John Nack posted an expanded explanation of a recent Digital Photo Pro DNG article that quotes Kevin Conner, senior director of product management for Adobe’s professional digital imaging products, saying:

“We’ve actually started talking to ISO [International Organization for Standardization] of potential standardization around a new RAW format,” Connor says. “We’ve submitted DNG as something for them to consider. At this point in time, it’s sort of premature to speculate whether a formal standard will come out of that or not. Obviously, it’s a standardization process that can take a long time, with many parties involved and different viewpoints. The good thing is that there’s a discussion happening.”

John also mentioned that Adobe will be releasing a “DNG-viewing codec for Windows Vista, making it possible to view DNG files right within the operating system. Expect this free download to be posted soon.”

Source: CNET
Written by Stephen Shankland

Adobe Systems is discussing potential standardization of its Digital Negative (DNG) format for digital images, a company executive has said.

Adobe has released updates to the Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in to correct for issues found in Lightroom 1.4 and Camera Raw 4.4. The Lightroom and Camera Raw teams apologize for any inconveniences caused by the issues presented in the initial updates.

The Lightroom 1.4.1 and Camera Raw 1.4.1 updates are available immediately as free downloads at http://www.adobe.com/downloads. Senior Photoshop Lightroom Product Manager, Tom Hogarty, has included a complete list of the corrections on his blog at http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal.

The Lightroom 1.4 and Camera Raw 4.4 updates have been posted to the following locations: Lightroom(Mac, Win), Camera Raw(Mac, Win). The updates include support for the following new camera models:

Major Upgrade Features Improved Interface, Faster Browsing & Enhanced Image Processing

Press Release: CUPERTINO, California—February 12, 2008—Apple® today introduced Aperture™ 2, the next major release of its groundbreaking photo editing and management software with over 100 new features that make it faster, easier to use and more powerful. With a streamlined user interface and entirely new image processing engine, Aperture 2 also introduces new imaging tools for highlight recovery, color vibrancy, local contrast definition, soft-edged retouching, vignetting and RAW fine-tuning, and lets users directly post their portfolios on the .Mac Web Gallery* for viewing on the web, iPhone™, iPod® touch and Apple TV®. At a new low price of $199, anyone can easily organize, edit and publish photos like a pro.

A new development making raw image processing available at retail for the first time!

Press Release: Noritsu Koki announces an agreement that establishes technical cooperation between Noritsu Koki and Adobe Systems. This agreement enables photo retailers with Noritsu input terminals (CT terminals) and Noritsu minilab systems to accept and process raw image data, which is widely used in digital SLR camera photography. This is the first time that raw image data will be supported at the retail level, opening the door for retailers who want to easily provide high quality photographic prints from raw image files.

Camera Raw 4.3 Update has been released (it may take a bit before the update shows up on Adobe Updater). The Camera Raw 4.3 update is suggested by all users of Camera Raw under Photoshop CS3, Elements 5 & 6 for Windows or Elements 4.01 for Mac. Adobe DNG Converter has also been updated to version 4.3.

Lightroom 1.3 has also been released for Mac and Windows. Both updates offer new camera compatibilities as well as bug fixes and in the case of Lightroom 1.3, certain new functionality.

Adobe has posted updates to Photoshop® Lightroom™ and the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in, both available immediately for download on Adobe.com. The updates provide raw file support for 14 additional camera models and camera backs within Lightroom and Camera Raw, including the popular Canon EOS 40D.

The Camera Raw 4.1 update announced earlier this week is now available for downloading from the Camera Raw product page. This release brings a host of advancements-which PhotoshopNews will be writting about shortly. As part of the download DNG Converter 4.1 is also available which along with Camera Raw 4.1 adds the following new cameras:

The Camera Raw 4.1 update includes improved noise reduction and sharpening tools and raw file support for 13 additional camera models and camera backs. This update also builds on the raw file support integrated in the Photoshop family of products.

Camera Raw version 4.0, released with Adobe Photoshop CS3 is also available as a download with a new DNG Converter version with support for Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-FZ8 model. Users of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom who shoot with the Lumix can use the DNG Convertor to convert files for import into Lightroom. A future update to Lightroom will incorporate this and potentially new cameras. No word yet on a Lightroom update.

Check the Camera Raw product page for additional info and downloads.

Source: CNET
Written by Stephen Shankland

Adobe promotes its Digital Negative (DNG) format as a replacement for the profusion of useful–but proprietary–image formats of today’s high-end cameras. The San Jose, Calif.-based company believes the industry and consumers would benefit from a unified format.

About this update
Mac OS X Tiger provides support for a variety of popular digital camera and image file formats. Applications such as Aperture, iPhoto and Preview utilize this support to work with digital camera RAW files.

Apple has release a Mac OS X Tiger update specifically designed to address certain issues with RAW file support. The Digital Camera RAW Support Update 1.0 is available for both PPC and Universal (MacIntel).

Adobe has released the final shipping version of Camera Raw 3.6 along with DNG Convertor 3.6. The update is available from the Camera Raw Product page. Click HERE for the Windows download page and HERE for the Macintosh download page.

This new version of the Camera Raw plug-in replaces the original Camera Raw plug-in that was installed with Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 and 4.0 software. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras.

Updated Camera Raw 3.4 Plug-in Now Supports Over 120 Camera Models With Eight New Cameras from Canon, Epson, Leaf, Olympus, Pentax and Samsung

Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. - May 8, 2006 - Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced an update to the Camera Raw plug-in for Adobe(r) Photoshop(r) CS2, extending raw file support to eight additional digital camera models. Available as a free download from the Adobe Web site, the Camera Raw 3.4 plug-in builds on Photoshop CS2 raw file support for digital cameras from leading manufacturers such as Canon, Epson, Leaf, Olympus, Pentax and Samsung.

Source: TechWeb
Written by W. David Gardner

Legislation calling for open data formats is gathering support in Minnesota. Passage could require proprietary software providers including Microsoft and Adobe to adhere to state-mandated documents standards. In the meantime, additional details on the proposed legislation have been disclosed.

Technology to Accelerate DNG Adoption from Software Developers and Camera Manufacturers

Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. — April 18, 2006 — Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced the availability of a Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) for the Digital Negative Specification (DNG), an industry-wide initiative to create a universal file format for solving workflow and archiving issues. DNG SDK provides support for reading and writing DNG files as well as support for converting DNG data into a format easily displayed or processed by imaging applications. DNG SDK serves as a crucial starting point for adding DNG support to imaging applications and allows camera manufacturers to incorporate native DNG support to their cameras.

Adobe has posted the Camera Raw 3.3 update information to the Camera Raw product page. The links to the actual Macintosh and Windows download pages have been updated to show the correct download links. PSN has the updated links for download. Here are the direct links for Macintosh and for Windows.
Updated on 01/20/2006 at 10:30 AM Central time

Source: The Luminous Landscape
Written By Michael Reichmann

You may not realize it, but your digital camera doesn’t give you every pixel that it records. In most cases this is because the manufacturer masks off pixels at the very edges of the frame. This is done for a couple of technical reasons.
 

A group of photographic trade assosiations have banded together to form guidelines and best practices for the reproduction and management of digital image files. The group, UPDIG (Universal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines), states the guidelines “aim to clarify issues affecting accurate reproduction and management of digital image files.”

Adobe Updates DNG Converter and Adds New ‘Camera Raw’ Plug-in for 14 New Cameras

SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct. 20, 2005–Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE - News) today announced that its Digital Negative Specification (DNG) — an industry-wide initiative to create one unified format for archiving raw digital images — is continuing to win support from camera manufacturers and software makers. Ricoh Co. is the latest camera manufacturer to support DNG, with its new GR digital camera. By providing DNG support directly in its products, Ricoh joins respected camera manufacturers Hasselblad and Leica, along with a wide range of software manufacturers such as Apple, Extensis, iView and ULead.

Starting with DNG Converter version 3.2 (available for download from Adobe) the application can be controlled via command line control on both Macintosh and Windows systems.

As a direct result of DNG users’ requests, the command line control was authored into DNG Converter 3.2 by its primary author, Thomas Knoll. While this has not really been documented, Thomas recently posted the following on the DNG User to User forum hosted by Adobe.
 

Source: Photoshop Support Knowledgebase

Issue: When you convert images to DNG using the Camera Raw 3.2 plug-in and open them in Photoshop CS2, they contain artifacts.