Mumbling Again

Nikon Encrypts White Balance in RAW Format

I've really been looking forward to buying a pro-grade digital SLR from Nikon as soon as they upgrade the number of mega-pixels. I own a Nikon FM2 which would be able to share lenses, and this was my justification for getting another Nikon instead of a Canon Digital Rebel.

However, I'm seriously reconsidering my options now, and it may even lead to me jumping the fence to go all Canon. I read over at Engadget and Slashdot that in a bizarre paranoid move Nikon has begun to encrypt the white balance data in RAW format photo taken by their high-end digital SLR camera. This really gets me heated and I'm having flash backs of my turning point with Verizon.

The implications of Nikon encrypting the white balance information are greater then any potential gain. This makes the RAW format almost useless to any other application besides the proprietary software (Nikon Capture) that they give away for free. Unless they're planing to release commercial software to capitalize on this closed system, they're just being stupid. They're alienating their customers by preventing them from importing RAW into Photoshop. Sure you can use the Nikon Capture program to convert the files but then you loose the editing capabilities of RAW.

I need to digress here for a second and say the Nikon Capture is one of the worst designed pieces of software I've ever used. I have a Nikon CoolPix SQ and I downloaded Nikon Capture to try it out with the camera. It installs a slew of executables in non-OSX standard places and they run in the background constantly. Since there's no un-installer, I had to track them down individually after noticing strange programs running in the list produced by top. Also it didn't play nice with iPhoto and would crash the computer when the camera was connected. Plus it had one of the ugliest and unusable interfaces I've ever seen.

Nikon, can you hear me? Please reconsider your position and either license your format to Adobe or adopt the DNG standard. If you continue the direction you're taking you'll be loosing at least one customer.