I have to jump in here...
When I was at Scitex, we invented a RAW workflow for color scanning. We called the files "Digital Transparencies" and gave the file name the suffix .dt. What a .dt file consisted of was a 36-bit TIFF file (12-bits/RG&B channel) with no tone compression or color correction of any kind. It simply took the data that the scanner CCD collected and wrote it to a file.
We also made software (oXYgen Open) that would allow you to do all the normal scanner color correction and tone-compression tasks in post processing.
You could rename a file from name.dt to name.tif and Photoshop would dutifully open the file. What you saw was very ugly, because it had no normalization curves applied to it yet, but you could use all of Photoshop's 36-bit tools on the file if you wanted to. The oXYgen Open software made it easier and you got to use the Scitex tools, which some preferred to Photoshop.
Now I don't have a Canon digital SLR (yet) but I'd be willing to guess that if you renamed your files to name.tif, Photoshop would read them right in.
TIFF is by far the most flexible and powerful pixel file format. They not only contain the actual pixel data, but can contain a lot of other data in the tax (where the "T" in TIFF comes from). It is highly unlikely that Canon tried to reinvent the wheel with a unique file format. That being said, they might have. There is no secret here, RAW files do not exist in outer space. You CAN save, view and print them, with the right tools, the would just look VERY ugly. If anyone would like to see the difference between a raw file (from the scanner) and a toned TIFF, let me know. I'll try to make an illustration.
Try it, tell us what you find.
Mr. Bill
P.S. If anyone wants scans from transparencies or negatives from a Scitex EverSmart Pro scanner (dynamic range 3.7D, 3175x8200dpi), I'm considering doing scans for others.
Sharcy wrote:
On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 09:39:21 +0200 (CEST), Michael Stevens wrote:
Unless I'm misinterpreting the way PS handles RAW files, when you open a RAW file in PhotoShop you are simply applying all the exposure and white balance settings, among others, to the RAW data and you then have simple RASTER data. It's not a TIFF, PSD, or JPG yet ... just pixels of color data.
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