The death of RAW

Is it me or is RAW dead (or at least circling the U bend) in the eyes of the manufacters as far as top notch postumers go.

The only two companies to make a RAW camera this year is Panasonic with their FZ8 (no housing) and olympus SP550 (who is going to take this under with them), Canon hasn't made one since 2004.

It seems that unless you want to shell out a ton of money on an SLR your going to have to take a compromise somewhere and that somewhere appears to be in part RAW??

Cameras like the C8080 are now dieing their death with little to replace them, I think we all definately need to start writing some letters???

Is it me or is RAW dead (or at least circling the U bend) in the eyes of the manufacters as far as top notch postumers go.

The only two companies to make a RAW camera this year is Panasonic with their FZ8 (no housing) and olympus SP550 (who is going to take this under with them), Canon hasn't made one since 2004.

 

It seems that unless you want to shell out a ton of money on an SLR your going to have to take a compromise somewhere and that somewhere appears to be in part RAW??

 

Cameras like the C8080 are now dieing their death with little to replace them, I think we all definately need to start writing some letters???

Every camera shoots in RAW but it's a question of what format it records in. Putting aside the twin issues of file size and write-down speeds, the manufacturers are making the judgement that people on a budget (point'n'shoot) will not be likely to spend an equal amount on the software to convert RAW. (Yes, some of us pay fore legitimate software!).

RAW is very much alive and well but it's not just a question of shelling out a ton of money on an SLR. You will need the conversion software and a computer that can run it.

I couldn't agree with you more, Pilgrim. I was shopping for a compact about 14 months ago to replace my Oly 5050. I narrawed it down to two choices: Fuji E900 & Oly 350. I regarded this as a temporary solution, as neither model quite suited my needs. It's over one year later, and as I look at my options....THEY ARE EXACTLY THE SAME. It's very frustrating.

So do you believe in conspiracies? Maybe you should. The lack of a decent bridge camera (including RAW, fast focus, and large LCD) has me shopping for DSLR's. I can't really justify the cost, but I love diving too much, and I'm losing my patience.

Totally i'm looking for a bridge camera right now, one that i can use above and below the water there just isn't one right now.

Theres the panasonic FZ 50 its just that the only housing comes from some italian company that no one has ever heard of?

What sort of software is available that could help?

Nikon D40. An SLR that is less expensive than a 'bridge' camera.

Nikon D40. An SLR that is less expensive than a 'bridge' camera.

Recommending a cheap SLR body is no answer. The economic advantage of prosumer point and shoot digicams was the relative cost of camera, housing and add-on lenses. Together these make the package affordable for many more divers to make images underwater. Whether we as a small set from a small group of photographers can persuade manufacturers to produce a camera that shoots in Raw remains to be seen.

All of us using Raw appreciate the opportunity it gives us for recovering under/over exposed and poorly white balanced shots among other things.

Please DSLR folks tell me to get it right and then I can be happy with jpg - I don't have enough diving time in my life.

PS - Just in case any manufacturer out there is reading this, and in the spirit of 'if you don't ask, you don't get' - Please can we have our RAW back?

Cheers

Jim A

Alas, if serious underwater photographers were a viable consumer group, Nikon would be making a digital Nikonos. Bridge cameras went out with the advent of inexpensive SLRs. Think about who buys them.

With SLR as i understand it as well if you want to shoot macro you have to go down with a macro lens.

Shoot wide a wide lens etc etc.

shoot me if i'm wrong there i really don't know i like the idea of being able to go "ooh look" click.

And add the lenses to the outside as i need them

I'm currently working in Iraq as well so want to take a camera without all the lenses. Not something you can lug around with you in a blackhawk again i want to be able to go BANG "oh hell" click

This is exactly why the used SP-350 is selling on Ebay for $200. Every one who owns one is snapping up a backup. Interesting that Sea&Sea has stepped forward with a 10MP model. My guess is it will be cheaper to buy a D40 in a fantasea housing.

More on to John's point. Manufacturers worry about scalping business from their low end DSLR's which are very popular. That along with the UW business being very small.

Indeed, we are quick to forget that underwater photographers are a small group.

To the average shooter, RAW has never been more available. Entry level DSLR cameras cost less than many point 'n shoot cameras did several years ago.

Anther option for the digicam user, is to find a hack. Some of the powershot users can keep RAW files, but they have to add the firmware to their card each time it's formatted.

That sounds like a good idea - do we have any clever computer literate folk out there who could write this stuff for consumer cameras. That could be a nice little business if it could be done legitamitely.

there was a recent thread about one of these hacks:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...986&hl=hack

I couldn't agree more with you folks. Nikon too has forgotten about RAW in all it's CoolPix now for a couple of years. From what I've heard this is the trend, I don't think you'll see it come back without a hack. Which, btw, you'd want to be very careful about.

It's a shame, most of these cameras have a degree of CA and other lens aberrations/ sharpness issues that can easily be cleaned up in the RAW converter for much better shots.

On the other hand, their in-camera jpeg conversions have been getting a lot better, markedly improved over a year or two ago.

The D40x/400xTi etc. is where the camera manufacturers are heading; if you want advanced features the consumer DSLR is their answer. I just wish that Nikon or a 3rd party had some better macro solutions available for the D40x.

Jack

with a 'non permanent' (loads each time you power on the camera) hack, you get 12bit raw out of the canon a640

here is the main page on it, and an overview here.