Support for RAW photo files from Panasonic DC-GH6 Camera

[SCleg]

I can not open RAW files from my Panasonic GH6 camera. See attached file. This is not due to any issues with memory cards, computers, operating systems, or the camera. Here is the reply from Panasonic. Will you be providing support for RAW photo files from the Panasonic GH6 camera soon? Thank you.

Dear Mr. Steven Cleghorn,

I hope this email finds you well. In regards to your query and following further investigation on your case, we would like to advise you that the reported issue is not a fault with the unit as the supplied/compatible software recommend by Panasonic works and that means that the unit is functioning within its specifications. That being said, you may contact the Adobe affinity team for support and help regarding this to confirm if the camera is compatible or not as we are not able to guarantee the functionality since it is a third party software. I trust that the above information will be of assistance to you, however, if you should have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us. Kind Regards, Eva Panasonic Customer Care Team

[NathanC]

Hi @SCleg welcome to the forums,

Photo does not yet support RAW files from this camera, as soon as support has been added it will be updated on the below thread.

 

 

[SCleg]

Thanks so much. That's a relief. All the best

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, SCleg said:

That being said, you may contact the Adobe affinity team for support ...

Maybe someone should let Panasonic's customer care team know that Affinity is not an Adobe product? 

[IanSG]

As of a couple of minutes ago the Panasonic GH6 wasn't supported by Adobe's DNG converter - it will probably be several months before LibRaw (and hence AP) supports it. 

[SCleg]

I mentioned Affinity to the Panasonic people. They only have one editing software they mention can handle GH6 RAW and it's really not worth working in. 

[molex18]

Come on serif, please be faster than adobe.

[IanSG]

1 hour ago, molex18 said:

Come on serif, please be faster than adobe.

Not going to happen!  Serif, along with many others, use LibRaw to provide RAW support so the timing's out of their control.  Adobe seem to have much closer links with the camera manufacturers and will probably always be quicker to offer support for new formats but they're not there yet.  

[Fixfocus]

Fingers crossed that the Affinity team soon fixes support for GH6 raw files. Until then the old and reliable GH5 will keep on doing all the hard work ...

 

[IanSG]

2 hours ago, Fixfocus said:

Fingers crossed that the Affinity team soon fixes support for GH6 raw files. Until then the old and reliable GH5 will keep on doing all the hard work ...

 

Hi @Fixfocus and welcome to the forums.  As I've already mentioned in this thread the timing's down to Libraw, not Serif.  Using Adobe's DNG converter might provide a workround, but the the GH6 wasn't supported when I last looked about a week ago. 

Adobe's last update was in February, and they usualy work on a 90 day release cycle.  I've no way of knowing how accurate it is, but it's rumoured that Panasonic changed the GH6 firmware shortly before the camera went on sale and this is causing delays.  

Libraw's release cycle is longer and is much more influenced by public demand.  If you're going to try crossing your fingers I think you'll end up with very painful hands!

[molex18]

Adobe's Camera Raw supports GH6 raw files for almost one month now.

https://helpx.adobe.com/de/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-supported-cameras.html

DNG Converter is working.

Where is Affinity Support?

[GarryP]

As has already been mentioned above, the Affinity applications (mostly) use LibRaw for RAW processing, see the first thread linked to in this thread by NathanC.
Here’s the latest answer (from yesterday) about GH6 from LibRaw: https://www.libraw.org/comment/6411#comment-6411
If you want your camera supported then you will need to ask the LibRaw people to support it.

[molex18]

5 minutes ago, GarryP said:

As has already been mentioned above, the Affinity applications (mostly) use LibRaw for RAW processing, see the first thread linked to in this thread by NathanC.
Here’s the latest answer (from yesterday) about GH6 from LibRaw: https://www.libraw.org/comment/6411#comment-6411
If you want your camera supported then you will need to ask the LibRaw people to support it.

Thank you for the answer.

Adobe DNG Converter works and that is a usable workaround.

 

[rayymlai]

@affinity team, please help expedite GH6 RW2 raw support. I love your product. However, the interim workflow to use DNG converter to convert RW2 to DNG is slow.  My macbook still runs on MacOS Mojave since I need to sustain some legacy apps.  Currently, Affinity photo supports GH5 RW2 format but not GH6. Unfortunately, the recent libraw forum indicates that they won't release gh6 rw2 support in the next release...

[Musoke]

On 3/22/2022 at 4:04 PM, NathanC said:

Hi @SCleg welcome to the forums,

Photo does not yet support RAW files from this camera, as soon as support has been added it will be updated on the below thread.

 

 

unfornunately I am working with GH6, so I hope you will be able to decode rhe RW2 soon. Is there any shedule?

Best

Musoke

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @Musoke

As mentioned in the linked thread, and my earlier post in this thread, Serif are dependant upon the LibRaw project (on Windows) and Apple (on macOS and iOS) for RAW processing capabilities.

As Serif has no agency with either of these two organisations they cannot give schedules for updates in this area.

If you want to know if a camera is currently supported then please see the linked thread.

If you want to know if a camera may be supported in the future then I would suggest asking the relevant external organisation(s) for information.

[enginpost]

On 8/1/2022 at 7:37 AM, GarryP said:

Welcome to the forums @Musoke

As mentioned in the linked thread, and my earlier post in this thread, Serif are dependant upon the LibRaw project (on Windows) and Apple (on macOS and iOS) for RAW processing capabilities.

As Serif has no agency with either of these two organisations they cannot give schedules for updates in this area.

If you want to know if a camera is currently supported then please see the linked thread.

If you want to know if a camera may be supported in the future then I would suggest asking the relevant external organisation(s) for information.

I just spoke with the LibRaw team and currently their for-profit tool "Raw Digger" (https://www.rawdigger.com/news/rawdigger-1-4-6-beta) can open .RW2 files from the GH6 (if you download the beta and open a GH6 .RW2, then you can see it open the file. So I believe that should mean that the library now supports it. Affinity just needs to devote a sprint to incorporating the library update so we can work with GH6 .RW2 files in Photo Development persona.

Having said that, Adobe Raw to DNG tool now supports GH6 .RW2 to .DNG file conversion. You can download the latest and batch convert .RW2 files to DNG and work with them inside Affinity Photo (doesn't it feel bad, though, to have to open even a free adobe tool so you can work with a raw file?)

[stickyfeet]

Affinity still doesn't seem to be able to open Panasonic GH6 raw files. This means I will have to find an alternative photo editor. The camera is not exactly new now afterall. I'm really surprised and disappointed this update hasn't been made.

[fizzler4K]

Too bad the Panasonic LUMIX DC-GH6 raw files are still not supported by Apple/Serif after more than one year of it's release. Maybe the release of the new fantastic Panasonic LUMIX S5MII and S5MIIX models speed things a little up  

[rayymlai]

It's disappointing to see Affinity photo 2.x still does not support raw edit of gh6 photos because:

1. competitors (e.g. Luminar Neo, Adobe) can edit gh6 raw files a few months back. for example, Luminar releases gh6 raw edits earlier this year, despite libraw has not scheduled the release (but the branch shows the code changes made).

2. libraw already updates the gh6 raw edits https://www.libraw.org/#updatepolicy on Apr 27, 2023.

I understand product software may have a very different priorities but it's just disappointing to see other competitors already release the gh6 support much much earlier this year...

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by rayymlai

[walt.farrell]

4 hours ago, rayymlai said:

libraw already updates the gh6 raw edits https://www.libraw.org/#updatepolicy on Apr 27, 2023.

That link does not say that gh6 is supported. It just tells you when the support will be released, and says that it will come in a major release, e.g., in LibRAW 0.22 whenever it is released because the point releases like the current 0.21.1 which is in Affinity 2.1 do not add cameras.

Once LibRAW 0.22 is released, Serif should pick it up for the next Affinity V2 release after that.

 

[michal.siegel]

It has been one year and several months and still no support for the GH6 raw files. I mean, how frustrating that is, every single other editors support that for a long time already. This lack of effort makes me switch to Capture One unfortunately.