Loud ramblings of a Software Artisan

Nikon answer

Nikon posted some bullshit answer to justify they encrypt third-party pictures when shooting in RAW mode on D2X camera. I see people arguing that this is not the image but only the white balance. I must disagree with that, as this being part of the whole result of the shooting, it is part of the picture, hence, it is the photographer property.

Nikon's answer is simply unacceptable. Basically they consider the providing a binary SDK under NDA is a good subsitute for a fully disclosed file format, which is completely wrong. First of all, they limit your market to the one they decided for the SDK as you can't use the SDK on platform they don't support. I don't know which one as I would have to sign a NDA for that, which leads to the second point: they want to limit who can compete with that as they must approve application first. That is not free market.

As stated above, application for the Nikon SDK is possible for bona fide software companies that send Nikon a written application for the SDK. Once approved, the SDK is provided to the developer at no charge and they are authorized to use it.

What can you do ? If you are a Nikon customer, tell them that you want that documentation. This apply to other manufacturers like Canon.

BTW, if they did a Press Release, it is because they feel threatened by this information spreading, and they should be.

OpenRAW initiative

As a result, someone started the OpenRAW initiative, whose goal is to inform about the problem. This is not a new problem. Just that this time it impact a different kind of people.

Source: dpreview

Dave Coffin interview

And to finish, dpreview has an interview of Dave Coffin, dcraw author. Interesting to read.

...and it happens.

Thanks to Tuomas for the link.

It appears that Nikon has decided to lock down the NEF RAW file format used in their high end cameras. This is very bad. It just goes way beyond the simple dollar issues, as it seems to require people to buy the Nikon software instead of just using third parties, may it be the free dcraw or the pricey Adobe Photoshop.

It is a matter of who own the copyright on images and who own the key to view these images. With that scheme, the photographer depends on Nikon to view the images. It is like having a dependency on some magnifier manufacturer to view your printed pictures or your developed film. This has never happened. There have been some exclusive film processing like Kodachrome, but once processed, the film could be used freely like anything else.

Even worse. It just make these memories fading. Photographic archives are priceless for our history memory. And film has been somewhat appropriate to keep them, to some extent. With the era of digital picture, lot of professionnals have concerns about the perenity of the storage medias. But with Nikon initiative, that reduce it even more. In 100 years, there is absolutely no warranty that one will be able to decode these. Even in 30 years, and maybe not in 10 years.

I would have prefered the adoption of a free and documented common RAW format instead.

Photoshop news has an article.

I went shutterbugging today, walking along Canal Lachine in Montreal. I exchanged my EOS 20D for a Minolta Dimage Z3 and Nikon F70 (35mm film SLR), for the day. I must say I'm disappointed.

With the Nikon I found two problems. One Nikon, one Sigma:

• The shutter trigger is too touchy. On the Canon, you half press for exposure and AF measurements. On the Nikon you just touch it. So I shot accidentally on several occasions
• The zoom ring rotated in the wrong direction. But it was a Sigma lens.

Otherwise, it is convenient and usable. I shot 2 rolls of Black & White.

With the Minolta Dimage Z3, much more problems:

• The view finder is electronic. You must be blind to appreciate. I just find them inconvenient to not say painfull.
• The camera is slow: the preview freeze while autofocusing.
• Electric zooms are slow.
• Auto-white balance seems to be clumsy as sometime I was not getting the right tone, like pale yellow for a yellow road sign. The 20D software is much more accurate.
• 400 ISO has a lot of noise. More than at 1600 ISO on the Canon. This size of the sensor is probably part of the reason.
• The JPEG files don't have the picture orientation encoded. I don't know if it is the camera or that they are encoded in a proprietary way, but this is what is delaying publishing my gallery.

I shot a grand total of 257 pictures. I missed some shots because of the slow zoom and the slow auto-focus.