Apple Engine opens supported camera's RAW as black

[WoodWorkerPaul]

I use a Canon D6 Mark II which produces a .CR2 RAW file format.  When importing using the Serif engine I was getting a purple haze, so using the Assistant Manager I changed the engine to Apple.  I closed Affinity Photo and tried the same file again.  Now CR2 files open as completely black.  My camera is listed as a supported format on the Apple web site:  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207972.  I will attach an example file here.  I am able to view this file in Photos on my iMac.   

IMG_0127_RAW.CR2

[MEB]

Hi WoodWorkerPaul,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

That camera is only supported if you are running macOS High Sierra. Are you sure you are not looking just at the thumbnail on Apple Photos? Double-click the thumbnail to see it in full screen - are you able to see it or just a grey exclamation point sign/icon?

 

[R C-R]

Just as a point of reference, I am running macOS Sierra (not High Sierra). If I set Affinity Photo to use the Apple engine, when I click the Develop button after opening this file, Affinity Photo crashes.

[WoodWorkerPaul]

Hi MEB!  Thank you for the quick response!  

 

I am running macOS High Sierra (version 10.13.1), so that shouldn't be the issue.  I am running Affinity Photo 1.6.6. 

 

I am unsure I understand the thumbnail question.  Here are the steps I follow:

1.  I start with Affinity Photo closed.  I open it with no document loaded. 

2.  On the Affinity menu bar, I navigate to File>Open and select the desired *.CR2 file.  

3.  Message appears along the top for a moment, "Affinity Photo - loading 1 document".  Once that finishes, I get a giant black screen.  The histogram also reflects all data along the left edge.  

4.  I checked Assistant Manager to confirm engine being used is the Apple engine.  I will attach a couple of screen shots.  

 

I hope I am doing something wrong!  

[WoodWorkerPaul]

MEB - 

 

I’m curious if it has been determined whether there is something I need to be doing differently?  I would very much like to be Affinity centric (it keeps things affordable and simple for me) even during my CR2 processing.  So if I’m erring, that would be excellent!  Alternatively, if this is an issue that is known to be in the pipeline for further development that would give me some hope that eventually I can stay in Affinity for my entire process!  

 

If nothing further is known at this time, that would also be helpful to understand.  After all, my camera (EOS D6 mk II hasn’t been around long).  But if it will be a while, I can begin looking for alternative solutions for my CR2 processing (which I’d prefer not to do).  

 

Thank you! 

 

 

[v_kyr]

Quote

I am unsure I understand the thumbnail question.

The Canon RAW file has also a smaller jpg thumbnail embedded which might be shown instead inside the Photo's image browser, so MEB's question was if you can enlarge that one as a full shown up image preview (...are you able to see it or just a grey exclamation point sign/icon) here, which in turn would mean that Apple Photo then indeed can handle your RAW file.

If that doesn't work you have to use Canon's own supplied DPP or some other third party RAW processor (DxO, Rawtherapee etc.) in order to develop your D6 Mark II raws, until Apple and/or APh do really support your cams raw format!

[WoodWorkerPaul]

v_kyr - thanks for the clarification!  

 

To make sure I'm tracking with you . . . I shoot JPEG + RAW, so my camera spits out one of each type of file.  Before importing my photos into any photo management software I rename all RAW files to append the word "RAW" at the end of their name (but before the .CR2 extension).  This way I am always dealing with the raw file when I mean to, as opposed to accidentally grabbing the similarly named JPEG.  So this separate JPEG file is not the cause of my issue.  

 

To start, I navigated to my CR2 file using OS X's Preview App.  I was able to preview the CR2 file.  (See third screen shot, below).  I then proceeded to check out the same file in Affinity.  This time, I decided to use the Affinity Media Browser to navigate to my pre-processing folder.  I was able to see thumbnails of all files - whether JPEG or CR2.  If I drag JPEG into the Affinity window it opens fine.  If I drag the corresponding CR2 file into Affinity I get the black screen.  I'll attach a couple of screen shots to show what I mean.

 

I also tried to develop the black CR2 file, but it was all black in the Photo Persona as well.  There was no change when I switched back to the Develop Persona.  

 

I am open to additional ideas to try!  

 

The D6 mk II seems to be a reasonably popular camera, so maybe this is something that will be fixed relatively quickly.  I may just have to go with DPP for now.  Not ideal, but I can make it work!  Maybe I'll give Lightroom a run.  I just really hate the idea of a subscription. . . 

 

Cheers! 

[WoodWorkerPaul]

**Update**

 

I took some shots in format M-RAW, which is still a CR2 raw file but is a smaller file size.  These files all behave exactly as they should!  On this basis, I think my hardware may be the limiting factor.  Affinity handles the smaller raw files just fine when the Apple engine is selected in Assistant Manager.  

 

I will upgrade my RAM (I am currently running with 8GB) and see if that makes a difference.  

[v_kyr]

Well mRAWs (medium) and sRAW (small) have less resolution than the common RAWs thus the smaller file sizes. Usually running with 8GB RAM should be Ok since that is what most Macs do nowadays come with as default equiped. - Can Apple Photo open those Canon full size RAWs on your system?

[WoodWorkerPaul]

Yes, Apple Photos can open all of these files with no apparent issue.  (I have 8 GB RAM, in case I didn’t mention it before.) 

[MEB]

Hi WoodWorkerPaul,

Sorry the delay getting back to you. Thanks for the file.

I'm checking this on macOS High Sierra. I do expect it to open correctly. If not i will fill a bug report and pass the file to the dev team to be checked.

[WoodWorkerPaul]

MEB: thank you for the update!  No worries about the delay.  I am impressed that there is a human being paying attention to this forum.  Your attentiveness makes me all the more desirous of staying Loyal to Affinity!  (I have talk about it with anybody who cares and even gifted the iPad app to my friends for Christmas!)

[WoodWorkerPaul]

This underlying issue persists, but I have found a workaround for now.  I have downloaded the Adobe DNG Converter for free.  I convert my CR2 files into DNG files which appear to work seamlessly with the Serif Labs RAW engine.  Contrary to my prior thoughts, I have concluded that this is not a hardware issue, so I did not upgrade my computer.  It will be nice to do away with this intermediate conversion sometime in the future.  But this solution works for now. 

 

Thanks all!