[Leica] RAW archiving

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

Hi Jayanand, I know this has come up before here and is not unique to this 
forum either. There is a considerable group of opinion
that objects to proprietary RAW standards. In my opinion Adobe's documented 
DNG standard is a large improvement over NEFs for
example that only allow access to all of your file's information if you use 
Nikon's software. That is more restrictive, I think. 
Nikon and Canon certainly have competition in hardware, but it is their 
software which is being compared to Adobe's. There is only
one current program that will extract all of your information from your 
files if they are NEFs and you must pay Nikon (and only
Nikon) extra for it. That is a monopoly. The millions of Photoshop users out 
there do not need to pay again, if they wish to work
with DNGs from any type of digital camera that supports that standard.
Everyone of course will make their own assessment of which approach they 
favour. Or choose to use both according to their needs.

Cheers
Geoff

-----Original Message-----
Subject: Re: [Leica] RAW archiving

I disagree - I think, on the whole, Adobe have monopoly control of their 
niche in the software business, while Nikon/Canon do not in
their niche in the hardware business. Who would you be scared of - the guys 
with no competition, or the guys who have competition? I
would be far more wary of Adobe....
Cheers
Jayanand

On Dec 10, 2007 2:08 AM, Adam Bridge <abridge@gmail.com> wrote:

> If Adobe were attempting to pull a Microsoft they'd have a proprietary 
> file format for DNG. They do not. DNG is fully described which is 
> precisely why we tend to want to use it. Nikon, however, HAS pulled a 
> Microsoft in attempting to hold some raw nformation hostage. I try to 
> save files in fully documented and (preferably) open and even ISO 
> standard formats when they are available.
>
> Adam
>
> On Dec 9, 2007 12:43 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Surely Adobe is trying to pull a Microsoft on us? Surely Nikon & 
> > Canon
> have
> > less incentive to do so?
> > Cheers
> > Jayanand
> >
> >
> > On Dec 9, 2007 12:51 PM, Brian Reid <reid@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> wrote:
> >
> > > DNG is documented.
> > >
> > >
> > > > Whyconvert to DNG? Keep the RAW files and a couple of copies of 
> > > > the converter software of choice backed up in removable hard 
> > > > drives.. I
> > > presume
> > > > that Nikon and Canon will at least survive as long as Adobe - I 
> > > > also
> > > trust
> > > > them far more than I trust Adobe in all this.
>