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Lumix RAW File Epiphany . . .

I just experienced an ‘oh wow, you must be kidding’ moment.

For more than 15 years I’ve been making photos with Lumix LX-series cameras. One of the principle advantages of these cameras is their ability to capture images using both RAW and JPG.

Recently, I’ve been reexamining my Lumix RAW files using DxO PureRaw software, which corrects for lens aberrations and converts the files to DNG format.

For this TTL post, I thought it would be neat to compare the camera-RAW file, the un-adjusted PureRaw file, and my cropped but otherwise unadjusted RAW file.

I didn’t expect to learn that all of my Lumix RAW files exposed since 2009 have had MORE image area (albeit distorted) than I was aware of!

In other words, I’d never seen the full picture before.

Below are the three variations of a single Lumix RAW image that I exposed at New York’s Grand Central Terminal in July 2018.

Each is described in the captions.

Lumix RAW file directly out of the camera without cropping or cosmetic adjustment. This was converted to Jpg, but not scaled or otherwise altered.
Lumix RAW converted to DNG format, but presented without cropping or cosmetic adjustment. This was converted to Jpg using Lightroom, but not scaled or otherwise altered.
Lumix RAW converted to DNG format and cropped to eliminate the areas without lens coverage. Compare this image with the top photo in terms coverage. Notice how much more image area is at the sides compared to the top photo. In simple terms, I’ve been getting more covereage with each photo than I had been aware of. WOW!

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