High Definition Cinematography, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 15

Data Files – A Simplified Guide

15.1 RAW Data Files, etc.

RAW data files have only really become an issue since the use of single-chip complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensors in moving picture cameras. With cameras utilizing three charge-coupled device (CCD) chips the use of RAW data files is rarely encountered, as by their very nature each of the three chips sends data already encoded as a single color, this having been done by the prisms optically splitting the colors, and therefore the chip block inherently outputs three distinct signals, Red, Green and Blue. With a Bayer patterned CMOS chip things are very different.

With a Bayer patterned CMOS chip the exit data stream is really only a monochrome signal, each pixel ...