Handling SDM DNG images under OSX or Windows
On this page you will find OSX and Windows tools to deal with RAW images produced by SDM (Version 1.85 and later). With SDM, RAW images are always saved with a separate DNG header file. This file contains minimal information concerning the image and no thumbnail.
By this means, the fastest shooting speed is obtained (although high-speed cards are recommended).
SDM will also save a pair of image-strips of defined width, equally spaced about the image centre and normally with the camera vertically orientated. This allows the creation of very large stereo, 360 degree panoramas of static subjects using a single camera rotating in front of a central point.
Further details are to be found here.
SDM also works as a slit camera, building a composite image of almost any size in-camera. The 'slit' covers the entire horizontal width of the camera and may be just one pixel wide. This feature can be used for recording the periphery of objects or for creative 'streak' photography :
- http://www.bmumford.com/photo/streak/index.html
- http://sciencephotography.com/FAQ/ch4-image-stability/streakphoto-ch4b.html
- http://www.bruisedpixels.com/streak_photography.html
A folder containing a mixture of these three types of RAW image may be processed and displayed on a Mac or Windows machine by running a simple Java app which does all the work. The screenshot below shows the app running under OSX (the Windows version looks very similar). Click on any field to get help about it.
The OSX App
Download the Java app here. Click on the dmg file to open it and copy the four files (by dragging) to any convenient folder. The files are:
- SDMdng - the java app
- sdmdng.properties - its properties file
- swap_bytes - a small program to reverse the bytes within an image
- dng_validate - an Adobe program to convert the DNG files to a format that Preview can display
Note that the four files must be in the same folder. To run the app, just double click the SDMdng icon. When the app has finished converting the raw files to DNG form, Preview will be invoked to display them.
The Windows Program
Download the zipfile here. Double-click it and extract the four files it contains to any convenient folder. The files are:
- sdmdng.jar - the java app
- sdmdng.properties - its properties file
- swap_bytes.exe - a small program to reverse the bytes within an image
- runsdndng.bat - a small bat file to start the jar if double-clicking it doesn not work
Note that the four files must be in the same folder. To run the app, just double click the sdmdng.jar file. If this doesn't work (e.g it starts up Nokia OVI) then double-click the runsdmdng.bat file instead.
As written, the jar expects to find irfanview (used to display the slideshow) in the "C:\Program Files\irfanview" directory. If it is located anywhere else, edit the sdmdng.properties file (using Notepad) and amend the "ifpath=..." line to point to the correct directory.
Version History:
- April 7th 2011 - now allows searching for CRW files in any folder (not just 'nnnCANON\CRW' folders) and Windows version now has working Browse button
- March 9th 2011 - initial version
For other SDM and CHDK-related stuff of mine, see here