NEF Encryption - MORE

[SoCal Steve]

I found more interesting information on the Rob Galbraith photography forum this morning, including a letter from leading Camera Raw author Bruce Fraser, Nikon and an explanation of the (non)value of a Software Developer Kit.

FROM THE AUTHOR OF CAMERA RAW WITH PHOTOSHOP CS, BRUCE FRASER
http://www.robgalbraith.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=329505&page=0&fpart=7&vc=1

-->I'm sure Nikon has patented their AWB method, it would be foolish to think otherwise. But what they're preventing is a competitor from leveraging their patented AWB method in a competing software product without having to license it.

Bruce Fraser: Well, no, not really.
What Nikon is doing is encrypting *the result* of their AWB method. It's just a number stored in a metadata tag. If you resave the NEF out of NC, the WB tag is no longer encrypted, so it's hard to see this as an attempt to protect any vital intellectual property. They're encrypting the As Shot WB tag, and doing so in a lame fashion that's easy to crack—witness Bibble and dcraw, for starters.

I'm tolerably certain that Adobe would be quite happy to license Nikon's SDK if it were useful, but it fails to provide functionality that Camera Raw needs, like, for example, multithreading. All that the SDK would let you do is build something equally lame as NC.

But this really isn't about a pi**ing match between Nikon and Adobe. Tom Knoll posting to the user-to-user forum on a sunday morning is not in any way an "Adobe announcement." When Bibble announced over a month ago that they'd cracked the encryption in the D2X white balance tag, nobody made a fuss. When Tom Knoll says he doesn't want to do that because Adobe has rules against their programmers, whether employees or freelancers (he's not an employee) doing any form of decryption, the conspiracy theorists suddenly come out of the woodwork and the rumor mill goes into overdrive.

What this is about is standards, the lack thereof, and how their presence or absence benefits or fails to benefit photographers. All this does is to put a not-very-effective stumbling block in the way of photographers who want to use a raw converter other than Nikon Capture. Nikon has every right to do that, but it's hard to see how it helps their customers, and makes me glad that I'm no longer one of them, though I was for over 20 years. Nikon makes great cameras and lenses, lackluster Windows software, and Mac software that's just inexcusably bad. I honestly believe that everyone would be better off if Nikon competed on the basis of what it was good at. I'd continue to believe that if there were no such thing as Camera Raw or Photoshop.

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FROM NIKON:
Thank you for contacting Nikon Digital Technical Support.

Nikon is committed to providing high quality software to customers at a reasonable price. We do not support the use of 3rd party software because we cannot guarantee it functionality and support. The encrypted white balance being one example. Photoshop will release new versions of their RAW plugin in the future that will include support for the D2X. Nikon is not responsible for Adobe photoshop and if you wish to use photoshop as your editing program you can contact their support line.

It took adobe almost 3 months to include the d70 in their next camera raw package. The D2X has not been released for two months yet. This is not to say that it will take adobe 3 months to come out with the raw plugin but as a relation to past occurences. Adobe needs to develop and test their raw format to insure that it is compatible with the D2X, I'm sure this includes algorithms for the white balance. Also Adobe is planning the release for CS2. If you have anymore questions regarding the D2X NEF's and Photoshop adobe can be reached at 1-900-555-2200.

On this link of the adobe website, http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html, "Adobe expects to offer preliminary support for the ... and the Nikon D2X in early May.

If you would like to use Nikon Capture for editing your raw images we will be more than happy to provide free technical support. We can be reached by e-mail or by telephone(1-800-645-6689)

Regards,
Murray, Nikon Technical Support.

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RE: SDK = SOFTWARE DEVELOPER KITS (sorry, didn't get the author.)
Two points; First an SDK is *useless*. The reason people write, package and sell RAW converters is because that (think) they can do better than the manufacturers own ones. Allowing only SDK access limits the developer to (a) the platforms chosen by the SDK authors and (b) the algorithms for access that they choose.

[birddog114]

Hi Steve,
I'm not trying to against this but these statements of both sides were discussed last month on DPR, Nikonian.org and I believed lot of our members have seen or read them on other sides and this issue is now pending from both companies without any further comments.

We may wait to see what's next and now enjoying our camera & gears, I & other members will try the new D70s this weekend to see what the inside are.

[SoCal Steve]

Hi Steve,
I'm not trying to against this but these statements of both sides were discussed last month on DPR, Nikonian.org and I believed lot of our members have seen or read them on other sides and this issue is now pending from both companies without any further comments.

We may wait to see what's next and now enjoying our camera & gears, I & other members will try the new D70s this weekend to see what the inside are.

Cheers, Birdy!