Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (
More info?)
In article <cq4nq2$gqb$1@inews.gazeta.pl>,
Alan Browne <alan.browne@freelunchVideotron.ca> wrote:
>John Francis wrote:
>
>>>My take on in-camera processing is:
>>>Sin #1: image quality is lost when converting to JPG.
>>>Sin #2: scene latitude is lost when converting to JPG.
>>>Sin #3: in camera sharpening is overdone in some cases (including RAW).
>>
>>
>> Which cameras sharpen a raw image?
>
>I stated that a bit quickly and simply.
>
> From what I gather in other NG discussions, most of them do sharpen at RAW, but
>I may be remembering a misperception. I can't cite a source offhand.
>
>It may also, rather than specific sharpening, be artifacts of interpolating
>seperate R,G,B sensors into RGB pixels that makes sharpening-like artifacts in
>the RAW image.
I think you may have a misunderstanding of just what a RAW image is.
It is a direct measure of the sensor values, prior to any conversion
to RGB pixels. Interpolation artifacts, etc., would be introduced
during processing stages that take place later on in the chain, and
so are not present in the RAW capture.
In general the only camera settings that affect the content of a RAW
image are the effective ISO (maybe including exposure compensation),
white balance (sometimes), and possibly the contrast. Other settings
such as sharpening will be generally be recorded along with the data,
and may very well affect the way the manufacturer-supplied conversion
software behaves, but don't change the recorded pixel values directly.
Adobe have recently announced a new "Digital Negative" file format
(DNG) which attempts to provide a vendor-neutral format for RAW images.
They have a converter to go from the RAW format of many cameras to DNG.
Converting the RAW images from your camera to a well-documented format,
and then seeing just what is in there, is a good way to get an initial
understanding of just what a RAW file contains.
You can also see when and where artifacts are introduced by trying
different conversion software. If you don't have access to a full
version of PhotoShop, PhotoShop Elements 3.0 includes Adobe Camera Raw
(which can read DNG as well as the RAW format of many cameras).
Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with Adobe, except as a customer.
I recently purchased Elements 3.0, and consider it money well spent.