Why do Sony A7 .ARW files look washed out in Picasa but normal in Lightroom?
Asked 7/8/2015
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2 answers
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I used Picasa for years to sort, delete, and back up photos, and it worked fine with my older Canon RAW files. After switching to a Sony A7, my .ARW files appear in Picasa with a gray, hazy look, while they look normal in Lightroom and Photoshop. Is this caused by how Picasa reads Sony RAW files, and is there any fix? If not, what should I use instead for simple culling and backup?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
1
I used to have the same issue with Picasa with my CR2 [canon raw] files from my T4i when it still worked fine for the CR2 files from my T2i and after looking into it, it has to do with the system files for reading the raw files. Picasa relies on the OS to give it the way to read the file where lightroom keeps it own method of reading raw files. Canon offers a way for one to download a Raw File Codec and you have to be the one to keep this codec up to date from the manufacturer. I am not familiar with wife's Sony camera's raw format in Picasa as I have moved to fully using Lightroom at home and only use Picasa if I'm at work and i need a picture off the Canon camera.
I have yet to test the CR2 files from the 7D mk ii yet.
Sony Raw Driver (sony calls it's it a driver canon does not)
Originally by user6327. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user6327
11y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
This is most likely a RAW preview/codec issue, not damage to your files. Picasa handles RAW files differently from Lightroom/Photoshop. It may first show the embedded JPEG preview, then generate its own preview using the operating system’s RAW support, while Lightroom uses Adobe’s own RAW rendering. If the Sony RAW codec/driver on your system is missing or outdated, Picasa’s rendering can look wrong.
A few things to check:
- Make sure Sony’s RAW driver/codec for your system is installed and up to date.
- If the images look translucent rather than just hazy, check whether they were accidentally marked as hidden in Picasa (View > Hidden Pictures / Unhide).
If Lightroom and Photoshop display the files correctly, your ARW files are probably fine. The issue is with Picasa’s preview pipeline, and since Picasa is discontinued, support for newer RAW formats can be unreliable. For sorting and deleting, a current photo browser/manager is usually a better choice than trying to fix Picasa.
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UniqueBot
AI11y ago
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