stich cr2 files together in order to process only one cr2 file

Hey folks,
I take all my pictures in the Canon RAW File format cr2. When I'm doing a Panoramic picture, I have a lot of files. Can I stich them without converting? so make 1 out of 20 cr2 files in order to process one in Photomatix Pro?


thanks winam

I convert my CR2 files into TIFF's before transferring them to CS2. If its an assemblage of a number of shots I'll do it at this stage.

Did you consult the Photomatix User Guide? The software allows you to stitch CR2 (raw) files together but you cannot save the result as a CR2 file.

From page 5 of Photomatix Pro 4.2.7 User Guide:

"Photomatix Pro merges bracketed images that are in 8 bit or 16 bits/channel mode, as well as Camera RAW files.

Supported file types include JPEG, TIFF, PSD, DNG, and RAW files from many camera models. The list of supported camera models for RAW files is updated frequently to include the newest camera models. You can check the the Photomatix Pro FAQ page on the HDRsoft website at http://www.hdrsoft.com​/support/raw.html to determine whether or not your camera model is supported."

PixelMagic wrote in post #16065887
Did you consult the Photomatix User Guide? The software allows you to stitch CR2 (raw) files together but you cannot save the result as a CR2 file.

From page 5 of Photomatix Pro 4.2.7 User Guide:

"Photomatix Pro merges bracketed images that are in 8 bit or 16 bits/channel mode, as well as Camera RAW files.

Supported file types include JPEG, TIFF, PSD, DNG, and RAW files from many camera models. The list of supported camera models for RAW files is updated frequently to include the newest camera models. You can check the the Photomatix Pro FAQ page on the HDRsoft website at http://www.hdrsoft.com​/support/raw.html to determine whether or not your camera model is supported."

That's is just a non-transparent and intentionally misleading way of saying that it first converts to RGB and then stitches. Of course, once the genie is out of the bottle he can't be stuffed back in.

PixelMagic wrote in post #16065887
The software allows you to stitch CR2 (raw) files together but you cannot save the result as a CR2 file.

Photomatix Pro doesn't allow stitching files for a panorama. It loads bracketed shots of the same image for HDR.

winam wrote in post #16065794
Hey folks,
I take all my pictures in the Canon RAW File format cr2. When I'm doing a Panoramic picture, I have a lot of files. Can I stich them without converting? so make 1 out of 20 cr2 files in order to process one in Photomatix Pro?

No, you cannot combine multiple RAW files and save as a single RAW. You would have to stitch them and save as a TIFF for processing in Photomatix. In that case you'd only be using the Tone Mapping feature of Photomatix.

Remember that the CR2 is just the un-interpreted data from the camera's sensor. It's not an image. I think Elie's genie analogy is relevant.

Saving the end result as a TIFF should get you pretty close to what you want to do, though.

nathancarter wrote in post #16067266
Remember that the CR2 is just the un-interpreted data from the camera's sensor. It's not an image. I think Elie's genie analogy is relevant.

Saving the end result as a TIFF should get you pretty close to what you want to do, though.

Of course Photomatix couldn't write data in CR2 format, or NEF or any other proprietary format, but DNG is open code - fully documented and free and Adobe would be so happy if somebody, anybody, would use it - so if Photomatix has Raw data from multiple files that it can combine and keep it Raw, DNG is there for them.

Think about stitching, what it is doing. How can it do that with raw data? The bayer pattern raw data has to be converted into an image so the stitching algorithms have something to analyze. Once the raw data has been converted to an image it would be counter productive to attempt to reconvert it to bayer pattern raw data.

Even DNG files have to be converted to an image before they can be stitched. Once stitched the resulting file can be saved as TIFF or whatever formats might be available from the software, none will be raw formats.