How Two Photographers Reworked RAW Photo Support on Mac

As photographers utilizing macOS know all too properly, native macOS-level help for RAW picture codecs could be hit-or-miss, and new help can take months or years to reach, typically by no means arriving in any respect. This signifies that photographers should depend on third-party software program to course of many RAW photographs, and that help in Apple’s personal apps, like Photos, is spotty. However, not all is misplaced, as very gifted engineers are working arduous to beat macOS’s personal RAW limitations.

Enter Nik Bhatt, founding father of Gentlemen Coders, and Albert of Anogeissus Limited. Separately, Bhatt has developed quite a few picture modifying purposes for macOS, together with Raw Power, and extra lately, Nitro. Albert, alternatively, developed ApolloOne and Camera RawX. Together, Nik and Albert have performed one thing very particular: they created RawBridge, a extremely specialised, bespoke RAW decoder and processor that works inside Nik and Albert’s separate RAW processing and picture administration purposes.

On Bhatt’s aspect, Raw Power and Nitro are, at their core, RAW processing purposes that present separate picture modifying and group instruments whereas additionally integrating natively with Photos. The newer app, Nitro, is Bhatt’s strongest picture modifying software program thus far. Photographers can entry all their photographs via Finder or iCloud Photos and edit them with sliders, masks, brushes, and extra. The software program consists of AI-powered masking, clone and spot elimination, and Bhatt says it provides “editing tools unmatched by any app.”

As for Albert, ApolloOne is macOS’ quickest picture viewer. It is designed for professionals and fanatics with huge picture libraries who have to rapidly and effectively view and edit their picture and video recordsdata. While Nik’s software program is extra targeted on picture modifying, Albert’s is extra geared towards quick, dependable digital asset administration. Having seen ApolloOne in motion firsthand with 100-megapixel RAW recordsdata from the GFX100 collection cameras, it’s quick. You can cycle via the full-resolution RAWs nearly immediately, and pictures are able to edit as quickly as they’re on the display.

Between these 4 apps, all linked by RawBridge, photographers can take full benefit of Apple’s implausible RAW engine, even when Apple itself doesn’t help a RAW file, which is, sadly, a typical downside for photographers utilizing macOS, of which there are many.

Overcoming macOS’ Limited RAW File Support

Even although Nik and Albert goal completely different customers with their respective apps, each of them have in depth expertise with RAW picture processing and demosaicing, and, finally, as macOS builders, face the identical limitations with macOS’ native RAW file help.

Nik is aware of quite a bit about Apple’s method to RAW photographs, by the way in which, since he spent practically 20 years at Apple, together with a stint as Senior Director of Photos. At varied factors, he was answerable for Photos, the broader imaging staff, picture file help, and Apple’s beloved Lightroom competitor, Aperture. To say he is aware of quite a bit about RAW picture modifying could be an understatement.

Describing macOS’s RAW picture help within the practically 10 years since he left Apple, Bhatt says it’s “slow and inconsistent.” He provides that when Apple provides new help, it’s often for brand new cameras, moderately than for older ones. So, if one thing isn’t supported shortly after its launch, the percentages of it ever being supported natively are low, which leaves many photographers at the hours of darkness.

“They don’t support Fujifilm compressed, they don’t support Nikon [compressed],” Bhatt provides. “They’ve had 10 years and they’re still not supporting this important format.”

Over the years, he has obtained fixed emails from photographers asking why their codecs aren’t supported in macOS, and, by extension, in older variations of his personal macOS apps that work on prime of Apple’s RAW help.

There are open-source RAW decoders, like LibRaw, and whereas they provide broad help, Bhatt says they usually ship worse outcomes, and so they don’t construct upon Apple’s RAW engine. The various has lengthy been counting on Apple’s restricted RAW help.

Building New Support On Top of Apple’s RAW Engine

So what Nik and Albert have performed is take Apple’s core RAW decoder help and lengthen it by themselves.

“There are techniques that Apple does not document that we have figured out,” Nik says, including that it isn’t “cheating” or something like that. There are “trade secrets,” however they’re additionally public.

“I’ve figured out a specific way to add decoding and give [the user] full access, all the RAW decoding parameters.” When RAW Power got here out, and now Nitro Photo, is understood for its distinctive management over Apple’s RAW decoder.

“I used to be in charge of the group, so I know everything about this decoder,” Bhatt says.

RAW Power and Nitro natively help over 80 cameras and codecs that aren’t within the default macOS RAW help, and the checklist is consistently rising.

Nitro is an all-in-one RAW picture viewer, supervisor, and RAW picture editor. It serves lots of the similar functions as Adobe Lightroom Classic, however leverages Apple’s RAW engine for its processing and modifying instruments and integrates natively with the Apple ecosystem, together with Photos and iCloud. If a consumer edits a picture that’s in Photos inside Nitro, the edits will sync with Photos. Smart albums additionally sync throughout the completely different apps and the Finder. In distinction to Lightroom, Nitro additionally provides a lifetime license with free updates endlessly.

Two Different Approaches to RAW Decoding

While Bhatt has been doing this on his personal through the years, Albert has been reaching one thing comparable, albeit with a special course of.

“What’s great about his technique,” Nik says, “is Albert’s also adds lens correction.”

Bhatt says Albert’s work ends in higher decoding high quality, but it surely doesn’t work with all the identical cameras that Nik’s course of does.

“He’s got a really great feature, and I’ve got a really great feature, and they overlap in some ways but both have their advantages,” Bhatt says. “It’s kind of like a Reese’s peanut butter cup chocolate and peanut butter deal.”

After working independently for years, the 2 linked, put their heads collectively, and made RawBridge.

RawBridge extends Apple’s RAW decoder and guarantees the absolute best decoding and modifying performance for the RAW codecs that Apple itself doesn’t, and doubtless is not going to, help. Bhatt is very happy with the lens corrections, which he characterizes as among the many best possible round.

Albert can add new RAW digital camera help very quick in sure conditions. The day earlier than I spoke to Nik and Albert, Albert had added two new cameras in “five minutes.”

As Nik and Albert demo their respective flagship purposes, Nitro and ApolloOne, the outcomes are clear. Building upon Apple’s RAW decoder delivers an excellent mix of high quality and effectivity. Apple’s RAW decoder is superb. But its high quality and the extent of management it gives customers have been by no means the difficulty; the difficulty has lengthy been all of the gaps in its protection.

“So if you’re a Photos user and you have compressed Fujifilm RAW files, or files from a camera Apple doesn’t support, you get a lot of blank thumbnails,” Bhatt says.

But if the consumer opens that file in RAW Power, Nitro, Camera RawX, or ApolloOne, after which appears at it in Photos, no extra clean thumbnails. There’s the file, with all the usual Photos performance. It could be seen in Finder, edited in Photos, and seen and processed in Nik and Albert’s apps.

This isn’t only for macOS, both. This additionally carries over to iPad. Nitro runs natively on iPad as properly and provides the identical sturdy RAW picture modifying controls as on macOS, even for recordsdata not natively supported in iPadOS. RawBridge additionally runs on iPhone, by the way in which.

“All of the editing features for Nitro on Mac work on iPad and iPhone,” Nik says.

ApolloOne and Camera RawX Solve Major Headaches for Mac Users

As for Albert, he says he began utilizing a Mac within the early 2000s after being a longtime Windows consumer. He realized, “Hey, come come there isn’t any photo viewer [in macOS]?”

“The only thing I have is Preview, and I have to look at one photo at a time,” Albert says. “It’s crazy. I got fed up with it so I looked at different apps.”

After surveying the free and paid apps out there for macOS that allow you to view many photographs without delay, he was unhappy.


”So I mentioned ‘I’m going to put in writing my very own,’” Albert recollects.

It wasn’t straightforward, and he gave up for a bit earlier than returning to the idea and making ApolloOne.

“It’s mostly a viewer but it’s also a digital asset manager. It also has a little bit of editing features, too, thanks to Nik because he inspired me to put some stuff into my app,” Albert says.

Albert wished to construct an app that will let individuals rapidly view their photographs and make picks. However, when doing that with RAW photographs, photographers care about how sharp one thing is.

“Let’s say I’m trying to evaluate my RAW image. Okay, so is everything in focus or not in focus?” Albert says. ApolloOne lets photographers immediately view RAW recordsdata, even enormous ones, at 100%, 200%, and past. This works as a result of ApolloOne is exceptionally environment friendly.

ApolloOne coexists with Camera RawX, which lets customers see thumbnails for in any other case unsupported RAW picture codecs within the macOS Finder. It additionally depends on RawBridge for much more and higher help.

RawBridge doesn’t simply make it attainable to view, set up, and edit RAW photographs that will in any other case not be viewable inside macOS’ Finder and native apps, by the way in which. It can even add improved decoding and lens correction know-how on prime of recordsdata which might be already supported in macOS, that means that issues like correct lens corrections are literally seen.

Between Nik’s apps, RAW Power and the newer, extra highly effective Nitro, and Albert’s choices, ApolloOne and Camera RawX, photographers with practically each digital camera and RAW file format can view and edit their RAW photographs on macOS, with the options of Apple’s RAW decoder know-how. And within the uncommon cases the place Nik and Albert haven’t added help, photographers can allow them to know, and help will possible be added in a short time. User requests are literally why many RAW codecs have been supported within the first place.

If Apple provides RAW help for a file that Nik and Albert have already addressed, Apple’s new help will override RawBridge, and photographers gained’t have to do something. It will seamlessly replace.

Pricing and Availability

Nitro for macOS is available for $99.99. It is a one-time worth for a lifetime license. This consists of the iOS and iPad variations and all future updates. There can also be a reduction out there for many who personal RAW Power already, which is routinely utilized when these customers view Nitro Photo within the App Store.

As for ApolloOne, it’s available to download for free from the App Store. However, it requires a license, which could be bought as a subscription or a perpetual license. ApolloOne and Camera RawX lifetime licenses are 20% off via November 30. This brings the usual version perpetual license for ApolloOne all the way down to $19.99, the Pro version to $47.99, and a lifetime license for Camera RawX to $9.99.

Image credit: Gentlemen Coders and Anogeissus Limited