The SRW format

Been hacking my way through the SRW file to make a raw averager (for multiple exposures). The SRW is actually is very much like a tiff file with exif information. The raw data is just packed 12-bit numbers with no compression (I actually appreciate that as it makes it much easier to work with). Its all big edian too. The most surprising thing though is that in addition to a thumbnail and preview the raw file contains an entire full resolution jpg. So when you choose RAW you're actually getting JPG + RAW in the same file. If you choose RAW + JPG your'e actually getting the RAW + JPG + JPG (well I can't actually check the last one as my camera is in for repairs). Seems a bit of a waste of space but I imagine they did it so you could still review the picture on the camera while shooting RAW. The only other cameras that do that are the Sigma's.

Of course if you want to develop a whole stack of raws very quickly you could use this to your advantage and use an application like dcraw or exiftool to just extract the JPG and only go back to the RAW if there's something you need to change. I might even write something like this myself if I have the time.