A raw image file contains minimally processed data from the image sensor of either a digital camera, image or motion picture film scanner. Raw files are so named because they are not yet processed and therefore are not ready to be used with a bitmap graphics editor or printed. Normally, the image is processed by a raw converter in a wide-gamut internal colorspace where precise adjustments can be made before conversion to a “positive” file format such as TIFF or JPEG for storage, printing, or further manipulation, which often encodes the image in a device-dependent colorspace. These images are often described as “RAW image files” based on the erroneous belief that they represent a single file format. In fact there are dozens if not hundreds of raw image formats in use by different models of digital equipment (like cameras or film scanners).[1]
Raw image files are sometimes called digital negatives, as they fulfill the same role as negatives in film photography: that is, the negative is not directly usable as an image, but has all of the information needed to create an image. Likewise, the process of converting a raw image file into a viewable format is sometimes called developing a raw image, by analogy with the film development process used to convert photographic film into viewable prints. The selection of the final choice of image rendering is part of the process of white balancing and color grading.
Like a photographic negative, a raw digital image may have a wider dynamic range or color gamut than the eventual final image format, and is usually the one “closest” to the real picture in the sense that it preserves most of its details. Raw image formats’ purpose is to faithfully record both 100% of exactly what the sensor “saw” or “sensed” (the data), and the conditions surrounding the recording of the image (the metadata).
Raw image file
Filename extension
.3fr (Hasselblad)
.arw .srf .sr2 (Sony)
.bay (Casio)
.crw .cr2 (Canon)
.cap .tif .iiq .eip
(Phase_One)
.dcs .dcr .drf .k25 .kdc .tif (Kodak)
.dng (Adobe)
.erf (Epson)
.fff (Imacon)
.mef (Mamiya)
.mos (Leaf)
.mrw (Minolta)
.nef .nrw (Nikon)
.orf (Olympus)
.ptx .pef (Pentax)
.pxn (Logitech)
.r3d (Red)
.raf (Fuji)
.raw .rw2 (Panasonic)
.raw .dng (Leica)
.rwz (Rawzor)
.x3f (Sigma)
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