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02-26-2009, 03:46 PM   #1
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Annoying RAW-glitch with my K-m. Opinions?

So I just noticed that a few RAW photos that I recently shot cannot be displayed on my computer. I'm using Mac OS X and on Preview and Photoshop CS3 the pictures won't be displayed correctly even though in Preview, the thumbnails in the side bar show up correctly. When I try to open them in Preview, a black picture builds up slowly. Photoshop will just display a chaotic arrangement of coloured horizontal lines without recognisable pattern (and no, I'm not on acid).

However, on the camera I can view the pictures without problems so the pictures are not actually lost. When I convert the photos to JPEG on the K-m I can migrate them to my hard drive and view them without problems.

When I did an extensive all-RAW shooting the other day none of the photos had this glitch. However, from the 60 or 70 I took last weekend a handful seem to be affected. The only thing I am aware of that I did differently that time was using a different lens.

Does anyone have a clue what this could be?

02-26-2009, 03:49 PM   #2
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your memory card might be on acid

altho its intresting that the problem is not consistant.
02-26-2009, 05:43 PM   #3
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I couldn't tell you what's going on but I'd first suggest trying different software. After that I'd swap memory cards, change RAW format (PEF, DNG), and possibly even try a different computer.
02-26-2009, 06:06 PM   #4
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Sounds like Adobe Camera Raw is not recognizing RAW (PEF) from the K-m. AFAIK the thumbnail is generated by the camera and inserted into the raw file so PS has no problem seeing it. Its not until ACR tries to interpret the sensor data that you run into trouble, and since the thumbnail is already generated by the camera, you have no problem seeing it.

1st Make sure you have the latest and greatest ACR, its usually a free download from Adobe.

2nd - if you're still having trouble after #1 - Try shooting in DNG instead of PEF and see if that works. PEF is Pentax's own RAW format while DNG is Adobe's generic RAW format. Of course you lose the advantage of non-lossy compression with PEF.

There's nothing wrong with your memory card, there are no ghosts posession your camera.

Viewing on your camera always works of course because your memory card is fine and because the K-m understand's its own file format.

- Andrew

02-26-2009, 06:39 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by AndrewShirley:
1st Make sure you have the latest and greatest ACR, its usually a free download from Adobe.
he has CS3, not CS4... he can't use the latest ACR
02-26-2009, 06:43 PM   #6
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Yeah, that's what I was afraid of... I don't use PS myself but I knew one of those versions couldn't use the latest. That's why I said "usually" free.

- Andrew
02-26-2009, 06:48 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by deejjjaaaa Quote
he has CS3, not CS4... he can't use the latest ACR
But there is an update for CS3 from late last year (October me thinks).

Have a look at the Adobe website for Macintosh or Windows

Note that ACR 4.6 supported the K-M

Cheers

02-28-2009, 06:59 AM   #8
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Thanks for the input! I actually had similar theories about PEF being the problem so I willl definitely try shooting DNG.
02-28-2009, 07:18 AM   #9
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An interesting update: I downloaded the latest DNG converter and converted the seemingly corrupted files to DNG. They now display correctly, so apparently PEF was indeed the problem.

Thanks a lot!
02-28-2009, 07:47 AM   #10
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There was a similar thread a while back. See: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-processing-software/35585-iphoto-pro...entax-raw.html

Turned out that the Mac software didn't handle some in-between ISO settings correctly so it might be the same problem with a different (newer) camera model. Is the Mac up-to-date?

BTW, there is a 10.5.7 update being worked on and one of the things rumored to be included is some newer cameras and RAW conversion fixes.

Jeff
02-28-2009, 07:50 AM   #11
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Is PEF the problem, in the same way that an illiterate might say that books are the problem? That is, just because you can't read them doesn't mean that they can't be read?

Or is it that you've discovered that your computer is the problem, because it can't read PEF?

Because you've described it as a glitch and as a PEF problem, but it sounds like it actually is a problem with your computer software.
02-28-2009, 07:56 AM   #12
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Same here

I'm having the same problem here with OS X and K-m RAW files. Out of any given batch, a handful will show up black in Preview. The same photos will also not import to Aperture. It is very strange that some RAW files are OK and some are not. I believe the problem is with Apple's RAW converter; I submitted a bug report, but have heard nothing from them.

By the way, this problem only appears with RAW files from the K-m. RAW files from K-100DS, K-10D, and Olympus E-520 are handled OK on my system by OS X, Preview, and Aperture.

To work around the problem, I use Adobe's DNG converter to convert the K-m RAW files to DNG. The DNG files display in Preview and import into Aperture successfully. I am saving the RAW files from the K-m just in case Apple fixes the problem.
02-28-2009, 09:58 AM   #13
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WJW, my software is up to date. I did read about the 10.5.7 update, too, but you know what it's like with those...

Herndon, that's interesting. I'm working around it with the same solution for now.
02-28-2009, 01:25 PM   #14
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The best thing to do is to shoot in PEF and download the free DMG converter from Adobe. Convert them on your computer and they will be readable by any program and they will be half the size (losslessly compressed) as the Pentax DNGs.
03-01-2009, 03:25 PM   #15
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I thought that perhaps the exif info was somehow corrupted on the shots that show up black. So I asked Herndon to send me a good file and a bad file, expecting to see a changed manufacturer/model in the exifs (such as when the firmware for the K10D broke compatibility for a couple days).

But I don't see anything strikingly different, unless the jpg numbers mean something ominous to someone who has more experience with the file format.

Both of these exifs were from PEF files, 22 is black and 23 is normal.


Brilliant, it looks like the forum software shrunk the image enough to make it entirely illegible.
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