Question about how Apple Photos handles RAW+JPEG pairs

[swandy]

I used Aperture and then switched to Photos when Apple stopped supporting Aperture. I am trying to understand how Photos handles RAW+JPEG pairs. I shoot RAW+JPEG with both of my digital cameras and Apple finally supported the RAW files from my Olympus EM5.3 camera.

But when I want to work with the RAW file and use the menu item to switch the pair to use the RAW file as the original, some apps (in particular RAW Power) which have extensions don't get what the app sees as a RAW file. I contacted the developers of RAW Power (who actually used to work on Apple Aperture) and they said the issue was the way Photos sends the RAW file unless you "Revert to Original" (even if there were no previous adjustments made in Photos) before you tell Photos to use the RAW as an original.

Someone in a photography forum suggested instructing Photos to import the pair as "RAW+JPEG" instead of "JPEG+RAW" (which I don't think is possible) or to import the RAW and JPEG files separately - which seems to work but now there are two image files shown in the Library.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Thanks

 

[swandy]

Sorry to bump this post but nobody has any ideas?

 

[r.harris1]

I did a little work trying to write Photos extensions a few years back and at the time, they (extensions) didn't get the raw file, just the demosaiced TIFF. There was no option for them to receive the original raw. I don't know if that has changed in the interim, but it doesn't sound like it has.

That said...

I couldn't tell if RAWPower was actually editing a raw when I ran the extension on a raw image, but the Affinity Develop extension claims to be. Maybe try a copy of Affinity Photo if you don't already have it and see how that works on your JPEG/raw pairs. I don't have any to test myself, just raw, but in theory it should work the same way.

 

[swandy]

I did a little work trying to write Photos extensions a few years back and at the time, they (extensions) didn't get the raw file, just the demosaiced TIFF. There was no option for them to receive the original raw. I don't know if that has changed in the interim, but it doesn't sound like it has.

That said...

I couldn't tell if RAWPower was actually editing a raw when I ran the extension on a raw image, but the Affinity Develop extension claims to be. Maybe try a copy of Affinity Photo if you don't already have it and see how that works on your JPEG/raw pairs. I don't have any to test myself, just raw, but in theory it should work the same way.

Thanks for that explanation and your experience. And that might possibly explain what the person from Gentlemen Coders - developers of RAW Power was trying to explain to me. And from what I have experienced and read there is definitely an "issue" with the way Photos handles RAW+JPEG pairs. Only resolution seems to import the two files separately (Image Capture seems to handle this pretty well) and that seems to solve the way extensions receive their files but it doesn't solve the issue with the Edit With command. Thanks.

 

[r.harris1]

Thanks for that explanation and your experience. And that might possibly explain what the person from Gentlemen Coders - developers of RAW Power was trying to explain to me. And from what I have experienced and read there is definitely an "issue" with the way Photos handles RAW+JPEG pairs. Only resolution seems to import the two files separately (Image Capture seems to handle this pretty well) and that seems to solve the way extensions receive their files but it doesn't solve the issue with the Edit With command. Thanks.

I do think the Edit With command is operating “as expected”, though perhaps not “as desired”.