the risk of shooting RAW?

[investmenttechnology]

since every camera maker have their own proprietary raw format, NEF being Nikon's. What if in 50 years, nikon goes bankrupt, and no software maker would cater for NEF files, that means all the images saved in NEF will becomes useless unless converted?

 

[mrpink]

Amazon.com: Slide Projectors

I think you will be fine.





p!nK

 

[kundalini]

I'm already twenty-odd years past my "best by" date. I'll never make it another fifty.

 

[480sparky]

Wow. Nikon goes belly up, and suddenly millions of software installs mysteriously disappear.

 

[pixilstudio]

use Lightroom DNG open source..

 

[Overread]

The RAW formates are not just a unique factor per company, but down to per camera basis - a RAW from a canon 400D is nothing like a RAW from a 7D for example. Adobe have tried to bridge this problem with their own RAW format of DNG and offer RAW to DNG converters (which is often a workaround for those using adobe products when a new camera comes out and adobe have yet to write a codec to read and process the new RAWs).

However as one looks to the future there are a few things to keep in mind:

1) if one of the major companies pulls out the codecs install on existing computers will still function - so it won't suddenly invalidate all the photos taken. This would only be a problem after a significant amount of time without the RAW being in use (in 50 years time I bet getting a RAW codec for say a 400D would be very difficult - companies only support products for so long and digital products have very short shelflife.

2) The independent market - if a company folds in it only takes enough interest in the community for support to rise up; even if its technically illegal. You can see this now with many old PC and console games getting ports and conversions as well as download spots on the net - the original companies might be long dead and gone and the copyright held by different parties; but the independents keep things going.


It won't be the end of things, though, as with all things digital, if anything spends long enough without attention it would eventually enter a spot where new software would have to be written to decode it and that might well require more extensive work to achieve.

 

[sleist]

What happens when the DVD's you backed up on can't be read?
Motherboards that support PATA hard drives are already becoming harder to find.
What happens when there's no more electricity?
What happens when all the humans die and there's no one to tell me my pictures suck?
What happens if there's a super nova?
Alien invasions?
Rabid sperm whales?
Ugly kittens?
THE TEA PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[table1349]

Amazon.com: Slide Projectors

I think you will be fine.





p!nK

You think? Vacuum Tubes, Inc., Vacuum Tubes, Electron Tube, Radio Tubes, Audio Tubes, Industrial Tubes, Guitar Tubes, Capacitors, Tube Sockets, Tube Testers

 

[Ballistics]

since every camera maker have their own proprietary raw format, NEF being Nikon's. What if in 50 years, nikon goes bankrupt, and no software maker would cater for NEF files, that means all the images saved in NEF will becomes useless unless converted?

You got this idea from RAW vs JPG didn't you?

 

[investmenttechnology]

yes, I did. I am still deciding which format I should stick to.

 

[clanthar]

 

[sleist]

Precisely. And when these disapeared, people converted to another format/medium inplenty of time.

I bet FAR more photos/data has been lost due to not having a backup strategy and/or hard drive or smart card failure.

Look for horses, not 3 legged purple zebras.

 

[Overread]

yes, I did. I am still deciding which format I should stick to.

Rockwell is one of those people very good at marketing his own website; his advice is not easy and often poor for a new person to follow because its advice often very central to his own methods and ideas without any breadth of thought outside of them. Thus he makes big sweeping statements which more get attention than provide healthy content for beginners yet to develop their own shooting styles and the like.

Suffice to say many many amateurs and pros use RAW to good effect - heck many don't ever want to go back to JPEG once they find out and learn to use the advantages of RAW

 

[table1349]

yes, I did. I am still deciding which format I should stick to.

Don't worry about it. There will always be people out there who will take care of the problem.

 

[Josh66]

Why would you even care about some crappy 10-20MP RAW 50 years from now when you'll be able to take billion-pixel pictures with your phone, which is small enough to pin to your lapel?