Tag Archives: #15 year old RAW files

photography

Lost, Recovered and Altered

As a result of some inept file naming and flawed file sorting 15 years ago, I misplaced a whole batch of photos exposed in January 2011.

At the time, I was unable to work effectively with the CR2 RAW files from my Canon EOS 7D, so I named some key JPGs and left the CR2s alone.

I subsequently moved the named JPGs, separating them from the RAW files. The result was that I had only a few of the photos I’d exposed. Among the missing images was a selection I’d made on a frigid morning along the Connecticut River at East Deerfield, Mass.

Luckily, I’d preserved the original download on a hard drive and made a copy that I stored in Dublin. On a trip to Ireland in 2024, I recovered the missing files and reintegrated them into my master files.

Last night, I used DxO PureRAW 5 to convert and correct the CR2 files before importing them into PhotoLab 9 for adjustment.

I also imported a selected image into Lightroom and made a JPG directly from the CR2 without cosmetic alteration.

Below are both images. These appear substantially sharper than the JPGs I produced 15 years ago on my old Mac, using an antique version of GraphicConverter. I was delighted with the modern results.

Maine Central SD45-2 618 crosses the Connecticut River at East Deerfield in January 2011. Image made from a CR2 RAW file, converted and corrected using PureRaw5 with nominal adjustments with PhotoLab to improve contrast.
The same file as above without corrections or adjustments, converted to JPG with Lightroom. These images could make wall-sized prints. I was astounded by the level of detail in the original CR2 RAW files.

“Tracking the Light: Reinterpreting 15-Year-Old Digital Files.”