Recognize .X3F files

[sskennel]

Photo Mechanic is good about grouping RAW+JPG files and doing the right thing with them when preferences are set correctly - especially using JPEGs for previews and RAWs for editing. Unfortunately, PM doesn't seem to realize that .X3F files from Sigma DP2 Merrill cameras are RAW files, so it ignores them completely and only pays attention to the accompanying JPEG file. In the Finder I have .X3F files set to open in Sigma Photo Pro, one of the few RAW editors than can handle Foveon files. If PM recognized these files it would make a PM workflow much easier for this camera.

Thanks.

-- Roger

[Kirk Baker]

Roger,

Photo Mechanic is good about grouping RAW+JPG files and doing the right thing with them when preferences are set correctly - especially using JPEGs for previews and RAWs for editing. Unfortunately, PM doesn't seem to realize that .X3F files from Sigma DP2 Merrill cameras are RAW files, so it ignores them completely and only pays attention to the accompanying JPEG file. In the Finder I have .X3F files set to open in Sigma Photo Pro, one of the few RAW editors than can handle Foveon files. If PM recognized these files it would make a PM workflow much easier for this camera.

No one has ever given us any samples from a Foveon sensor camera so we have no support for them.  Can you give us some samples?

-Kirk

[acbweb]

Hi Kirk,
Have you received any Sigma DP2 Merrill RAW files yet?  If not I can send you sample .X3F files.

--ACB

[Kirk Baker]

Have you received any Sigma DP2 Merrill RAW files yet?  If not I can send you sample .X3F files.

No.  Please contact me privately for FTP server info.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[chardinej]

I would also like to see support for the Sigma RAW file format. By support I mean seeing a thumbnail and preview, presumably from the embedded jpeg, and being able to see all the EXIF data. Currently, the date and time of the image come up in the information panel but they are not available via variables.

I would be very happy to work with Camera Bits to make this happen. I have the Sigma DP2 Merrill with the new Foveon X3 sensor.

[chardinej]

OK I just did an experiment and PM can get access to image date and time if you rename a file (command/control-m) but not if you rename at ingest.

[chardinej]

Sorry for the multiple posts.

Also discovered that tiff files saved from Sigma Photo Pro retain EXIF data which as you might expect can be read by PM.

[acbweb]

Thanks John.  I didn't realize the tiff files retain the EXIF data.  I'll have to go check that out.  Regarding supplying DP2 Merrill files to Kirk, I had difficulty with the FTP but provided a link to my own dropbox.  Hopefully he was able to get the files.

[Kirk Baker]

Thanks John.  I didn't realize the tiff files retain the EXIF data.  I'll have to go check that out.  Regarding supplying DP2 Merrill files to Kirk, I had difficulty with the FTP but provided a link to my own dropbox.  Hopefully he was able to get the files.

I was able to get the files and Dennis is looking into them now.  I did my own cursory investigation and found that there was a 9MB JPEG embedded into the sample files you gave me and they look pretty nice and are full resolution.

-Kirk

[chardinej]

That's good news Kirk. It would be quite a coup if PM became the first to be able to deal with Sigma raw files outside of Sigma's own software. There are couple of other raw developers for Sigma files but nothing on the DAM side.

BTW I read recently that years ago it was announced that Adobe and Sigma were collaborating on the latter's raw files. Adobe must have lost interest.

[tsdevine]

I would LOVE to see this as well.  I have DP1 Merrill and DP2 Merrill RAW files if that would help.  Really killing me not having PM work with these cameras like it does for my 5D/5DII.

-Tim

[Brett Simison]

Here's another vote for Sigma X3F support. Currently there's no real way to embed IPTC captions, keywords, etc into these files. I've written a small shell script that goes through and extracts the embedded JPEG previews which I can then caption and rank in Photo Mechanic, but this is no better than using sidecar files.

Thanks!
-Brett
www.brettsimison.com

[Kirk Baker]

Brett,

Here's another vote for Sigma X3F support. Currently there's no real way to embed IPTC captions, keywords, etc into these files. I've written a small shell script that goes through and extracts the embedded JPEG previews which I can then caption and rank in Photo Mechanic, but this is no better than using sidecar files.

It is unlikely that we will be able to embed metadata in X3F files.  They're not TIFF-based RAW files like just about every other camera manufacturer uses.  You'll have to use XMP sidecar files, but you'll at least be able to see high resolution previews and can do everything else that PM can do with the other RAW formats we support.

-Kirk

[steveatcb]

Another vote for .X3F support (SD1 Merrill and DP2 Merrill)  Specifically:

1. thumbnail support
2. preview support
3. group-with-jpeg support

If I rename the .x3f files to .jpg, the first two features are available in PM but this is not a viable solution for me since it confuses Sigma Photo Pro.

Raw samples for the SD1Merrill and DP2 Merrill are available at:

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/sigma_sd1_merrill_review/sample_images/
http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/sigma_dp2_merrill_review/sample_images/

Media Pro (at least on Mac 10.8 ) currently supports these .X3F files.  Have always enjoyed Photo Mechanic the most though so hoping for this support.

Thanks,
Steve Dohrmann