Black Screen with (some) ARWs from Sony A7 IV

[LouFeltzer]

I would like to open some ARW-Files from my Sony Alpha 7 IV in Affinity Photo 2 (2.2.1 on macOS 14.1). But 20% from the foto series, only shows a black picture after opening in Affinity Photo.
The "black-files" can be opened normal in macOS Preview and in Photos.
Is there a way or a workaround to open these ARW-Files?
The only indicator ore differenc betwene thes files are the size. The corrupted RAWs are bigger (71-96 MB) than the working ones (39-42 MB).

Black_A7400091.ARW Black_A7400100.ARW OK_A7400001.ARW OK_A7400024.ARW

Edited November 1, 2023 by LouFeltzer

[stokerg]

Hi @LouFeltzerand Welcome to the Forums,

As you are on a Mac, can you try opening one of the RAW files that loads as black and click Window>Develop Assistant Settings and change the RAW engine from Serif LABS to Apple (Core Image RAW)  Then close the Develop Assistant Settings, close the RAW file and then open it again.  Does it now load correctly?

 

[LouFeltzer]

It worked just perfectly. Thank you very much.
Is that a bug in Affinity Photo or are my RAWs faulty?
Can I get other problems if I continue to use the RAW engine from Apple (Core Image RAW).

[stokerg]

Hi @LouFeltzer,

This looks like a bug in the Serif LABS RAW engine.  As other apps can open those RAW files fine, so I don't think there's anything wrong with the RAW files.  I'll get this logged with the Developers if it isn't already.

2 minutes ago, LouFeltzer said:

Can I get other problems if I continue to use the RAW engine from Apple (Core Image RAW).

You shouldn't run into any problems using the Apple RAW Engine  

[LouFeltzer]

Thank you very much.
If they need further examples, I would be happy to provide them.

 

[R C-R]

7 hours ago, stokerg said:

his looks like a bug in the Serif LABS RAW engine.  As other apps can open those RAW files fine, so I don't think there's anything wrong with the RAW files. 

FWIW, I can open the Black_A7400091.ARW in AP V2 & it shows in the Develop Persona using the Serif engine as a very dark wood-like image, so not completely black. The Black_A7400100.ARW one shows as a half white, half black image.

Weirdly, if I switch to the Apple engine, both files appear as all white on my Mac. I wonder if this has something to do with my running Catalina on my iMac?

 

[stokerg]

17 hours ago, R C-R said:

I wonder if this has something to do with my running Catalina on my iMac?

 

Yeah, Catalina doesn't have support for the Sony A7, as confirmed here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/101186 so switching to the Apple RAW Engine won't help you in this case.

Odd you can see something with the file called Black_A7400091.ARW when using Serif LABS, as that opens completely black for me.  Even increasing the Brightness/Exposure doesn't help show some of the image and the Histogram is pretty much blank.  See the attached screenshot, I've increased all the sliders and there still hasn't been a change in the Histogram.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, stokerg said:

Odd you can see something with the file called Black_A7400091.ARW when using Serif LABS, as that opens completely black for me. 

This is what I see, so it probably is not even remotely close to how it should look, but it is not all black:

Black_A7400091.afphoto

[LouFeltzer]

Hello again,
are there any signs that the problem with the Serif LABS engine will be fixed in the near future?
Because the problem still exists. I can open and edit my RAW files with the Apple engine, but unfortunately I don't have many of the convenience features that I have with the Serif LABS engine (automatic lens profiles & output of the developed RAW with embedded layers for later post-processing).
To bridge a certain period of time, Apple's own engine is an option but not a solution in the long term.
Many thanks for the information.