Adobe Blasts Nikon's Closed File Format

Joe Decker writes "Thomas Knoll, creator of Adobe Photoshop, blasts Nikon's use of encryption to limit access to white-balance information contained in D2X RAW images files. Fearing the DMCA, Adobe won't reverse-engineer the file, slightly reducing Photoshop's support for those files. Nikon responds. Is Adobe whining? Is Nikon shooting itself in the foot?" We've covered this previously.

Comments

Hmm

[Agret]

Will this turn into something like Open Office's support for the .DOC format?

Both

[StormyWeather]

Is Adobe whining? -- Yes.
Is Nikon shooting itself in the foot? -- Yes.

1. Adobe is whining because it doesn't really matter in the end (see #2).

2. Nikon is shooting itself in the foot because even though I'm not a professional I know enough gurus in the graphics field to know that they are insane product researchers, and won't come within 10 feet of a product that will produce less than optimal results with photoshop.

Ok, next topic. Refresh, refresh, refresh...

Re:Both

[rebelcool]

I actually am a pro photographer.

ACR (adobe's raw converter) has always produced suboptimal results with NEF, so many don't use it. It takes quite a bit of profiling and tweaking to get an image that doesnt look flat and dull out of it - something other raw converters dont seem to have a problem with. So typically you export to TIFF in another converter, then do your photoshopping.

Most really high end camera systems use completely proprietary formats that only their own software can read. I've got a 22mp digital back here that costs 5 times what a D2X costs and it can only be handled with its own software. This has been pretty normal for years ...

As a professional, this is an annoyance, but at the same time, I can't say it bugs me too much. Photographers arent quite as obsessed with things like this as typical slashdotters are. Got better things to do...

It is however, a PR nightmare. Nikon's never been too good at PR. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. I think theres much more going on behind the scenes between adobe and nikon than is let on.

What will happen

[seanyboy]

Is that Nikon camera users will blame Adobe for a lack of compatibility, and there's nothing Adobe will be able to do about it. If the other camera builders do the same, then Adobe could well be stuffed for Raw File editing. I'm guessing that Nikon have done a deal with a different graphics editing company.
The best solution would be to pay camera companies to include a "Compatible with Photoshop" peelable sticker on the bottom of the camera / camera packaging. That'd probably get Nikon crawling back pretty quickly.

They're free, we're free

[Deep Fried Geekboy]

Nikon are free to do this.

We are free not to buy their products.

I run a heavy traffic photo mailing list (http://www.topica.com/lists/streetphoto) and the overwhelming response has been "Stuff Nikon".

Photogs tend to have well established workflows with a few choice tools (eg Capture One + PSCS) and do not enjoy having to use Nikon's frequently b0rked software.

There is no reason whatever to encrypt this data except to screw more $$ out of the customer.

If Nikon had a conspicuously superior product then this might conceivably make some kind of bean-counting sense but these days they don't. Canon's DP stuff is arguably superior and the only real effect of this on anyone will be to drive up Canon sales and drive down Nikon, amplifying an already-existing trend.

Thomas Knoll, who blew the whistle on this, is regarded with great affection within the DP community. Nikon is not.

If you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of Nikon flushing itself down the toilet.