Using dcraw from the command line

dcraw is an open source computer program which is able to read numerous raw image formats, typically produced by high-end digital cameras. dcraw converts these images into the standard PPM and TIFF image formats. This conversion is sometimes referred to as developing a raw image (by analogy with the process of film development) since it renders raw image sensor data (a "digital negative") into a viewable form. dcraw (pronounced "dee-see-raw"), and it's become a standard tool within and without the Open Source world. It's small (about 8000 lines), portable (standard C libraries only), free (both "gratis" and "libre"), and when used skillfully, produces better quality output than the tools provided by the camera vendor. dcraw is written by Dave Coffin in portable ANSI C. Because many raw image formats are specific to one make or model of camera, dcraw is frequently updated to support new models. For many proprietary raw image formats, dcraw's source code (based largely on reverse-engineering) is the best—or only—publicly-available documentation. dcraw currently supports the raw formats of several hundred cameras (including intentionally obfuscated formats). dcraw is built around the Unix philosophy. The program is a command line tool which takes a list of raw image files to process, along with any image adjustment options desired. This makes dcraw easy to use from shell scripts. dcraw also serves as the basis for numerous high-level raw image-processing applications (such as viewers and converters), both free and open source software as well as proprietary software. In the conference, the author Dave Coffin will show us a comparison of various methods for de-mosaic, de-noising, highlight reconstruction, and color management. Also, he will be open to answer our questions about raw files and digital photography.