In my last post I mentioned that I was going to purchase a Canon PowerShot S95 digital camera. My primary reason for this purchase is that the PowerShot S95 captures RAW images. I have become accustomed to shooting RAW format with my Nikon D300, but there are times when I don't want to haul the big Nikon around. It is nice to have a small 'pocket' camera that still has a high-quality lens, a good sensor and the ability to capture images in RAW.
So I was very excited to try out my new camera just before Thanksgiving. I took several shots in RAW format and went back to my computer to load them into Lightroom. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the Canon Powershot S95 raw format iags cannot be rad by Lightroom.
Of course, the camera ships with Canon software that allows the user to view the RAW images, and make very basic adjustments. It is a very poor substitute for the full Lightroom suite. In fact, I would argue the Canon software is virtually worthless. At best you can convert the RAW file to JPEG. That's about it.
After doing a Google search and reading up on the issue, it appears there will not be an update to Lightroom 3 that will allow users to import RAW files from the Canon PowerShot S95 for several months. So I am back to where I was before I purchased the Canon PowerShot P95 - unable to capture and enhance raw images from a digital 'pocket' camera. Shame on Canon for not noting the RAW files from the P95 are not compatibile with the leading RAW image editor.
