Sony alpha 1 HIF files - filetype noch recognised

[Roland Rick]

Hi guys, trying to open Sony a1 HIF files end up in this error message,"The file type is not supported.":

[Dan C]

Hi @Roland Rick,

Please see the following link for our RAW support list within Affinity -

Unfortunately the Sony A1 is not currently a supported device here, my apologies. We hope that this device will be added to LibRAW and therefore Affinity in a future update  

[Roland Rick]

Hi @Dan C, thanks for reply. Aehm… if I open a .HEIC made with the iPhone 11 Pro, that opens directly, without even touching the RAW developer engine...

Is HIC/HEIC/HIF/HEIF (however, should be all the same) supposed to be a RAW format?

FYC: On the a1, I can set it to 4:2:0 or 4:2:2, that's not possible on the iPhone.

On 8/21/2021 at 12:30 PM, Dan C said:

Hi @Roland Rick,

Please see the following link for our RAW support list within Affinity -

Unfortunately the Sony A1 is not currently a supported device here, my apologies. We hope that this device will be added to LibRAW and therefore Affinity in a future update  

[fde101]

HEIF is a container format capable of holding various types of image data, including video.  It generally is NOT a RAW format.

HEIC is a more specific flavor of HEIF, which refers to HEIF files containing HEVC image data.  HEVC is actually a video codec but Apple evidently is coding many of their still images in essence as a single frame of video might be.  The codec is designed to provide similar quality to JPEG at half the size - it is a lossy image format akin to JPEG, definitely not RAW.

From what I am finding in a quick Google search, it appears that Sony is also using HEIC but is calling it HEIF.  While technically accurate, it is less specific than what Apple is doing, more correctly calling it HEIC due to the actual data format stored inside the HEIF container.  Also, the Sony cameras are evidently using 16-bit color, while Apple's products are generally limited to 8-bit color, so it may be that the ability to read 16-bit HEIC files is the piece that is missing?

See also: https://diglloyd.com/blog/2021/20210723_0938-SonyA1-HIF-vs-RAW.html

[Roland Rick]

Hi @fde101, thanks for reply and the diglloyd article.

Well, I see, there are a lot of things to do for developers until this HIF/HEIF/HIC/HEIC higgledy-piggledy gets untangled. Capture One, Lightroom: none of them can handle the Sony HIF files. So, at the moment, this format is kinda useless until you edit with Image Edge Desktop … wait ... and at the moment trying this, I just realise, even Sony's own viewer and editing software can not handle it prior to install an add-on 🙈 https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/heifext/download/index.php - what a mess.

Side note: MacOS Big Sur 11.5.2 can display it, but the fan starts making noise

Conclusion: that format out of the a1 and 7sm3 as well as FX3 (for those 3 models, download is offered on the link above) is kinda useless until I can use it directly in developing software used normally.

 

 

22 hours ago, fde101 said:

HEIF is a container format capable of holding various types of image data, including video.  It generally is NOT a RAW format.

HEIC is a more specific flavor of HEIF, which refers to HEIF files containing HEVC image data.  HEVC is actually a video codec but Apple evidently is coding many of their still images in essence as a single frame of video might be.  The codec is designed to provide similar quality to JPEG at half the size - it is a lossy image format akin to JPEG, definitely not RAW.

From what I am finding in a quick Google search, it appears that Sony is also using HEIC but is calling it HEIF.  While technically accurate, it is less specific than what Apple is doing, more correctly calling it HEIC due to the actual data format stored inside the HEIF container.  Also, the Sony cameras are evidently using 16-bit color, while Apple's products are generally limited to 8-bit color, so it may be that the ability to read 16-bit HEIC files is the piece that is missing?

See also: https://diglloyd.com/blog/2021/20210723_0938-SonyA1-HIF-vs-RAW.html