For NIKON photographers: New WIC codec available

[Mario]

Apparently Nikon as decided to resurrect their long abandoned WIC Codec and to update it to support all modern cameras, including the Z* models.

See here for details: https://downloadcenter.nikonimglib.com/en/download/sw/97.html

I have not tested this coded yet myself.

[ubacher]

I have installed this codec and did some initial testing - comparing it to the FPV codec
using a NEF file from a Nikon Df camera.
Here the results:

FPV codec:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
WIC: Testing file 'D:\Foto Cache\2018-12-20 BRAZIL\2019-01-07 TRANCOSO\2019-01-18\2019-01-18 009.NEF'
   Thumbnail: Codec 'Nikon Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)'
      () 160x104 pixel in 16 ms.
   Preview: Codec 'Nikon Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)'
      (GetPreview failed (88982F81 The operation is unsupported.).) 0x0 pixel in 0 ms.
   Full resolution: Codec 'Nikon Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)'
      () 4928x3280 pixel in 15 ms.
      
Nikon Codec:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WIC: Testing file 'D:\Foto Cache\2018-12-20 BRAZIL\2019-01-07 TRANCOSO\2019-01-19 Sunrise\2019-01-19 004.NEF'
   Thumbnail: Codec 'Nikon .NEF Raw File Decoder'
      (GetThumbnail failed (88982F44 The bitmap codec does not support a thumbnail.).) 0x0 pixel in 0 ms.
   Preview: Codec 'Nikon .NEF Raw File Decoder'
      () 4928x3280 pixel in 297 ms.
   Full resolution: Codec 'Nikon .NEF Raw File Decoder'
      () 4928x3280 pixel in 63 ms.

As you can see the FPV codec can not get a preview while the Nikon codec can not get a thumbnail!

How does Imatch obtain its thumbnail? The codec would most likely not supply the right size of thumbnail.
Just based on these tests which one would you, Mario recommend?

[Mario]

IMatch never uses the thumbnail - it is usually only 160 pixel on the longest edge and hence not suitable for anything. IMatch uses the preview or the full RAW, depending on the Cache settings and what the WIC codec can handle. You should see no difference when the preview is extracted, but maybe Nikon can manage to get a better rendition of the full RAW?

[ubacher]

....You should see no difference when the preview is extracted,

Even though the FPV codec can not extract the preview??
How does IM get the preview?

Also interesting: The Nikon codec takes 5 times longer to extract the preview rather than the raw image (?) And the FPV codec takes only
a quarter of the time to decode the raw.   Of course this is based on one sample!

but maybe Nikon can manage to get a better rendition of the full RAW?

I think that the preview, since it is full size, will be identical to the raw image.

[Mario]

How does IM get the preview?

If the codec does not return a preview, or the preview is smaller than the minimum size configured in the Cache settings, IMatch loads the full RAW.

Also interesting: The Nikon codec takes 5 times longer to extract the preview rather than the raw image.

Not really. Maybe your RAW files don't contain a preview and the Nikon codec creates one on-the-fly...?!

I think that the preview, since it is full size, will be identical to the raw image.

Not necessarily. The preview is usually produced by the camera and it contains camera-specific optimizations and processing. The RAW is just a stream of Bayer bits which need to be interpreted by the WIC codec to produce an image. Earlier Nikon WIC codecs produced a quite good quality from RAW files, and if the RAW files had settings stored by Nikon Capture, it even applied these settings. I don't know how good the codec is these days.

Usually the RAW interpreted by the WIC codec (or by LibRAW, if no codec installed which handles the file) looks quite different from renditions you get in dedicated RAW processor applications. Naturally.

[ubacher]

Tested 5 NEF files with FPV codec and Nikon codec.

The FPV codec consistently needs 16ms to extract the raw.
The Nikon codec consistently needs 63ms to extract the raw.

So for me (Df NEF files) it makes sense to use th FPV codecs.

BTW: The NEF codec installer has 130Mb! (almost as much as Imatch)

[Mario]

Thanks for sharing your results. I think that 0.06 seconds per file is still fast enough. IMatch is reading multiple files at the same time so this evens out.
Choose the codec which gives you the best results.