"Digital negative"

The RAW format provides a "digital negative" containing the untouched data as it came off of the cameras CCD or CMOS sensor. Many of the in-camera settings such as sharpening, saturation, and white balance can be chosen after the shutter is pressed by applying these settings to the RAW data on the computer. Lastly, JPEG compression used in cameras is a "lossy" format meaning that some data is lost in compressing the file. Shooting RAW allows you to bypass this compression and retain the maximum amount of data in your images.

The following is a description about some RAW formats:

• CRW - Canon Digital Camera Raw Image Format. Raw image format for some Canon digital cameras. Raw images are basically the data as it comes directly from the CCD detector in the camera. Raw files can also contain text information about the picture and conditions in the camera when the picture was taken.

• CR2 - Canon Digital Camera Raw Image Format version 2.0. Raw files can also contain text information about the picture and conditions in the camera when the picture was taken. These images are based on the TIFF image standard. Konvertor will display these EXIF metadata.

• NEF - Nikon Digital SLR Camera Raw Image File. Raw image format for some Nikon digital cameras. Raw images are basically the data as it comes directly from the CCD detector in the camera.

• RAF - Fuji CCD-RAW Graphic File. Exif (Exchangeable Image File) information is within the file along with the image. Some graphics programs are starting to recognize the format; e.g., Qimage, Thumbnails for Fuji, and others.

• X3F - Sigma Camera RAW Picture File. Use the SIGMA Photo Pro software provided with the camera to download and manipulate the photos. The Foveon X3 direct image sensor captures all three colors at every pixel location and requires special software to manipulate the RAW files.

• BAY - Kodak/Roper Bayer Picture Sequence. A specific Kodak picture format used by some high speed video cameras such as Kodak HRC-1000.

• ORF - Descent 3 Outrage Room Format.

• MRW - Minolta Diamage Raw Image File. Raw image format for some Minolta digital cameras. Raw images are basically the data as it comes directly from the CCD detector in the camera. Raw files can also contain text information about the picture and conditions in the camera when the picture was taken.

• RAW - Image Alchemy HSI Temporary Raw Bitmap

• SRF - Sony DSC-F828 Raw Image File. CCD-Sensor RAW Data File from Sony DSC-F828 8 megapixel digital camera. Adobe Photoshop CS with Camera-RAW-Plug-In v2.2 opens this file type.

You can find the list of supported cameras here.

DiskInternals Flash Recovery supports all formats described above. Its simple and comfortable wizard will recover accidentally deleted or formatted photos in the automatic mode.