John Hudson wrote:
> Please excuse this enquiry if it has been asked and answered before by
> others on the list.
>
> The E500 can operate in RAW mode. The *.ORF files in my E500 are ~14.2 mb in
> size.
>
> I can then upload the ORF files to my computer using the Olympus Master
> software that came with the camera.
>
> Once in the computer I can process the ORF files with the Olympus Master
> software ["RAW processing"] making changes for colour temperatures,
> sharpness, white balance, colour saturation, etc.
>
> Thereafter I save the files either as TIF, JPEG, etc. The TIF files are
> usually ~23mb in size which is the same size as if the E500 had been set to
> record in TIF mode at the outset.
>
> I would like to know whether the ORF, RAW processing and saving as TIF
> routine will produce a TIF file that is, or can be, measureably better than
> the TIF file had the camera been set to record in TIF at the outaset.
>
There is not reason whatsoever to shoot TIFFs. I'm not sure why Oly
bothers with it. The ORF file is the raw output from the sensor and
support electronics. To get it into a form for use with editors, for
printing, etc., it has to be processed. That processing may be
accomplished by the computer in the camera or later by any of a number
of RAW processors.I seem to recall that one of the Oly pieces of
software, probably Master, processes using the same algorithms as the
camera, so the TIFF output should be indistinguishable from that
produced by the camera if the camera defaults settings are used.
As you have found, you can go further in Master, correcting image
characteristics before saving the TIFF. Also, if you have been following
any of the recent, and not so recent, threads, many third party RAW
converters can also convert ORF files. And some are capable of doing
more than the Oly software. The most recent post pointed out one that
can recover highlight detail that is lost in files converted with the
Oly software. I believe there are others that can do this as well. There
are a lot of converters out there, some free and still excellent.
A TIFF produced from an ORF file by the Master software will never be
worse than what you would get from the camera (unless you do strange
things with the settings :-) ). And it is possible for some images to
get a better TIFF than you would get direct from the camera using Master
or third party software.
Moose
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