Nikon HE* decoder

Processing
41

Hello @piratenpanda

They are indeed available (e.g. [RAW + JPEG/HEIF fine*]) but all of these Raws are supported by RawTherapee and I suppose also darktable…

See this link for Z6-III:
https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/z6III/en/image_area_quality_and_size_34.html

I supposed you wanted to “reverse enginnering” the Raws file I have attached :slight_smile:

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42

Nikon seems to have so many different unsupported image formats :smiley: Ah now I see, i was looking up the wrong tag. Sorry, yeah those files are good! Thanks again!

[panda@pandahome calibration]$ exiftool Z63_9087.NEF | grep Compression
Compression : Nikon NEF Compressed
NEF Compression : High Efficiency*

And the current decoder fails miserably :smiley:

Edit: so far the decode fails even after making it camera agnostic (was only z9 before). So I’ll do more digging tomorrow. I like riddles :smiley:

43

Hello @piratenpanda

Here is another dropbox link with other pictures taken with Z6-III and nikkor 24-70mm (5 nefs and 5 corresponding jpegs):
RAW-JPEG

Again none of them are supported by RawTherapee (developer builds).
I can only preview their thumbnail on Windows explorer (but I can’t open them)

More precisely from the Z6-III Photo shooting menu
Image quality: RAW+JPEG fine *
RAW recording: ON High efficiency *
They are indeed compressed as size.

I hope they are the “corrcet” ones for your testing :.-)

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44

thanks so much!

45

I have shot a series of 29 HE files and 8 lossless files. Details are in a PM

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46

Thanks!

47

How are things going, are the images usefull?

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Currently going in circles I’m afraid. So many things which still need fixing. Still no reply from the EFF. If I could just publish the current state maybe others would know something

49

For getting the colors right I think there is no way round a color target. The more colors the better.

50

Hello @piratenpanda

Here is a zip folder (dropbox link) with 8 HE files from a Nikon Z8 and Nikkor Z 105mm macro lens*:
ColorChecker_xrite_passport_Nefs

6 pictures contain the same “ColorChecker Passport photo 2” but their White balance is purposefully different: automatic, cloudy, sunny, fluorescent, incandescent, 6250 Kelvin.

There are also 2 additional He* images: ColorChecker Xrite exposure image + Italian landscape

I hope they are useful for your trials :slight_smile:

P.s.
As usual they do not open with RawTherapee (Libraw).
On the contrary, they are supported by DXO Photolab 8.6 (proprietary software):

WB_COLORCHECKER
WB_COLORCHECKER1470×948 199 KB

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51

nice, thank you very much! I hope this will at least put an end to the wrong colors. For gettings details up to reference I still don’t know where they have hidden them. Let’s see if I can find it out :smiley:

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I have been looking into it a bit more. Patents are, by definition, public information, so you can explain them, and their implementations, as much as you want, (almost) however you want - including math. It’s only if you publish actual working code that there might be a problem, since that could be considered secondary (or whatever the word was) infringement, but it’s a grey area that very much depends on the patent holder and (eventually) the judge.

53

Can I ask you for a round of additional color checker shots?

The ideal calibration set would be:

  • ColorChecker at ISO 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, etc.
  • Same WB for all (daylight/sunny is best)
  • Same exposure otherwise (adjust shutter speed to keep correct exposure as ISO changes)
54

Sure!
Next week, at work, I am going to take the shots you suggested.
I am going to post here the link to download them.

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55

Thank you so much! I don’t know if this takes us somewhere but lets see

56

I have a Z6III and a colour checker. Is there anything useful I could do?

57

Sure, a few shots from lowest to highest ISO would be nice. My decoder can’t decoder the Z6III yet, but as soon as it can this would be very helpful. thanks!

Ok Z6III files now decode to the same point as the Z8/Z9 files with the same fundamental problems (color and loss of fine detail)

58

Hello @piratenpanda

Here is the link (dropbox) to dowload some NEF HE* images (514mb, in total) from a Nikon Z8 with 50mm nikkor macro:
Nikon_z8

There are 2 folders with RAWs with different white balance.
Sunny, as you requested, and automatic WB.
The aperture is always F8.
What changes is ISO and, accordingly, the shutter speed (as you suggested).

Please, let me know if you need something else (e.g. Z6-III RAWs)…

WB AUTOMATIC - APERTURE F8

  • ISO_64-2s
  • ISO_100-1s
  • ISO_200-1/2
  • ISO_400-1/4
  • ISO_800_1/8
  • ISO_1600-1/15
  • ISO_3200-1/30
  • ISO_6400-1/60
  • ISO_12800-1/125

WB SUNNY - APERTURE F8

  • ISO_64-1s
  • ISO_100-1/2
  • ISO_200-1/4
  • ISO_400-1/8
  • ISO_800-1/15
  • ISO_1600-1/30
  • ISO_3200-1/60
  • ISO_6400-1/125

Here are the settings (screenshot) of one picture (with its preview):

NIKON_TX-TETHER_ISO-12800-F8-1-125s_WB-AUTOMATIC
NIKON_TX-TETHER_ISO-12800-F8-1-125s_WB-AUTOMATIC2554×1393 346 KB

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59

Wow, that’s elaborate. Thank you so much!

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60

I’m not getting anywhere at this stage. I’ll take a break. Thanks for all of you who supported the effort.

3 Likes