Sony includes the Image Data Converter software to let you manipulate the SRF (Sony Raw Format) image data. Edited images can be saved back as SRF or 8-bit (sorry no 16-bit) JPEG or TIFF format. Unfortunately the Sony raw format is also encrypted which means that we probably won't be seeing any 3rd-party conversion software for it.

Mac users note: Sony will not be including raw conversion software for the Mac platform until February 2004. It runs on Windows OS only at this time.

(6/04/2004 update) Sony has now made available the Mac OS X version of the Image Data (RAW) Converter. Fill out this online form and the software will be mailed free of charge (through Oct 31, 2004). F828s sold after May 2004 now include the software.

Shown here is the main screen with the folder navigation pane on the left and the image preview thumbnails on the left. The size of the thumbnails is selectable with the slider control on the bottom of the screen.

Clicking the "i" on any thumbnail displays the image capture data.

Double-clicking a thumbnail will take you to the editing screen. Icons on the toolbar at the top let you save the image, revert to original settings, enable fast preview or high resolution (slower loading) preview, save image adjustment settings, load image adjustment settings, rotate CCW or CW, zoom-in or zoom-out of preview image, undo changes, redo changes, adjust white balance, tone curves-levels, EV, saturation, contrast, hue and sharpness.

White balance options include: Camera Settings, Daylight, Cloudy, Incandescent and Flash as well as select and "fine tune" the color temperature manually. You can also take a reading from a known gray point in the image.

Those familiar with histograms and level adjustments can use the graph or the slider arrows to perform minor to dramatic changes in the image.

The EV (exposure value) of the image can be altered from -2.0 to +2.0 in very fine increments. Color saturation, contrast and hue can also be adjusted. After any image adjustment the preview image is refreshed to show the changes.

The image can be "sharpened" by enhancing the edges of pixels. These adjustments require the preview image to be in the high-resolution mode to see the effects of sharpening.

You can batch process an entire folder of raw images or only those that are selected. The output file format is the same as when saving single images; JPEG (in one of five quality levels), TIFF or save in Sony Raw Format (SRF). The TIFF format is only 8-bit, a shame considering that the raw data contains 14-bit color information.