A Problem with RAW
I have been a Nikon shooter for a few years, and shoot all of my photography in their .NEF raw file. For the type of photography I do, I find the control this format allows me is indispensible. In late April 2005, Nikon decided that their latest camera, the D2X, would start encrypting some of the data contained within that file. While this would have no impact on you if you use Nikon's own software to read the file, it would put a legal hurdle (and a slight technical hurdle) in the path of 3rd party developers who write their own raw editing software.
Even though I use Nikon's software, and won't be directly impacted by this decision, it still concerns me. It makes a small step towards a slippery slope of eroded relations with software developers like Adobe. It turns the file format -- the most important and personal aspect of my work -- into a tug of war between hardware and software vendors. It also begs the question: what will be encrypted next?
Also, it drives home one of the key concerns about proprietary raw files: their safety over the long haul. Raw formats are often changed for each camera released, resulting in hundreds of "flavors" of files. The more protected and encrypted these files are, the more difficult or legally impossible it is for 3rd parties to open and read the data. This means we become reliant on the good graces of the camera maker to continue supporting that format.
There are a couple solutions to this this tower of Babel. First, Adobe has written and published raw file format called DNG (for "digital negative") this is "open" and freely available to all hardware and software vendors. If camera makers added this as an option to their cameras, we would be able to use any sofware that supports DNG to read and edit these files. In the meantime, another group, OpenRAW.org, is making a plea to camera makers to publish their raw file formats, so that third-parties could accurately and legally open and edit their files. I personally hope that both of these solutions pick up steam. In the meantime, I am postponing buying a Nikon camera. I am actually considering the Kodak Pro SLR/n camera, in part because of their support of third-party software vendors.
-- DS (April 2005)
update 27 Jul 2005: In the end, I did decided to buy the Kodak camera, even though it was just discontinued. The encryption issue was an influence, but in the end, it was more a matter of which tool was better for me and my style of photography. Since Kodak just discontinued the camera, I was actually able to find one for only $2500, or half the price of the Nikon. When I got it into my studio and started working with it, I found it fit like a glove. Like I heard from so many other Kodak shooters, there is something special about the images that this camera produces. The colors are beautiful, and the tonal range is subtle and deep. Within hours, I was creating images that seemed natural fit to what I was seeing in my mind's eye. And in the end, that is much more important that issues of encryption or file formats.
Links to more information
Programmers discuss raw file formats, and their experiences in working with camera manufacturer's to support them: Dave Coffin, author of the widely-used open source raw reader dcraw, and Mario Westphal, author of the image management software IMatch.
A detailed description of Adobe's DNG file format (continued here and then here), posted by Bruce Fraser, author and Photoshop guru, on Adobe's User-to-User forum. (Requires membership. Or click here for a transcript.)
A description of EXIF specs, and how camera makers store data in their files, Posted by Jeff Schewe, photographer and digital evangelist, on Adobe's User-to-User forum. (Requires membership. Or click here for a transcript.)
Nikon's official description of their actions.
OpenRAW.org, the grass-roots group trying to convince camera makers to release their raw file format specs.
An overview of how raw converters work.
Norman Koen's wonderfully-detailed description of raw files, and digital tonality.
Dante Stella has this interesting comparison of the Kodak SLR/n and the new Nikon D2x.