ORF File Format?

[Dion Houston Sr.]

Hi all,

Have a very unusual use case -- I have about 300 photos I recently took that are on a computer without (and cannot be connected to) the Internet, and I just found out (at least our) Windows 10 requires a CODEC pack to read ORF files. I also can't install any software. Yay

I am, however, fairly adept and changing file formats - I wrote a GIS shapefile library for fun previously

Questions:

- Is the ORF file format published anywhere?
- If you have knowledge of the format, would it be possible in a reasonable amount of time (a few days at most) to develop a quick and dirty converter?

Since ORF is a raw format, I assume the format is not distantly different from DNG, but not knowing the spec makes it hard to assess...

Thanks!

 

[Dion Houston Sr.]

I should probably mention, by the power of Google, I found out ORF is a raw camera format used by Olympus.

 

[mawz]

Adobe's DNG Converter will convert ORF files to DNG.

Both are fundamentally TIFF files (pretty much every RAW file out there is based on the basic TIFF container, it's very flexible, easily abused and doesn't really care what sort of data you stuff into it, plus the camera makers had to support it anyways as it used to be a common camera output type).

DNG is published spec, ORF isn't. There are however open source RAW converters out there which are ORF compatible and thus can function as documentation for the format.

 

[WhidbeyLVR]

You can’t use sneakernet (a thumb drive and your shoes, car, etc.) to solve your problem?

I can’t help you with ORF translation. Sorry.

 

[Armoured]

If you're not going to install extra software, use jpeg generated by the camera.

 

[Dion Houston Sr.]

OK, thanks all. I'll look for something to see if it looks easy-ish, otherwise, I just found out I can apparently edit RAW in the camera and it'll save it as JPG. Less than desirable for 300+ photos, but possibly quicker than writing a converter as a VBA macro.

Sneakernet is SO tempting, but... Trying to do the Right Thing

 

[PakkyT]

Both are fundamentally TIFF files (pretty much every RAW file out there is based on the basic TIFF container,

Just to be clear, while the container might be based on the same used for TIFF files, ORF files are definitely not TIFF files as far as the data contained within.

 

[Dion Houston Sr.]

Just to be clear, while the container might be based on the same used for TIFF files, ORF files are definitely not TIFF files as far as the data contained within.

That is a great point -- since Windows gave a CODEC error, I assumed that was the case. Was just hoping that there is something close enough. Since it's a lossless format and doesn't appear to be compressed, I'm just hoping for an easy conversion.

 

[PakkyT]

Since it's [orf files] a lossless format and doesn't appear to be compressed,

Actually I think ORF files are a compressed format, but it is a lossless compression like a zip file rather than lossy like a JPG file.

 

[Dion Houston Sr.]

Actually I think ORF files are a compressed format, but it is a lossless compression like a zip file rather than lossy like a JPG file.

Oh, in which case I have minimal interest in trying to convert. Thanks . I looked at the code for RawStudio, and it appears to use configuration files not in plain text to convert. That too would be less than trivial .

Thinking the Raw Edit route might be the best for this one-off, and maybe set a myset for this. I shoot in RAW 99.9999% of the time...

 

[WhidbeyLVR]

One other thought. Is the problem that your camera is too new for the currently installed codecs? In that case, you might be able to binary edit the exif info to an older but compatible camera. I have used exiftool to do that before. If that is the only problem, then writing a small program to change the camera info in the exif partition might be an easy job.

 

[Dion Houston Sr.]

One other thought. Is the problem that your camera is too new for the currently codecs? In that case, you might be able to binary edit the exif info to an older but compatible camera. I have used exiftool to do that before. If that is the only problem, then writing a small program to change the camera info in the exif partition might be an easy job.

Thanks, but I don't think so. It's a E-M1.2. Suppose it doesn't hurt to try though...

 

[Erich_H]

So, what's wrong with the USB-stick route?
No USB port on the computer?

Just wondering....

Or download the Microsoft RAW image extension
to the USB stick...

 

[whumber]

You can just load them back onto the camera and use that to generate JPEGs out of them.

 

[Erich_H]

You can just load them back onto the camera and use that to generate JPEGs out of them.

Or just take the SD card from the camera to another computer. I'm starting to think this was a trick question from the start....

 

[Dion Houston Sr.]

Nah, not a trick question Just didn't feel the details were particularly relevant.

The photos I shot were classified, and they went on a computer on a classified network that I don't have administrator access to. I already asked the IT guys if they could install the codecs and they couldn't. I can't put the photos on an unclassified machine, and the machine doesn't have any photo editing software on it. So limited choices

Seems like the best option at this point is just to put them back in the camera, edit them there so it converts it to JPG, and then re-import. That might take some time, but can't think of any other route at the moment . The harder part will be remembering to switch RAW->JPG next time

 

[mfturner]

The guys who keep up DCRAW might be worth contacting, maybe they could Gove you some ideas?

 

[whumber]

Nah, not a trick question Just didn't feel the details were particularly relevant.

The photos I shot were classified, and they went on a computer on a classified network that I don't have administrator access to. I already asked the IT guys if they could install the codecs and they couldn't. I can't put the photos on an unclassified machine, and the machine doesn't have any photo editing software on it. So limited choices

Seems like the best option at this point is just to put them back in the camera, edit them there so it converts it to JPG, and then re-import. That might take some time, but can't think of any other route at the moment . The harder part will be remembering to switch RAW->JPG next time

If it's a classified network I wouldn't bother with raw files, getting any other software installed to process them will be a massive headache.

 

[PakkyT]

The harder part will be remembering to switch RAW->JPG next time

Switch the camera to RAW+JPG and then you will always have the choice of both file formats to download or open. No need to remember to switch back and forth between formats.

 

[RichardC]

So, what's wrong with the USB-stick route?
No USB port on the computer?

Just wondering....

Or download the Microsoft RAW image extension
to the USB stick...

His employers would shoot him.