RECORDING MODE
ABOUT SUPER-FINE AND RAW IMAGE QUALITY
Because super-fine and RAW data files are so large, the continuous-advance and UHS continuous- advance drive modes cannot be used with these image-quality settings. With the bracketing drive mode, the continuous advance is canceled and the shutter must be released manually for each frame of the bracket. When capturing super fine and RAW images, a delay of between thirty to forty sec- onds can occur as the image is saved to the CompactFlash card; the monitors will be blank and the access lamp will glow during that period.
In the RAW image-quality mode, the image size is set at full and cannot be changed. The image size will not be displayed on the monitors. The digital zoom, enlarged playback, and data imprinting can- not be used.
Unlike the other image-quality modes, RAW image data is unprocessed and requires image process- ing before it can be used. To view the RAW data, the DiMAGE Viewer software is required. This soft- ware can reconstruct the image and apply the same image processing controls as the camera. RAW data is saved as a 12-bit file; the DiMAGE Viewer software can convert this data into 48-bit TIFF files.
A RAW image is stored with a file header that contains white-balance information, changes made to contrast, saturation, and color with the Digital Effects Control, any image processing applied in a sub- ject-program setting, and changes to sharpness. The changes in camera sensitivity are applied to the RAW data; ISO values can be manually set to control noise (p. 65).
The camera’s image-processing controls apply the affect of the color modes to the live image dis- played on the monitors, but the stored data may not be influenced by the setting. The black and white color mode has no effect on the final image; a raw image taken in the black-and-white color mode can be restored to a color picture. However, black and white filter effects (p. 71) are not applied to a RAW image. The saturation difference between the Natural Color and Vivid Color modes is preserved in the RAW data, but the solarization color mode does not alter the image data. For more on color modes, see page 96.
