Development Of Camera Raw Files - Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 User Manual

Development of Camera RAW Files

A RAW file is not an image file per se, it requires a de-mosaic process to
turn it into an RGB image.
Camera RAW files provide the highest image quality that you can get
using the Panasonic Lumix FZ200 camera.
There are a number of reasons for this.
They provide much more color information - 16K color steps per channel
compared to just 256 in JPEG files
Have no camera based white balance applied. You can set the white
balance to a more precise level if required.
Have no sharpening or noise reduction applied so there is no lack of
image information – you control it in post processing.
They can be re-edited using different processing set ups to produce a
new image without any further loss of image quality.
They can generate 16 bit files for exporting to other photo editing
programs from within the RAW processing software.
The only disadvantages for some people may be the file size, It can be
over 12MB in size as it is uncompressed data, and they can only be
"developed" in programs designed to "open" this file structure.
Adobe® Lightroom is perhaps the most commonly used program for this,
either as a standalone application or as a "plug in" for Photoshop® or
Photoshop Elements® - the ACR plug in.
However, Panasonic have given you SilkyPix® in both the MAC and
Windows™ OS's to "develop the Panasonic CR2 file. It is a very
convenient way for you to experiment using the RAW files and witness
just how much more information can be extracted from the camera
image. Once you "develop" your image it can be saved as a regular
JPEG file or saved as a 16 bit TIFF file so that it can be used in your
regular photo editing software to further enhance it with things like local
adjustment layers, cloning out detail etc.
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