. I found that if I used Adobe's DNG converter and used the options to select different embedded jpeg's, I could get a good preview. It seems pretty typical for manufacturers to embed really small jpegs in their DNG files. I tried a few other manufacturer files with similar results.

 

Jeff

Hi Jeff

thanks for this - I assumed that was the case, but certainly some other camera's files have much larger embedded jpgs.

[Alnitak]

Well, for old fools like me (and you?) you are, of course, right, but for children like my son, who still has decent eyes, the 960 x 640 screen on the new iphone is quite good for looking at pictures (so I'm told )

 

Not only that, but you can zoom in and out at will. I can't recall a roll of 120 film that allowed me to do that--at least not without a light box and a loupe, and then that was fixed magnification.

[Alnitak]

Hi Jeff

thanks for this - I assumed that was the case, but certainly some other camera's files have much larger embedded jpgs.

 

Yes, indeed. Older Nikon NEF files have low-quality jpegs (like those from the D2H), but every other file I could try worked really well, and I tried a lot: Canon CR2 and CRW files from something like ten different cameras, Panasonic RW2 files, Nikon NEFs from a bunch of cameras, DNG's from Leica and Ricoh, Olymus ORF files. Only the Leica and Ricoh DNG's and the old D2H and D100 NEFs looked bad. Everything else was fine, as were DNG's I created with slightly larger embedded jpegs.

[stunsworth]

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Not only that, but you can zoom in and out at will. I can't recall a roll of 120 film that allowed me to do that--at least not without a light box and a loupe, and then that was fixed magnification.

 

A photograph is an organic whole. When you look at it through a loupe you see less, not more.

[Alnitak]

A photograph is an organic whole. When you look at it through a loupe you see less, not more.

 

Yes, but when I can freely zoom in and out, it's just like stepping back from a giant print or stepping forward, isn't it? The "organic whole" is still there.

[stunsworth]

Yes it is, but that's a technician's approach rather than a photographer's IMHO.

 

If you're happy looking at such a small screen that's ok, we're all different.

[Alnitak]

Yes it is, but that's a technician's approach rather than a photographer's IMHO.

 

If you're happy looking at such a small screen that's ok, we're all different.

 

I don't think that anyone was arguing that this is the primary way to see and enjoy your photos--just one way to do so. I certainly wasn't trying to make any other point than that it's simplistic to evaluate it purely on size.

 

Sometimes the only way to enjoy an image is on the iPhone (or iPad); I'd rather be able to enjoy and share it with the limitations the medium imposes rather than not be able to share it at all. But hey, that's me.

[wlaidlaw]

Yes, indeed. Older Nikon NEF files have low-quality jpegs (like those from the D2H), but every other file I could try worked really well, and I tried a lot: Canon CR2 and CRW files from something like ten different cameras, Panasonic RW2 files, Nikon NEFs from a bunch of cameras, DNG's from Leica and Ricoh, Olymus ORF files. Only the Leica and Ricoh DNG's and the old D2H and D100 NEFs looked bad. Everything else was fine, as were DNG's I created with slightly larger embedded jpegs.

 

........and of course, from which cameras would I like to view my DNG's natively - Ricoh and Leica. It is not so much of an issue with the Ricoh GX200, where there is no facility to take DNG only and you have to take a JPEG with each image as well as the DNG. However having now been taking DNG + JPEG fine for about 2 weeks on M8 and 9, I have found it less of an issue than I had feared. In real life, I have not noticed the slower in-camera processing. For normal processing (i.e. non-iPad), I have found the easiest way is to sort the images by file size on the card and then delete all the JPEG's, which are then in a group. I have made a small Automator Action to do this on one key stroke.

 

Wilson

[jonoslack]

........and of course, from which cameras would I like to view my DNG's natively - Ricoh and Leica. It is not so much of an issue with the Ricoh GX200, where there is no facility to take DNG only and you have to take a JPEG with each image as well as the DNG. However having now been taking DNG + JPEG fine for about 2 weeks on M8 and 9, I have found it less of an issue than I had feared. In real life, I have not noticed the slower in-camera processing. For normal processing (i.e. non-iPad), I have found the easiest way is to sort the images by file size on the card and then delete all the JPEG's, which are then in a group. I have made a small Automator Action to do this on one key stroke.

 

Wilson

HI Wilson

I hope you're well.

I'm in the same situation . . . however, with Aperture there is an option box for Raw+jpg pairs- I've just chosen RAW only, and that does the job very well.

 

all the best

[diogenis]

I know. I am on my second iPhone.

 

But to expect a mobile phone, no matter how "smart" to be able to decode RAW files from any number of different manufacturers in a manner acceptable to the user (and, importantly Apple, who wouldn't allow a function if it wasn't a good experience) is asking too much, I would suggest.

 

Speaking of which, it seems that Apple is having what Leica had when we uncovered the IR issue on the M8s.

Funny the resemblances of these two companies. In fact it must not be luck, but innovation doesn't come for free...

[swamiji]

So, If I have got this correct. iPad does not support RAW nor DNG? It supports the embedded JPEG in the RAW or DNG? Funny MacOS X does support both DNG and RAW natively. No conversions necessary. The images look like I had uploaded them to a XP machine, and looked at them in picture viewer.

[wlaidlaw]

So, If I have got this correct. iPad does not support RAW nor DNG? It supports the embedded JPEG in the RAW or DNG? Funny MacOS X does support both DNG and RAW natively. No conversions necessary. The images look like I had uploaded them to a XP machine, and looked at them in picture viewer.

 

That is correct. However if you take DNG + JPEG fine on your M8/9, the iPad works OK. I regard it purely as a safety additional storage device and a short term viewer until such time as you can get the images onto a more sophisticated device. If you accept that is all it is, it works perfectly. If you want a image modifying device it is hopeless. The upside is unlike the various other picture storage devices, as you know, it does lots of other things. The Zinio magazine reader is brilliant. I subscribe to Racecar Engineering and National Geographic.

 

BTW there is an update to Mac OSX camera RAW, which came out on Saturday.

 

Wilson

[andybarton]

The iPad does not run on OSX. It runs on a version of the iPhone software. It's just a big mobile phone, really.

 

One would never use a mobile phone to view RAW images.

[gcapalbo]

I am currently on the TGV to Nice, having spent the last three weeks in the UK and France with a 64GB iPad 3G, camera connection kit, and an m9.

 

Before the trip, I did a lot of research on what software to use, and have been using the combination of running the camera in RAW+jpg, along with phtogene for photo editing, and flickstackr for uploading jogs to my flickr page.

 

I've also brought along two 16GB cards, and two 8GB cards for the camera. As an aside, as I'm US based, friends in the UK and France helped me acquire local 3G sim cards (o2 in the UK, SFR in France, which required my French friend to purchase, as a French bank account is required. I have uploaded to flickr mostly using local wifi, but sometimes with 3G)

 

Truth be told, the iPad is a few bug fixes,and feature implementations away from being a true photagrapher's tool for use with raw photos.

 

First, I have had the aforementioned iPad photo app crash while downloading photos with the connection kit (and sometimes kernel panic with auto reboot) problem where anywhere from 1-3 images would load to the iPad, and then the app crashes... But then occasionally it ust magically works, and all is well. The trick is to just be patient, and keep retrying until all the photos are transferred.

 

About a third of the way through the trip, I used a friend's MacBook to pull all the raw files offnthe iPad, and upload them to a server in the US using conventional transfer, but as of now, my 64GB iPad is full.

 

While the iPad will store and transfer the dng files via iPhoto, or Lightroom, Apple does not provide an API to access the raw images-- so any photo app can only access the added jpg, or the crappy jpg in the .dng file, if you don't configure for raw+jpg.

 

Photogene has been quite reasonable in tweaking images a bit (For example bring up the levels in the blacks in contrasty images, or crop a bit) but I find quite a bit of distortion added if the tools are applied more than just a little.

 

I think a iPad version of Apeture would be the ultimate solution.

 

In the meantime, with a little patience, the iPad is quite useful, and viewing photos on the iPad screen while traveling is very nice indeed.

[stunsworth]

For very basic image manipulation there's a free version of Photoshop available for the iPhone/iPad. I don't know if this is able to see Jpegs uploaded via the connection kit.

 

Personally I feel there are too many hoops to jump through to make the iPad work for it to be a replacement for my MacBook when travelling.

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[gcapalbo]

For very basic image manipulation there's a free version of Photoshop available for the iPhone/iPad. I don't know if this is able to see Jpegs uploaded via the connection kit.

 

Personally I feel there are too many hoops to jump through to make the iPad work for it to be a replacement for my MacBook when travelling.

 

I indeed miss the functionality of my MacBook pro-- but it is a 17", and I don't miss the weight and worry about leaving it in a hotel, etc.

 

Also, I have Photoshop for iPad , but it was just updated while on my trip-- and I find the workflow of PhotoGene a little smoother.

 

If it was not for the crashing bug, the hoops are fairly small to jump through. Seeing that this device, and 3rd party software for it are only a few months old, it's all not so bad.