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The Kipi Plugins Handbook
Chapter 14
Raw Image Converter
Gilles Caulier
Gerhard Kulzer
The Kipi ‘Raw Image Converter’ plugin is a conversion tool for raw format images.
Withthis Kipi-pluginyou can import/convert your imagesstored inRAWformat to three formats
(JPEG, TIFF, PPM).
There are ome considerations before your convert, and even before you shoot in raw format.
RAW image file formats keep the original information of the exposure supposedly without loss
(when compressed, they use reversible, lossless compressions algorithms). Many photographers
prefer to take their picture in RAW mode because the camera’s built-in conversion program is
often of lesser quality than what you can achieve with digital image processing. The whitebal-
ance of the digital camera is registered but not applied to the image. Some CMOS CCD’s create
four types of color filter data: RGBG, Red, Green, Blue and another Green mask for contrast
enhancement. The plugin can take this into account.
The conversion is actually based onDave Coffin’s command line tool dcraw (Dave: ‘Don’t expect
dcraw to produce the same imagesassoftware providedby the cameravendor. Sometimesdcraw
gives better results!’).
14.1 Single Conversion Dialog
Select the RAW file to convert and open the plugin from the host application. The Raw Image
Converterwindow insingle mode willappear. Click on Preview to show the effect of your settings
taking shape.
Now you can adjust the available check and value boxes to optimize the conversion process. The
first checkbox indicates to use the camera settings for white balance. The essential parameters
like brightness, and red/blue amplifier may be adjusted. If the result is not quite optimal, don’t
worry, it is always possible to fine-tune the image later on.
AFour color RGBG conversion can be selected to use contrast information. (If your camera
works in RGB mode, the RGBG setting has no effect).
If you’re happy with the preview, choose one of three output formats to save the conversion re-
sult. The file name will stay the same, only the extension changes. JPEG uses the lossy algorithm
and produces the smallest output file size.
The tagged image format (TIFF) preserves all information of your image while using lossless
LZW compression.
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