Author Topic: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question  (Read 11260 times)

Offline Hyperblue

  • Newcomer
  • *
  • Posts: 3
    • View Profile
HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« on: June 19, 2017, 05:13:53 PM »
Apple announced HEIF is going to be their new iPhone photo standard. Will Photo Mechanic have any trouble supporting this in the future?

Offline Kirk Baker

  • Senior Software Engineer
  • Camera Bits Staff
  • Superhero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 24712
    • View Profile
    • Camera Bits, Inc.
Re: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2017, 10:06:18 PM »
We have no plans to support the format at this time.  We may support the file format in the future.

-Kirk

Offline BaggyGreen

  • Newcomer
  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
Re: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2017, 04:36:44 PM »
First thing that happened when I transferred files from a new iPhone 7+ is I could not read them in PM because they are in HEIF format. To read them I to convert go .jpg producing bigger files and losing quality. Much better if PM would read HEIF.

Offline marklai

  • Newcomer
  • *
  • Posts: 1
    • View Profile
Re: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2017, 07:31:16 PM »
Same here. I was disappointed when my recently purchased PM could not read the HEIC files from Iphone. It is an additional workflow to convert them to jpg first and defeat the purpose of having PM solution to quickly manage the photos. PM future support of HEIC format would be great!

Offline vAfotoriporter

  • Uber Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 1041
    • View Profile
    • Attila Volgyi photojournalist
Re: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2017, 06:40:33 AM »
I join in supporting for a support of HEIF files! It starts to become a must for all those who use Apple devices...
Working on Mac, OSX, iOS and with some Canons.
Allways shooting RAW.

http://www.volgyiattila.com

Offline dfwfreelance

  • Newcomer
  • *
  • Posts: 3
    • View Profile
Re: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2018, 03:18:33 PM »
I too would like to see HEIF support added.

Offline mbbphoto

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 312
    • View Profile
Re: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2018, 10:23:40 PM »
HEIF capability would be useful...
Marc

Offline jonwoods

  • Newcomer
  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
Re: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« Reply #7 on: January 31, 2018, 08:04:54 AM »
TIME is regularly getting UGC submissions in HEIF. We use photo mechanic to sort and process.

It would be immensely helpful to have this functionality.

Furthermore, I will advocate against our organization licensing this software in the future if Camera Bits doesn't keep up with technology.

Offline Kirk Baker

  • Senior Software Engineer
  • Camera Bits Staff
  • Superhero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 24712
    • View Profile
    • Camera Bits, Inc.
Re: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2018, 11:03:32 AM »
No need for threats, please.

I have been watching the development of HEIF for some time now and I personally like the format.  It is a container format and can be used for a single still image, with or without thumbnail, bursts of images, animations, etc. and supports depth maps and even alpha information.  It easily stores EXIF and XMP metadata.

Here are the difficulties:

1) No OS support for HEIF on Windows.
2) No macOS support on versions of macOS prior to macOS 10.13.
3) The only reference standard library (Nokia's HEIF library) only allows non-commercial use.
4) Unless we can obtain an inexpensive license to a HEIF library then we would have to write our own, which we don't have the time or resources to do.

I have contacted Nokia about obtaining a commercial license and hopefully it is possible to obtain one at a minimal cost.  We won't license if it has a per-copy royalty requirement.

I expect that in time Nokia's implementation won't be the only available implementation and we will be able to find one that meets our needs both performance-wise and license-wise.

We understand that supporting new formats are important to our customers, but we only have so much time and resources available to us.

-Kirk

P.S. No need for more "I also want this format in PM" posts.  It is in our interests to support image formats that our users need to use.

Offline Kevin M. Cox

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 510
  • PM 6 (6890) | macOS 14.3
    • View Profile
    • Kevin M. Cox | Photojournalist
Re: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« Reply #9 on: February 07, 2018, 08:51:36 PM »
Just curious Kirk, is it not possible on maOS 10.13 to just leverage the OS'es ability to display the format? (I understand this won't help adding support to Windows or older versions of macOS.)
Kevin M. Cox | Photojournalist
https://www.instagram.com/kevin.m.cox/

Offline Kirk Baker

  • Senior Software Engineer
  • Camera Bits Staff
  • Superhero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 24712
    • View Profile
    • Camera Bits, Inc.
Re: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« Reply #10 on: February 09, 2018, 08:26:50 AM »
Kevin,

Just curious Kirk, is it not possible on maOS 10.13 to just leverage the OS'es ability to display the format? (I understand this won't help adding support to Windows or older versions of macOS.)

Yes, we could do that, but it is not a good solution.  Many people that use Windows also have iOS devices and we need a solution that works for them as well.

-Kirk

Offline Kevin M. Cox

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 510
  • PM 6 (6890) | macOS 14.3
    • View Profile
    • Kevin M. Cox | Photojournalist
Re: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« Reply #11 on: February 09, 2018, 08:40:03 AM »
Got it, thanks Kirk.
Kevin M. Cox | Photojournalist
https://www.instagram.com/kevin.m.cox/

Offline Refinery Design Co

  • Newcomer
  • *
  • Posts: 1
    • View Profile
Re: HEIF - High Efficiency Image File Format Question
« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2019, 01:22:26 PM »
Hello all,
It would help our company immensely to have HEIF files compatible. We have 20+ employees shooting in the field with their iOS devices and don't have the ability to convert everything to jpg (not practical). I understand you can set the device to download jpg, but have tested and the quantity is not as good.
Thanks for your consideration, Mike