Instruction manual

88
Recording menu
In the RAW image-quality mode, the image size is set at full and cannot be changed. The image size
will not be displayed on the monitors. The digital zoom, enlarged playback, data imprinting, and print
functions cannot be used.
Unlike the other image-quality modes, RAW image data is unprocessed and requires image
processing before it can be used. To view the RAW data, the DiMAGE Viewer software is required.
This software can reconstruct the image and apply the same image processing controls as the
camera. RAW data is saved as a 12-bit file; the DiMAGE Viewer software can convert this data into
24-bit or 48-bit TIFF files.
A RAW image is stored with a file header that contains white-balance information, changes made to
contrast, saturation, and color, any image processing applied in a subject-program setting, and
changes to sharpness. The changes in camera sensitivity are applied to the RAW data; ISO values can
be manually set to control noise (p. 66).
The camera’s image-processing controls apply the affect of the color modes to the live image on the
monitors, but the stored data may not be influenced by the setting. The black and white color mode
has no effect on the final image; a raw image taken in the black-and-white color mode can be restored
to a color picture. However, black and white filter effects (p. 73) are not applied to a RAW image. The
saturation difference between the Natural Color and Vivid Color modes is preserved in the RAW data.
For more on color modes, see page 68.
About RAW image quality
In the center of the Sakai plant in Japan is Okina bridge. In the 15th century, Sakai was a
prosperous free city, and Okina bridge spanned the moat at one of the entrances into the walled
town. For centuries, this bridge carried pilgrims on their way to two of Japan’s sacred places:
the mountain monastery of Koyasan and the great Shinto shrine, Kumano Taisha. The bridge in
the courtyard dates from 1855, see photo on the next page. In 1968, Minolta offered to preserve
the bridge when the city government announced they would fill in the moat for a planned
highway. The bridge now spans a specially constructed goldfish pond. The writing on the stone
bollard at the front of the bridge prohibits vehicles from crossing.
Konica Minolta history