D-Lux 7 is missing Raw support and FOTOS App support.

[pvak]

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I just purchased a new Leica D-Lux 7. It's a terrific little camera but unfortunately I have encountered two major problems.

First, there is no Raw support for the RWL raw files from the camera. Neither Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom (both using Camera Raw) are able to  convert the files. The files are stripped of their colour channels and come out as monochrome. They are unuseable. On the other hand, RWL files from the identical Panasonic Lumix LX-100 II camera are supported fully.  

Second, the FOTOS App (at least for iPhone) does not work. The camera easily makes the wifi connection with the smartphone but the App does not recognize the camera in spite of a functioning wifi connection and therefore cannot display any photos or control the camera.

I can't understand why "premium" Leica would release this camera without ensuring that there is at least Raw file support or that their much advertised FOTOS App isn't working as promised.Panasonic could do it, why not Leica? I am a Leica fan but sometimes my patience is sorely tried.

Peter

[drgek]

2 hours ago, pvak said:

I just purchased a new Leica D-Lux 7. It's a terrific little camera but unfortunately I have encountered two major problems.

First, there is no Raw support for the RWL raw files from the camera. Neither Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom (both using Camera Raw) are able to  convert the files. The files are stripped of their colour channels and come out as monochrome. They are unuseable. On the other hand, RWL files from the identical Panasonic Lumix LX-100 II camera are supported fully.  

Second, the FOTOS App (at least for iPhone) does not work. The camera easily makes the wifi connection with the smartphone but the App does not recognize the camera in spite of a functioning wifi connection and therefore cannot display any photos or control the camera.

I can't understand why "premium" Leica would release this camera without ensuring that there is at least Raw file support or that their much advertised FOTOS App isn't working as promised.Panasonic could do it, why not Leica? I am a Leica fan but sometimes my patience is sorely tried.

Peter

I haven't had problems with downloading photos from the D-Lux 7 to my phone from FOTOS, but I do resent buying a travel camera in part based on Bluetooth functionality only to have no idea when that will actually be available (I was told "soon" by the FOTOS app support people.) In terms of RAW support, I'm quite comfortable that Lightroom will soon offer an update that will support the .RWL files. With the current edition of Lightroom, you can pick a color profile from the drop down menu which will allow you to develop the file in color.

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[pico]

6 minutes ago, drgek said:

I do resent buying a travel camera in part based on Bluetooth functionality

Interesting. What functionality did Leica promote that uses Bluetooth?

 

[drgek]

Bluetooth creates a constant, low energy connection between the camera and your cell phone. It allows the camera to geotag photos directly from the GPS coordinates on the phone. Looking back, however, whereas this feature was described in various sites and in the product manual, I just looked back and in fairness to Leica they didn't mention it in their product announcement.

[lct]

1 hour ago, drgek said:

[...] there is no Raw support for the RWL raw files from the camera. Neither Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom (both using Camera Raw) are able to  convert the files. The files are stripped of their colour channels and come out as monochrome. They are unuseable. On the other hand, RWL files from the identical Panasonic Lumix LX-100 II camera are supported fully [...]

I have no experience with the current Lightroom which seems to have a bug with RWL files (link below) but DNG Converter 11.0.0.61 for Mac works fine with them. Produces DNG files that can be opened by Apple Preview, Capture One 12, ON1 2019, RawDigger 1.2.25, Raw Photo Processor 64, RawTherapee 5.2.0, Silkypix 7, Silkypix 8 and probably other raw converters.
BTW raw files out of the Panasonic Lx100m2 are not RWL but RW2. 
http://macfilos.com/photo/lightroom-leica-d-lux7-no-colour-rwl-files

[kimo]

vor 13 Stunden schrieb lct:

I have no experience with the current Lightroom which seems to have a bug with RWL files (link below) but DNG Converter 11.0.0.61 for Mac works fine with them. Produces DNG files that can be opened by Apple Preview, Capture One 12, ON1 2019, RawDigger 1.2.25, Raw Photo Processor 64, RawTherapee 5.2.0, Silkypix 7, Silkypix 8 and probably other raw converters.
BTW raw files out of the Panasonic Lx100m2 are not RWL but RW2. 
http://macfilos.com/photo/lightroom-leica-d-lux7-no-colour-rwl-files

Maybe the created DNG work fine with the converters you mentioned. But they are only monochrome in Adobe LR and PS and cannot be opened in DXO.I guess Adobe will fix this soon, not sure with DXO. I am new in DXO products.

[pvak]

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2 hours ago, kimo said:

Maybe the created DNG work fine with the converters you mentioned. But they are only monochrome in Adobe LR and PS and cannot be opened in DXO.I guess Adobe will fix this soon, not sure with DXO. I am new in DXO products.

I agree. I also found that the files converted by DNG converter open only as Monochromes in LR and PS. I guess my work flow will have to wait till Adobe updates its Raw converter for these Leica RWL files.

[pvak]

17 hours ago, drgek said:

I haven't had problems with downloading photos from the D-Lux 7 to my phone from FOTOS, but I do resent buying a travel camera in part based on Bluetooth functionality only to have no idea when that will actually be available (I was told "soon" by the FOTOS app support people.) In terms of RAW support, I'm quite comfortable that Lightroom will soon offer an update that will support the .RWL files. With the current edition of Lightroom, you can pick a color profile from the drop down menu which will allow you to develop the file in color.

Thanks for your reply. I retried the FOTOS app connection after resetting the network settings in the camera. I don't know what went wrong with the previous attempts to pair the camera but now it worked flawlessly. The app dowloads my pictures and allows for camera controls.. Cool! However raw conversion of RWL files is still an issue. For that, I guess my work flow will have to wait for a Camera Raw update.

Edited December 3, 2018 by pvak

[Daedalus2000]

1 hour ago, pvak said:

Thanks for your reply. I retried the FOTOS app connection after resetting the network settings in the camera. I don't know what went wrong with the previous attempts to pair the camera but now it worked flawlessly. The app dowloads my pictures and allows for camera controls.. Cool! However raw conversion of RWL files is still an issue. For that, I guess my work flow will have to wait for a Camera Raw update.

You can use the camera matching profiles in Lightroom to develop your files in color

[Foxfan100]

I'm a Pany digital and former Leica film camera user, and the D-Lux 7 arrived with me yesterday.

I use Affinity Photo (AP), and that has no difficulty in developing the RWL files. Raw Therapee (RT) also handles RWL perfectly. The Adobe DNG Converter will convert RWL to DNG, which I can also convert and use in Affinity, Raw Therapee (not essential as AP and RT will process RWL, but more an empirical test).

My preferred viewer and image file manager is Faststone Image Viewer, and all 3 file types appear crystal-clear in that. I'm not entirely happy about the image quality, but as I've taken only about 10 photos so far, and have yet to get to grips with this camera, it's probably down to me and nothing more.

[lct]

 

2 hours ago, Foxfan100 said:

[...] I use Affinity Photo (AP), and that has no difficulty in developing the RWL files. Raw Therapee (RT) also handles RWL perfectly. The Adobe DNG Converter will convert RWL to DNG, which I can also convert and use in Affinity, Raw Therapee (not essential as AP and RT will process RWL, but more an empirical test). [...]

Welcome to the forum 🙂. Not sure if Affinity Photo or Raw Therapee are supporting the Leica DL7 profiles so far. The RWL files' distortion must be corrected manually with them if i'm not mistaken. Not a big deal for serious raw users though. Others (or the same) may prefer converting the RWL files to DNG through Adobe DNG Converter in the first place because the latter allows for automatic distortion correction when DNG files are opened in some raw converters like Silkypix or in Apple's Photos or Preview.

[Foxfan100]

On 12/4/2018 at 1:49 PM, lct said:

 

Welcome to the forum 🙂. Not sure if Affinity Photo or Raw Therapee are supporting the Leica DL7 profiles so far. The RWL files' distortion must be corrected manually with them if i'm not mistaken. Not a big deal for serious raw users though. Others (or the same) may prefer converting the RWL files to DNG through Adobe DNG Converter in the first place because the latter allows for automatic distortion correction when DNG files are opened in some raw converters like Silkypix or in Apple's Photos or Preview.

Thanks for the welcome.

AP has supported RWL for some time, but I don't know how long Raw Therapee has done so. I'm not sure about distortion. When I load an RWL in either of these (on a PC), I don't see any distortion, and looking at the camera JPEG alongside the RWL doesn't seem to reveal any. In AP,  the native file for further processing after RAW development is .afphoto, and I see no problems with that, nor with the subsequent outputs to JPEG and other file formats. I've also converted a saved copy of the original RWL to DNG and compared it with the RWL in both AP and RT, and I don't notice any distortion.

[lct]

So much he better if you don't see any distortion, its level doesn't bother you then. The only raw converter correcting automatically for it AFAIK is Silkypix on DNG files out of Adobe Raw Converter so far. Strong auto correction BTW, i prefer manual correction personally but it is a matter of tastes.

[lct]

Obvious difference here.

Affinity Photo:

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Adobe DNG Converter + Silkypix:

[Foxfan100]

I see what you mean.