[Leica] RE: Trying to understand M8

[hoppyman at bigpond.net.au (G Hopkinson)]

Luis I understand what you have added here.
I do dislike the camera makers opting to restrict the full file info to 
their own software with the proprietary formats. You are
right that the DNG software isn't free, but it is a free component of 
Photoshop, which of course, is the standard. You might change
camera brands or models but you will more than likely still get support in 
Photoshop. You do always have the option of purchasing a
dedicated RAW converter, or the camera companies own software if you desire.
The test is, would you use that particular camera makers software if it was 
not necessary for proprietary reasons? In my view,
hardware manufacturers are not the most expert software designers.
Solms have decided to package a light version of Phase One software with the 
M8. That's great, so camera buyers needn't immediately
be forced to pay extra to access their own image information. Some of those 
folks may choose to upgrade to other Phase One software.
That's a win for consumer and software developer.
I don't see the avenue for DNG to become not free, since it is an open 
standard by design.
I guess like Linux or similar, if you package a distribution that is 
attractive, folks may pay for it. Do you presage licence fees
paid by camera makers to Adobe? Surely that defeats the purpose of the open 
standard?

I'm just a big fan of standardization, in principle. Compete in the market 
by all means, but don't be arrogant and force people into
a proprietary standard that may or may not exist later.  
Just think of Contax (Kyocera) or Konica or Minolta or Nikon or Olympus with 
35mm equipment etc etc.  
Imagine those cameras with digital proprietary formats. 
That's the end of my rant for now ;-)


Cheers
Hoppy

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org 
[mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Luis Miguel Casta?eda
Sent: Sunday, 17 September 2006 20:21
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] RE: Trying to understand M8


On 17/09/2006, at 10:54, G Hopkinson wrote:

> And they've opted for DNG. So none of those proprietary software  
> issues where some information in your picture is hidden from you
> unless you buy their particular software (think Nikon, for one).

having DNG as raw format is a great idea and the path to follow imho,  
but in the other hand, I cannot blame Nikon for its propietary  
format, they just want to share the software cake selling licenses -  
and recover a bit of development cost - of their own format, in the  
end almost none of RAW processors (or photoshop) came up legally for  
free and the need of each other's tools is mutual.

BTW nobody assures that the next DNG support will come for free for  
the camera manufacturers if it settles as the industry standard.




Saludos
-----------------------------------------
http://imaginarymagnitude.net/blog/



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