A new maintenance version of the digiKam 6 series is now available
digiKam try to be the most powerful with all files provided by digital camera. Raw files support is a big challenge. Some applications have been especially created only to support RAW files from camera, as this kind of support is complex, long and hard to maintain in time.digiKam 6.2.0 released
Raw files are not like JPEG. Nothing is standardized, and camera makers are free to change everything inside these digital container without documentation. Raw files permit to re-invent the existing, to implement hidden features, to cache metadata, to require a powerful computer to process data. When you buy an expensive camera, you must expect that the image provided are seriously pre-processed by the camera firmware and ready to use immediately.
This is true for JPEG, not RAW files. Even if JPEG is not perfect, it’s well standardized and well documented. For Raw, for each new camera release, the formats can change as it depends in-depth on camera sensor data not processed by camera firmware. This require an intensive reverse-engineering that digiKam team cannot support as well. This is why we use the powerful libraw library to post-process the Raw files on the computer. This library include complex algorithms to support all different Raw file formats.
In this 6.2.0, we use the maintenance version libraw 0.19.3 which introduce few new Raw formats corresponding of most recent camera models available on the photo market. See the list below for details:
Canon Powershot A560
FujiFilm X-T30
Nikon Coolpix A1000, Z6, Z7
Olympus E-M1X
Sony ILCE-6400
Several dng files from phones and drones.
This Libraw version is able to process in totality more than 1000 RAW formats. You can find the complete list in digiKam and Showfoto through the Help/Supported Raw Camera dialog or at this url. Thanks to Libraw team to share and maintain this experience.
