Preview file from pef raw not correctly displayed

[Janko]

Hi,

with the latest iMatch (5.1.6) I have a problem displaying previews from Pentax raw files.
Wic codec (on Windows 7/64) is installed, the test seems to be recognizing all in PEF embedded data (see below), but nevertheless it always displays (either in slide show, or in Viewer) the picture of estimated 640×480 pixels (with black bands filling up the space of 3:2 aspect ratio).
I have tried many different preference adjustments to no avail. Can anyone suggest a solution?

Regards

Janko

Here the WIC Diagnostics output:
List of installed codecs:
   Codec 'BMP Decoder' for extensions .bmp,.dib,.rle
   Codec 'GIF Decoder' for extensions .gif
   Codec 'ICO Decoder' for extensions .ico,.icon
   Codec 'JPEG Decoder' for extensions .jpeg,.jpe,.jpg,.jfif,.exif
   Codec 'PNG Decoder' for extensions .png
   Codec 'TIFF Decoder' for extensions .tiff,.tif
   Codec 'WMPhoto Decoder' for extensions .wdp,.jxr
   Codec 'Microsoft Camera Codec Pack' for extensions .arw,.cr2,.crw,.dng,.erf,.kdc,.mrw,.nef,.nrw,.orf,.pef,.raf,.raw,.rw2,.rwl,.sr2,.srw


Testing file 'G:\Tujina\Avstrija\Obir_130921\Obir_130921_082956_J_2166_R00.pef'
   Thumbnail: Codec 'Microsoft Camera Codec Pack'
      () 160x120 pixel in 16 ms.
   Preview: Codec 'Microsoft Camera Codec Pack'
      () 640x480 pixel in 31 ms.
   Full resolution: Codec 'Microsoft Camera Codec Pack'
      () 4928x3264 pixel in 15 ms.

[Mario]

Check Edit > Preferences > Cache.
By default, and for performance reasons, IMatch uses the embedded preview image in RAW files.
Your RAW files only have a 640 pixel preview image, and that's what's causing your problem.

I suggest you keep the "use preview on" so you can benefit from better speed for RAW files which have a proper 100% preview, but specify that the minimum size for previews must be, say, 2000 pixel. In this case IMatch will fall back to using the full RAW image for the files with the 640 pixel preview images.

Note: You will need to re-create the cache images for these files after changing cache options.
Select the folder containing the files, right-click and choose "Cache...". In the dialog click on Rebuild.

[Janko]

Thank you Mario! Your method worked, although the file opening is a bit slow (even after going a few times through the whole directory).
Pentax raw format (PEF) do contain full size preview jpg picture, and it is normally extracted by such viewers as e. g. IrfanView or similar. How is it, that, if I understand correctly, iMatch must rebuild it from raw data (taking time)?

It is also a bit confusing that the WIC diagnostics shows that the full size (4928x3264) is extracted in roughly the same time as the small thumbnail, and twice as fast as the 640×480 preview.

In the process I also found a (at the moment only one) PEF file that e.g. Windows Photo Viewer and IrfanView and some raw converters open correctly, whereas iMatch shows the preview as if the file were damaged (different tints in different rectangles).

I would appreciate some more information on the above.

Thanks!

Regards

Janko

[Mario]

It would be helpful if you can provide information that allows me to reproduce your problem.

1 Sample PEF files
2. A log file in debug mode

See How to report bugs for details.

Unless I can see the log file and maybe run some tests with your PEF files, I cannot provide additional support. Usually this just works as it should. I cannot say anything about the performance or capabilities of the Microsoft Code pack. It is known to have issues with certain format variations, but that's a topic for Microsoft support.

I will test your files using the FPV codec and if this works, we know it's the Microsoft codec and then they will have to look at it.

[lenmerkel]

My Pentax K10D PEFs (and DNGs) show up just fine, with full-size embedded previews, using the FPV codec pack. It's a worthwhile investment, not just for use in IMatch5, but also when using plain old Windows Explorer,

Sample from WIC diagnostics:

Testing file '\\DISKSTATION\Archive\Photos\K10D\2007\03-Mar\24-Sat\K10D_000425.pef'
   Thumbnail: Codec 'Pentax Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)'
      () 160x104 pixel in 47 ms.
   Preview: Codec 'Pentax Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)'
      (GetPreview failed (88982F81 Unknown error 0x88982F81).) 0x0 pixel in 0 ms.
   Full resolution: Codec 'Pentax Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)'
      () 3872x2592 pixel in 15 ms.

[Janko]

It would be helpful if you can provide information that allows me to reproduce your problem.

1 Sample PEF files
2. A log file in debug mode

See How to report bugs for details.

Unless I can see the log file and maybe run some tests with your PEF files, I cannot provide additional support. Usually this just works as it should. I cannot say anything about the performance or capabilities of the Microsoft Code pack. It is known to have issues with certain format variations, but that's a topic for Microsoft support.

I will test your files using the FPV codec and if this works, we know it's the Microsoft codec and then they will have to look at it.

Thank you for the very fast reply! I just sent you per e-mail the data (two PEF files - one displaying good preview, the other bad), screenshot of the bad preview and the log file.
It is interesting that the faulty preview is only generated in iMatch, various other software (IrfanView, XNView, FastStone viewer, windows picture viewer, Silkypix professional studio, Raw Therapee) are all showing a perfectly correct preview, and conversion from raw data.
Also the viewers above are all capable (when set up accordingly) of extracting the full size preview image from the raw file without actually converting the raw data.
Thumbnail generation in Windows Explorer is also functioning flawlessly.
My system is Win7/64 with 8Gbyte memory. The only codecs installed are those from Windows.

Regards

Janko

[Mario]

Hi, Janko

I used the FastPictureViewer codecs with these files. Both files load fine. None of the files contains an embedded preview, at least none the FastPictureViewer codecs can find. Running the files through the Microsoft WIC Developer tools yield the same result.

The screen shot you have attached show a problem with the decoder properly understanding the PEF variant. I suggest you try using the original Pentax WIC codecs (if they offer such to their users), an a more current version of the Microsoft codec, or the FPV codecs which are cheap and good. You may also want to send Microsoft the sample image their codec does fail to process so they can fix the problem.