Apple has long been the favourite choice of digital imaging aficionados, but also the Windows world is trying to come along. MS has updated their RAW image viewer, and it is going to be a part of the future OS version. RAW images, described as “digital negatives” portray the image data exactly as it was captured by the sensors of the camera. Since their large file size and tricks of handling and editing, RAW files are not as popular as compressed JPEG files among consumers, but in professional photography they have distinctive benefits. As the screens, disks and memory sizes in computers are getting larger and better, it becomes more attractive to use image formats that do not damage the original data, like compressed file types do. Paul Thurrott’s article on Longhorn RAW image support is a good introduction to the Microsoft plans in this area, and the Win XP RAW image viewer is something we can use currently. But the large sizes are still putting high demands on your system – but updating the hardware is of course what we are expected to do too, all the time…
frans goes blog 