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--- EDIT---
Since information has surfaced to indicate that Nikon is not the only one encrypting at least some portions of their RAW files, I am moving this thread from the Nikon Digital SLR Forum to the General Forum --- END EDIT--- For those of you that have not heard, Nikon has decided to encrypt the White Balance information contained in the D2X and D2Hs .NEF files. You can see an article concerning this issue here: http://photoshopnews.com/?p=226 David Coffin, the author of dcraw.c, has already cracked the encryption for these models and has released updated versions of dcraw.c and parse.c. For more information concerning dcraw.c, see http://www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/ Thomas Knoll, Chief Engineer for Adobe Camera Raw and the original author of Photoshop (along with his brother John Knoll)is fully aware of David Coffin's crack of this encryption. So, barring any legal issues, Adobe does now have the information needed to decrypt this information if they decide to do so (at least for now). But,what will Nikon do next? Sue Dave Coffin? Push firmware and software updates to break dcraw? Use a different encryption for future cameras? In a year's time, dcraw.c might contain hundreds of lines of decryption tables for all the newer Nikon cameras (and any product using David's decryption algorithms would have to do the same thing). Comments? |
I just can't understand why Nikon would want to encrypt information in their raw files.
Unless they want to be the only ones making software to process them, and I have used Nikon Capture software, it is junk compared to the code made by professional software writer's. Nikon makes great hardware and optics, they should stick with that. I guess it is one way to force people to use your software if you can't write decent code. IMHO: if they manage to keep the secret of their raw files from others it will make using their cameras more of a chore. Give people another good reason to switch to Canon ::angry: . Peter. |
PeterP wrote:
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Manufacturers (and I'm not just talking about Nikon), don't publish the format of their RAW files to the public. Software engineers wanting to convert RAW files have to do it the hard way (and thanks to people like David Coffin that have reverse engineered these formats, we have third party RAW conversion tools for many camera models). |
True, most (any?) manfacturers don't publish the format of their RAW files but most don't go out of their way to encrypt the data.
Figures Sony would have tried that as well, probably got the idea from trying to protect their playstationgames. :blah: Sounds like they nikon/sony are not fond of the DNG format idea :blah: Peter. |
PeterP wrote:
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Well, I must say, the information posted here led me to cancel my order for a D2x. Before doing so I called Nikon to scream incoherently at them :-)
For what it's worth, they tell me that the next release of Adobe's RAW importer WILL support the D2x Raw format. So, I didn't cancel the order... dave |
It really wasn't a question of supporting the D2x RAW format. It was a question of being able to legally decrypt the White Balance information stored in the RAW format (so if you wanted to use the camera's white balance settings for converting your images, you could).
That's the issue (can Adobe legally decrypt the white balance information, or do they have to release RAW conversion for these models without this feature). Some third party vendors of RAW conversion software have already indicated that they will decode this data. I have not yet seen this announcement from Adobe (although I haven't looked at the latest news on this issue yet today). In any event, there are a lot of angry Nikon customers (and potential Nikon customers) screaming about this issue right now. ;-) |
I know nothing, and less with each passing year...
Certainly if they force me to use THEIR software to view MY images, anger is understandable...:-) http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html and it appears that further updates will require the new version of PS... dave |
Dang, another 160$ grab from Adobe to stay current with CS2 :mad:
I am still trying to get a grip on all the original CSoffers. Peter. |
Nikon responded to this issue yesterday, issuing an advisory about it.
Here it is for those that haven't seen it yet: Quote:
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