Thumbnails and rounded corners

[gand]

Hi
I'm on the trial version of iMatch and have one question(for now).

Is it possible to build thumbnails to avoid the rounded corner? Please se the attachment.

Rgds
Gert

[Mario]

This must be part of the image. IMatch does not use rounded corners for thumbnails. Looks more like lens distortion or something?

Check the image in the Quick View Panel or the Viewer. How does it look there?

This is an ARW RAW file. IMatch by default extracts thumbnails and preview images via the installed WIC codec.
Maybe the standard Windows WIC codec somehow does not like this particular ARW format variant?
You can run WIC Diagnostics to check if and how well supported the ARW variant is by Windows.
Save and attach the results to your reply.

[sinus]

And the corners are not equal sharp.
A forgotten, too long sunhood is not possible?!

[gand]

Hi

Thanks a lot for your replies.

I have attached the output from the WIC Diagnostics and as far as I can see the camera(Sony RX100VII) is supported.

I tried to convert the .arw file to a .dng file and the thumbnail looks fine if I include a full size JPG Preview. Medium size preview gives the same result as a thumbnail from the .arw file.

I have attached a screenshot with the 3 thumbnails.
1) Thumbnail from the .arw file
2) Thumbnail from the .dng file using Adobe DNG Converter and JPG Preview size set Medium Size
3) Thumbnail from the .dng file using Adobe DNG Converter and JPG Preview size set Full Size

Thanks for looking

Gert

[sinus]

I tried to convert the .arw file to a .dng file and the thumbnail looks fine if I include a full size JPG Preview. Medium size preview gives the same result as a thumbnail from the .arw file.

The corners from the full size jpgs are simply cut away, not?

[Mario]

You can send the original RAW file to me support email address so I can have a look.
Or, maybe the WIC codec on your system does not handle this SONY format too well. SONY now has so many different RAW formats in use (all with the .ARW or .SRF extension) that this can happen.

Tip: Always use a full-size preview.

Try if the results are better when you don't use WIC but LibRaw.

1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Application and enable Prefer photools.com RAW processing. Search for raw in that dialog to find it.
2. Select the image in a File Window.
3. Press Shift+Ctrl+F5 and then select the "force update" option.

If the image looks OK afterwards, the problem is the WIC codec. It does not handle this format.
That's the problem with all the undocumented and proprietary RAW formats out there. Especially if the camera vendor, like SONY, does not deliver a WIC codec to their customers and instead relies on Windows somehow adding support for it.

[gand]

Hi

@Sinus, yes the corners are cut away and the image is also straighten(lens profile?) when converted to .dng

@Mario, I have mailed a link to the files. I have also tried your suggestions and as far as can see, no difference. Now I have a new icon in thumbnail. See attachment.

Rgds
Gert

[Mario]

Then it may be that this is lens distortion which needs to be processed by a suitable RAW processor. What you see in IMatch is what the camera has written as the RAW/preview.
Neither WIC codecs nor LibRaw do any lens correction or other processing. That's a job for a RAW processor, not for a DAM like IMatch.

Process the file into a DNG with your RAW processor and let it do all required correction.
The embedded preview will then look correct and the image will also look correct in IMatch.

[gand]

Hi

That make sense and thank you for the support.

Gert

[Mario]

I have downloaded your sample files.

This is one of those lenses...
The image metadata includes a "lens profile" in the metadata which must be interpreted by an application that uses it - to correct the distortion and other issues of the lens.
Software which does not interpret the embedded lens profile (WIC codecs, LibRaw, probably some other non-Adobe products or RAW processors) will display the image as-is, like it was recorded. With all the bad lens distortion you see in the thumbnails and previews in IMatch. That's the image the camera has really recorded, before artificially fixing it by applying the lens profile Sony has embedded.according to the lens profile.

There is a good post of Dennis de Gannes on the Luminous Landscape board (https://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=131526.0):

One needs to understand the implementation of the need of the "built in lens profile" concept.
This was first introduced by Panasonic when they with Olympus introduced the Micro 4/3 mount see the clips from the first mirrorless digital camera the Panasonic G1 review on DPReview.
When this camera was introduced the micro four thirds lenses, in order to reduce the size, cost of design and production, and weight the lines needed to be digitally corrected for physical distortion and other defects.
When Adobe Lightroom and Adobe camera Raw introduced support for the cameras raw file it did not apply the included corrections and therefore the rendition displayed images that were unacceptable and caused a rift with Panasonic who claimed that Adobe was not rendering the raw files correctly and therefore did not support the Camera. Adobe eventually corrected their development of the raw files. This info is from 2008.
Lightroom eventually introduced Lens profile to LR / ACR in 2012
To wit, the facts are your Camera Manufacturer does not wish you to use the raw files without the lens corrections applied, that's how the system is designed. OK I understand that some may wish to portray the surreal, no problem.
There are tools provided by Adobe to work with the raw files and produce a profile to your likening.
Ok so it took me a few years to accept the concept of compromised lenses that needed digital correction and eventually purchased a Micro Four Thirds camera in late 2011.

The way I understand this, camera and lens vendors make profiles with Adobe tools and then embed them in their software.
Adobe software then automatically and forcefully applies these lens profiles - I could not find a way to disable this in either ACR or Lightroom.

This is the image as it was written by the camera:



Without mangling the pixels based on the lens profile in ACR, Lr or whatever.

The embedded preview in the ARW looks OK, but it is quite small (1616 x 1080 pixels) and hence IMatch will not use it (the default minimum size for using previews is 2,000 pixels). You can change this under Edit > Preferences > Cache (see Size of the Cache Images)

I would just create a DNG file with a full-size preview in ACR and link it to the ARW as a version. Then you can let IMatch use the DNG as a visual proxy (so the RAW also looks correct).
See File Relations: Versioning and Visual Proxy

[gand]

Hi Mario

Thanks for the very detailed explanation. I think I understand now and will try out your suggestions. Maybe I'll just convert to .dng and archive the .arw files on an external drive.

Thanks again for taking your time to sort this out.

Gert

[abgestumpft]

Hi Gert,

Another idea: what you could also try is to to generate a jpg / dng in the same folder for every arw file (using same name pattern like the arw file).
Then you configure the jpg/dng files to be buddy & version files for the arw. Details see here: https://www.photools.com/help/imatch/#rel_config.htm

When you select the option "As Visual" in the versioning config, imatch will use the jpg/dng thumbnail (that will contain the lens corrections) also on the arw file.

[gand]

Hi

@abgestumpft, thanks I'll try that well. I can then choose the best solution for my workflow.

Gert