Problems reading .RAW file

Hello,

I have a .RAW file from a camera and I cannot open it. I can email the file if anyone can help.

Thank you, Vahan

Answer 1

[Fangjun Jiang]

I don't think MATLAB supports .RAW file yet. See http://www.mathworks.com/help/techdoc/ref/imread.html

You might consider converting you .RAW file to some commonly used image format first. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_image_format

A digital camera usually allows you to select what format you want to save the image. Why do you select .raw if you don't have tool to read it?

Answer 2

[Vahan]

I am not using a consumer-grade camera. There is no other option for saving a file on that cam.

[Fangjun Jiang]

Okay, then probably you have to look for a conversion software first. Is it Panosonic?

Answer 3

[Walter Roberson]

There is no standard format for RAW files and it is unlikely there ever will be: RAW files are intended to be files that reflect the raw bits of the sensor, together with the settings: the internal information of the camera before the camera firmware has transformed it to a standard format.

Many of the RAW formats are proprietary and have no documented structure.

Some manufacturers have documented their file formats; also some of the file formats have been reverse-engineered; also since there are a limited number of manufacturers of sensors, sometimes knowing which chips are in the camera gives significant clues as to which known structure your camera will be a variant of.

This is a useful blog about reading Nikon (NEF) files; it is not straight forward.

If you specify the manufacturer and camera model, someone might be able to find information about the structure of that particular camera's .RAW format.