Jump to content

Recommended Posts

I recently updated my alpha 7M4 to its new firmware v4.00 because I had some weird issues with bluetooth. After updating, I noticed Sony also updated the RAW version to 5.0. Now it gets weird. Sony's own in-house software "Imaging Edge Desktop" cannot handle RAW 5.0. The viewer and editer show "File format not supported". My first hint that something is off. Now I use Affinity Photo 2 and I can process the RAWs just fine. However, the raws look very underexposed and very dull (unsaturated). Now, I am not new to photography and I know this is normal but this time it looks just way too much. To give you an idea, here is an example:

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

So I started trying to correct it. Here is another example with tests to correcting it:

On the left is the JPEG (small) version opened in Windows image viewer. Thats the JPEG straight from the camera (I store RAW+Small JPEG). On the right, I need to shift the slider for exposer one full stop up, change blackpoints, brightness as well. And the colors, I crank the saturation all the way to +50%, even vibrance to +20%, with clarity and contrast and its still behind the JPEG version. What the heck is going on? I didnt touch any other settings, just these.

Not sure if I can post links. Here is a download link for the JPEG and the RAW fresh out the camera (onedrive): https://1drv.ms/f/s!AmTS5qjsY5VaheBYVzqhGLOlbghDPQ?e=sPC8l6

I appreciate any help, also, if this is normal and I am just stupid.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I wasn't aware Sony had changed their RAW files. To be honest, their firmware updates are so buggy I stopped updating a while ago. Too many bricked cameras and messed up features.

Remember that a RAW file is not viewable in its basic form, it takes software to decode the RAW file and turn it into something you can view on a screen. What you see when you open a RAW file is whatever the software engineers think your photo should look like, as a starting point. If you've ever messed with different programs you may have noticed that RAW images always look different from one program to the next, while jpeg images are fairly consistent.

Anyway, it is not uncommon for a software company to be a step behind camera manufacturers. It can take weeks, months, or even a year for software to recognize a new camera. I remember when they released an earlier A7 IV firmware version, one of the 3's, perhaps, that Lightroom couldn't recognize the files for a while. I would start by contacting Affinity Photo and lay out exactly what you've said here. Ask them if they're aware of what appears to be a change in the RAW data. They may already be working on the correction. 

A question: How do you know Sony has changed their RAW files? I know they change their RAW viewer to 5.0, but where does it say the version of the actual RAW file itself?

Edited by Cameratose
Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, I only upgraded the firmware due to a bluetooth bug and the upgrade luckily fixed it.

I noticed the new RAW version because I tried to open the ARW files in Sony's own Imaging Edge Desktop program and that worked before the firmware upgrade. Afterwards, they didn't open anymore. However, the "Image Properties" section and the thumbnails of the image were still visable. So i can browse my library but cannot open them in large or in the editor. So I searched for differences in the Image Properties panel and found that the ARW files after the firmware upgrade show under "file type" now "ARW 5.0 (Lossless) Format" while the files before the firmware upgrade to 4.0 showed "ARW 4.0 (Lossless) Format". Note that I do not see these properties in the Windows file properties section but in the Image Edge Desktop program.

Anyhow, it seems I found the issue here. First the "Imaging Edge Desktop" app was actually not up to date even though the software told me that it was and the exe-filename didnt change either. A full uninstall and re-install solved the issue (don't trust exe-file names from Sony, I guess). Now that I can finally open the RAWs again, I see they look absolutely fine with Sony's software. So the issue must be with Affinity Photo 2. And indeed, I found that many people complained before that RAWs looks way too dark. It seems to be a common issue with them as those posts date back couple of years.

Thank you for your help though!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...