RAW files

A RAW file is what the camera's sensor recorded, with a small picture the camera made of it inside. Cobalt Photo shows the camera's picture at once — and develops the sensor's data when you need more.

In the viewer

A RAW file opens at once with the picture the camera put in it. Some cameras make that picture smaller than the shot: zoom in past it and the whole shot is developed from the sensor's data, which takes a second or more — Sharp when zoomed in.

In the editor

The editor opens a RAW file developed from the sensor: the whole frame, more left in bright skies and dark corners, and the white balance on the real light. Light's highlights can bring back a sky that is white in the camera's picture. The edit works in 16 bits.

A RAW file is never replaced: Save puts a JPEG beside it. To keep all 16 bits, Save a copy… as TIFF or PNG (Settings → Editor → 16-bit TIFF and PNG).

In Convert

Two ways: As the camera made it — the camera's picture, its colours and style, at once — or Develop anew from the sensor, as a 16-bit TIFF, with white balance, less noise, colours and a bright sky brought back as you choose — RAW files in Convert. Next to the originals, converted RAW files go into a folder of their own, so they are not taken for the camera's JPEGs.

In the manager

• When the camera saved a RAW file and a JPEG of each shot, the manager shows them as one thumbnail, and stars, labels, moving, copying, renaming and deleting go to both — Settings → Manager → A shot's RAW and JPEG as one.
• A RAW file is never written to. Stars, labels and the rest go into an .xmp file beside it, as Lightroom and other photo apps expect.
• Turning a RAW file is on the screen only.

Which cameras

23 RAW formats from 17 camera makers, and DNG from many more cameras and phones — the list.