ken_in_nh wrote:
I suspect the reason I don't find much value in raw is because computational processing as applied to jpg is so good. Some jpg are combinations of multiple shots, for example, but you don't have access to each shot in raw.
This doesn't align with my understanding of how Google processes multiple raw frames. Referring to Google Research's white paper on
Burst photography for high dynamic range and low-light imaging
on mobile cameras
https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/hdrplusdata.org/en//hdrplus.pdf
Pages 1-9 cover all the operations they do on the individual raw frames. At page 9 we have:
6 Finishing
Aligning and merging the captured Bayer raw frames produces a
single raw image with higher bit depth and SNR. In practice our
input is 10-bit raw and we merge to 14 bits to preserve the precision
gained from merging. This image must now undergo correction,
demosaicking, and tone mapping–operations that would normally
be performed by an ISP, but in our case is implemented are software
and include the key additional step of dynamic range compression ...
There isn't any concept of being able to "access each shot in raw." Each JPEG is a combination of multiple raw frames. Step 6 Finishing describes what happens to the image after all the raw frames have been merged to a single frame.
This white paper is early and doesn't explicitly describe Pixel raw files. It describes how Pixels produce JPEG files. I'm assuming that the Pixels export raw files somewhere around step 6 Finishing.
It is also possible that there aren't color profiles yet for Pixel 6 raw files. This would be another reason for underwhelming Pixel 6 raw file conversions.
I welcome the Pixel 6 computational photography JPEG conversion. This is one of the major reasons why I switched to using a Pixel 2 (now a Pixel 6 Pro) instead of shooting 100% raw with my Canon P&Ss and ILCs: I got really tired of needing to hand process each raw file in order to get images that look as good as (most) Pixel JPEGs. I don't want to go anywhere near any Pixel raw files!
Wayne