Camera Labs

New to this forum so firstly I'll say a big hello to you all.

I've recently purchased a Panasonic Lumix FZ38 super-zoom bridge camera in an attempt to improve my photography above the abilities of a standard compact point and shoot.

The camera has RAW file ability but when moving the files onto my laptop I noticed the format is actually RW2. This file type can only be opened and edited using the supplied software from Panasonic (Silkypix), which is, to be totally blunt, crap.

Is there any way I can get these files into RAW format so I can open and edit through Photoshop CS3?

Thanking in advance

From what I've been able to ascertain you'd need to update to CS4 or Lightroom 2.6 to get access to the latest Camera Raw version. I believe its also available for PS Elements 8 too.

So theres no conversion to Tiff in that Silkypix software? Seems very limited, what else is wrong with it? The Canon included RAW software is enough to process the exposure and colour balance and reduce noise and lens distortion, then convert to tiff (or others) for external editing.

In my opinion Lightroom 2 is the slickest software, although its not cheap!

EDIT: Just remember user PGTips post about a program called RawTherapee. Just had a look at the supported camera list and the FZ28 is in there, dunno if it has the same .RW2 files but its freeware so won't cost anything to try!

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Thanks for the reply
I'm pretty new to all of this stuff and my impression was to edit in RAW format then convert to JPG for the final tweeks.

Silkypix does allow exporting to TIF format yes. Do this have any advantage over JPG for editing?

I'll give the RawTherapee programme a go and see if that feels any better to use

No worries, I'm certainly nowhere near an expert either, LOL.

I believe Tiff can be a lossless format so its a good format to transfer to an editing package.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagged_Image_File_Format

The wiki page goes into enormous detail about it, but you should be able to filter the salient points

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Canon EOS 50D/EF-S 18-55mm IS/EF-S 55250mm IS/EF 50mm F1.8 II /Lowepro AW Slingshot 200/ Digital Ixus 860 IS

PC>Q6700/MSI P45 Zilent/6GB 800mhz DDR2/2x 4870 1GB/Samsung Spinpoint F1 500GB/Maxtor 200GB+80GB


My Flickr

Thanks for help. I didn't know that tiff was an un-compressed format. I'll have a play around anyway. Trial and error is usually the best way forward

Aye, thats half the fun. Don't forget to post back if RawTherapee will open your files, could be useful for others with that model. .RW2 is in the file extension list I noticed, but confirmation is always good.

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Canon EOS 50D/EF-S 18-55mm IS/EF-S 55250mm IS/EF 50mm F1.8 II /Lowepro AW Slingshot 200/ Digital Ixus 860 IS

PC>Q6700/MSI P45 Zilent/6GB 800mhz DDR2/2x 4870 1GB/Samsung Spinpoint F1 500GB/Maxtor 200GB+80GB


My Flickr

One option is to convert to Adobe DNG using their free converter - this is still a RAW format and can be opened by earlier versions of Photoshop.

Thanks Gordon. I've just downloaded the coverter and tested it on the RW2 file. It converts fine but CS3 doesn't seem to recognise the DNG extension.

Chris, did you change the preference in the converter to CS3's version of Camera Raw? Just had a look at that myself, the option is towards the bottom of the first screen of the app.

BTW, cheers Gordon, didn't know about this converter!

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Canon EOS 50D/EF-S 18-55mm IS/EF-S 55250mm IS/EF 50mm F1.8 II /Lowepro AW Slingshot 200/ Digital Ixus 860 IS

PC>Q6700/MSI P45 Zilent/6GB 800mhz DDR2/2x 4870 1GB/Samsung Spinpoint F1 500GB/Maxtor 200GB+80GB


My Flickr

Thank you Mike & Gordon that seems to be working fine now.

I much prefer CS3, Camera RAW to the Silkypix software that came with the camera

Cheers

DNG is a nice solution to this problem, but you may find a few features missing from the combination of using a manufacturer's own RAW file and RAW software. For example, a Canon CR2 file processed in Canon DPP may give you more options than a DNG file opened in ACR.

But again if you have no choice it's a nice solution for opening new RAW files in older versions of Photoshop.