Panasonic GH6 Exiftool shows ---- 16 bit RAW?

Bits Per Sample : 16

Linearity Limit Red : 65535

Linearity Limit Green : 65535

Linearity Limit Blue : 65535

High ISO Multiplier Red : 1

High ISO Multiplier Green : 1

High ISO Multiplier Blue : 1

Black Level Red : 2048

Black Level Green : 2048

Black Level Blue : 2048

ExifTools also show 16 bit RAW for the E-M1.3.  My guess is that it has something to do with the algorithm used to produce the files.  OMD workshop Tiff images are also exported as 16 bit Tiff files.

drj3 wrote:

ExifTools also show 16 bit RAW for the E-M1.3. My guess is that it has something to do with the algorithm used to produce the files. OMD workshop Tiff images are also exported as 16 bit Tiff files.

The linearity limit field is more important. GH5S is 16383 which is 14-bit. 65535 suggests 16-bit.

DP Review says the Dynamic Range boost combines the data in 16-bit space in reference to the raw file.

"These two streams are combined, using the high gain data for the shadow regions and the low gain data for the highlights. The results are combined in a 16-bit space, so that the shadow regions aren't just crushed back into the low-precision tail-end of the Raw file."

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/1570070253/what-is-dual-gain-and-how-does-it-work/1

I suppose the same test can be done with multiple files to see if there is any "padding" going on like when Panasonic sometimes switches to 10-bit mode.

The size is larger than the S5 files that were 14 bits

i think this may be needed for the wide dynamic range functions

Panasonic rw2 structure is always the same so no reason to believe is an error

Raist3d wrote:

Interceptor121 wrote:

Bits Per Sample : 16

Linearity Limit Red : 65535

Linearity Limit Green : 65535

Linearity Limit Blue : 65535

High ISO Multiplier Red : 1

High ISO Multiplier Green : 1

High ISO Multiplier Blue : 1

Black Level Red : 2048

Black Level Green : 2048

Black Level Blue : 2048

Could be a bug. Could be many other things. I don't think we have 16-bits at this tier of sensor. BUT, if their HDR mode they talked about is really that good and the tops increased significantly, maybe?

Or maybe simply shots the file is written using 16 bits but whether all 16 bits hold useful information it's another deal?

No bug is a 16 bit rw2 file. For normal shot it uses 14 of those 16 and for the dynamic range boost uses 16 bits. There is an explanation of dynamic range boost here on dpreview

The file size is larger than my S5 files that were 24 mp

File size starts at 33 MB and goes to over 42 MB

So clearly depending on engaging the dynamic range boost and the scene some values are zero but having seen the file size bigger than the 24Mp S5 I would think the range is 14 to 16 bits