Is there any hope of older Canon CRW RAW format being supported?

While it's nice that you took some good shots with
that camera, the practical truth is that it's tough
to have enough resources to support the RAW format
every single camera on the planet.

Really? You would then think they (Apple) would have done a proper job on the Canon 1D series. My 1Ds files have some serious flaws in the RAW conversion. I hear 1DsII files are even worse. Does that mean the 1DsIII when it comes out will have pathetic support? Or are should I join the "it's good enough for me" club. The "gee you make the nicest software Mr. Jobs" enthusiasts.

To me I see the supported cameras as not being supported!!!

"iView, GraphicConverter, and apps of their ilk generally don't have their own raw routines at all..."

Regarding iView, as you say, it was just pulling the preview in versions 1 and 2 but by version 3 it was ripping the raw file to full resolution. I'm not sure if it uses dcraw, but it doesn't matter, it was supporting my Canon G1 more than OS X and Aperture are.

If you read the iview release notes you'll see that it uses dcraw. There's nothing wrong with that - dcraw is good software. It would be great if OSX could incorporate it into its own raw handling routines.

The point though isn't about your G1, or any other camera. It's about "exotic" and "obsolete" cameras in general. There are always going to have to be management decisions about what does and doesn't get supported (and it should be clear to everyone that point-and-shoot cameras should always play second-fiddle to professional equipment.) It makes a lot more sense to get robust support for the "rosetta stone" raw format, which currently means DNG. If/when that happens, legacy cameras will instantly have a compatibility path.

This is where the OpenRAW initiative is important.

http://openraw.org/

I've got an idea! How about a commitment from Apple to support the cameras it sells/sold in its online and retail stores! That would include my Canon G1 and G3.

The retail stores are largely consumer focused. Aperture is not a consumer focused application, it's a pro focused application.

If you want to use your G1 or G3, you can always use JPEG files. That works perfectly.

It is ironic that anyone here would advocate shooting JPEG with a camera capable of shooting superior raw files. That would be pointless compared to shooting in raw and loading the files into iView or Photoshop.

Second, consumer vs. professional is not a relevant or productive discussion. The support that people are requesting here is basic support in the OS. Aperture will inherit that support.

I argue the G1 was a professional digital camera for its time. You've just been blinded by the wave of DSLRs that have become available since then. Sure the original Nikon D1 was out at the time, but it had fewer pixels and was not easy to obtain. Dont forget the field of view limitations of the DSLRs of that long ago era (a handful of months). The G1 was a tremendously popular and successful camera. If it were so obscure and dingy, I doubt Canon would have followed with the G2, G3, G5, G6. No, the G1 was a seminal camera.

Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Man, give it a rest. The G1 is, and always has been, a point-and-shoot camera. It was never suitable for professional use, and it appeared at a time when affordable, far superior DSLRs were already on the market (D30, S1, E10)

I made some great photos with my G1. I shot them in raw, I am glad to have access to the raw files. But you'd have to be out of your mind to think that Apple's top priority for a feature-poor app like Aperture should be support for legacy point-and-shoot cameras. (Moreover, until they fix Aperture's flaws, why would you even want to use it to access your g1 files in the first place?)

Thank you, Chris.

Only other point I'd make is that, due to the nature of software engineering, any resources that are busy adding something like G1 RAW support (or, "all the cameras that Apple sells in its stores") are not doing other work, which may be more important for the larger "pro" photographer target.

There may be some hope for older Canon camera support, like the G1. I have a G2, which is also not supported. But the G3 is a supported camera.

Well, it turns out there is a system file that you can edit to "add support". It's described here :

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=262930

I tried this for the G2, and sure enough, it worked. I do not know how significantly different the RAW file format between the G1 and G2 is, but if they are not too different, you may find that changing the G2 to a G1 in this file may work for you.

Note that while this 'hack' seems to work, I'm not convinced that it is the optimal RAW converter for the G2 (or G1). I find the conversions a bit on the dark side, but these can be compensated for through later adjustements (albeit while adding some more noise in the shadows).

Until Apple adds more formal support for these older cameras, you may want to give this a try yourself for the G1.

Sure wish someone knew what all the numbers meant in these files so we could tweak the parameters and improve the Raw conversions. But, they are not too bad for my G2.

Hope thi helps!

Let Apple know by sending a polite note to

http://www.apple.com/feedback/aperture.html
&
http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/

DAVE

I have hacked support for the Canon PowerShot G1.

Please see this message:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=419626

What about the original Canon 1D?

So far I cannot get my raw files to display as more than a thumbnail.

And forget about my DCS.