Petition the Camera Makers to Publically Document Their RAW Formats or Adopt a Universal RAW Format
With the recent news of the encrypted white balance information found in Nikon's D2X RAW files a lot of us are looking for a solution to this hodge-podge of RAW image formats. We need to be assured that we can still access our RAW image data in the future, regardless of whatever computer operating system we might be using by then. This can only happen if we let the camera makers know that we don't want this practice to continue - we hold the power of the consumer - they can't sell it if we don't buy it! If this is of concern to you then please read the following information received from Michael Reichmann of The Luminous Landscape site."The problem of proprietary and undocumented RAW formats continues to grow worse, with more than a hundred separate formats now in existence, several of them encrypted in various ways. New ones are being added almost every month, and though Adobe’s proposed DNG format is gaining some traction, there is still a long way to go."
"You are undoubtedly aware of the OpenRAW Working Group and its web site, founded by Juergen Specht. Together with Michael Reichmann of The Luminous Landscape, these individuals are putting forward an initiative to try and put some pressure on the world’s camera makers to both adopt openly documented RAW formats, as well as a universal RAW format (be it DNG, or something else)."
"We are asking for your support for this initiative. It takes the form of an article written by Michael and Juergen, which can be found at:"
"In addition to a description of the nature of our concern about proprietary RAW formats, we have added a petition, and a request that readers send it to one or more of the camera makers whose links are listed at the bottom of the article."
