Shutters down on Nikon

Nikon's decision to encrypt photographs created with its digital cameras calls into question the ownership of the "digital negative", says the creator of the Photoshop image editing software.
"Copyrighted information inside the file belongs to the photographer, not Nikon, but Nikon apparently thinks they own the information," Thomas Knoll wrote in Adobe's online forum.
Adobe Systems, which bought Macromedia last month, discovered while updating its Photoshop software that Nikon encrypted the white balance data of its raw format picture files in its latest professional digital cameras.
Australian professional photographer Adam Watson says the copyright of any product created with a piece of software or hardware should rest with the creator and not the manufacturer.
"Anything that you can manipulate in (a) camera should be entirely yours to do with as you please," Watson says.
"This sounds very restrictive and very much against the photographer."
AdvertisementAdvertisement
It is speculated that Nikon is trying to spur sales of its Nikon Capture software.
Nikon says its cameras and software are a "tightly knit system". Companies such as Apple and Microsoft have made similar claims to justify tying applications to their proprietary systems. But Thomas Knoll says this is just a way to lock in users.
Nikon says: "Securing this structure is intended for the photographer's benefit." It says the encrypted data format is available to legitimate software developers through Nikon's software developer kit, but they must get Nikon's permission first.
"Nikon clearly does not want third-party raw converters reading their files," Knoll says. "They would much rather sell you a copy of Nikon Capture."
Photographers at the user forum nikondigital.org threaten to revolt. "When Nikon sells me the camera, I expect the files to work completely with whatever processors I desire; Nikon can take this game forward at their peril," one wrote.

www.infodigitalcamera.com