Raw file viewer - Microsoft Camera Codec Pack (16.0.0652.0621)

Microsoft Camera Codec Pack (16.0.0652.0621)


http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26829

I know that this might be old news to some of you, but I thought I'd make this mental note about the fact that it exists.

Microsoft have built a codec that enables the Windows Photo Image Viewer to view the raw file formats produced by many camera manufacturers such as Canon (cr2), Nikon (nef), or Sony (sr2).

Below is a snippet from the link above.

The Microsoft Camera Codec Pack provides support for the following device formats:

• Canon: EOS 1000D (EOS Kiss F in Japan and the EOS Rebel XS in North America), EOS 10D, EOS 1D Mk2, EOS 1D Mk3, EOS 1D Mk4, EOS 1D Mk2 N, EOS 1Ds Mk2, EOS 1Ds Mk3, EOS 20D, EOS 300D (the Kiss Digital in Japan and the Digital Rebel in North America) , EOS 30D, EOS 350D (the Canon EOS Kiss Digital N in Japan and EOS Digital Rebel XT in North America), EOS 400D (the Kiss Digital X in Japan and the Digital Rebel XTi in North America), EOS 40D, EOS 450D (EOS Kiss X2 in Japan and the EOS Rebel XSi in North America), EOS 500D (EOS Kiss X3 in Japan and the EOS Rebel T1i in North America), EOS 550D (EOS Kiss X4 in Japan, and as the EOS Rebel T2i in North America), EOS 50D, EOS 5D, EOS 5D Mk2, EOS 7D, EOS D30, EOS D60, G2, G3, G5, G6, G9, G10, G11, Pro1, S90
• Nikon: D100, D1H, D200, D2H, D2Hs, D2X, D2Xs, D3, D3s, D300, D3000, D300s, D3X, D40, D40x, D50, D5000, D60, D70, D700, D70s, D80, D90, P6000
• Sony: A100, A200, A230, A300, A330, A350, A380, A700, A850, A900, DSC-R1
• Olympus: C7070, C8080, E1, E10, E20, E3, E30, E300, E330, E400, E410, E420, E450, E500, E510, E520, E620, EP1
• Pentax (PEF formats only): K100D, K100D Super, K10D, K110D, K200D, K20D, K7, K-x, *ist D, *ist DL, *ist DS
• Leica: Digilux 3, D-LUX4, M8, M9
• Minolta: DiMage A1, DiMage A2, Maxxum 7D (Dynax 7D in Europe, a-7 Digital in Japan)
• Epson: RD1
• Panasonic: G1, GH1, GF1, LX3

Viewfinder Screens for DSLR’s

http://www.camerahacker.com/Tools/Viewfinder_Screens.shtml

http://www.focusingscreen.com/

 

The standard AUTO-FOCUS screen on a DSLR may look like

 

The older style manual focus camera's had a focus screen that is viewed through the view-finder that helps with fine level of focusing,

You can retro-fit these screens to later more modern DSLR camera – I am hopefully going to purchase a "SPLIT-SCREEN" focus screen for my 500d.

 

A quick summary (full credit to http://www.camerahacker.com/Tools/Viewfinder_Screens.shtml) is given below:

Microprism	Microprism focusing screen gets its name from placing many tiny prisms on the focusing screen. When the subject is not in focus, the tiny prisms show up in black and white dotted pattern. When the subject is in focus, the prisms blend in with the surrounding light so that you don't see them any more. Although this system still forces you to look closely at the screen, it makes the task slightly easier.
Split – Image	The split-image focusing screen is probably one of the most useful manual focusing screens. A split-image focusing screen has a split circle in the middle. Usually the split is Horizontal. But there are vertical and diagonal focusing screens out there as well. In fact, for some camera systems, there is a "cross-split" type that has both vertical and horizontal splits. The split divides your image in half. If your subject is not in focus, the two images does not line up. With the horizontal split, one half of the circle is shifted to the left, while the other half is shifted to the right. By aiming the circle on your subject's edge, it is very easy to see whether the edges line up. Instead of looking at whether the image is blurry, adjust the focus until the edge lines up, then you'll know the subject is sharp
Grid	Although most of this article talked about manual focus screens, there are several viewfinder screens used for other purposes. One such screen is the grid screen. The grid screen has several horizontal and vertical lines on it. These lines form a grid. The grid is very useful for composing the scene. You can easily see if an object is on a line, off a line, or at the intersection of a line. It's easy to put things where specified by the rule of thirds. You can see if straight lines are truly vertical or horizontal in the image frame. Architecture photographers find the grid screen particularly convenient.
Scale	The scale screen is very similar to the grid screen. But instead of forming a grid, the lines on the viewfinder screen form a graph-like scale with the origin in the center of the screen. The scale could be in millimeters, inches, or any other measurement unit. The scale screen is particular useful for macro and scientific photography where the amount of magnification is significant.

A quick google search unearthed :
http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/item--Canon-450D-500D-Focusing-Screen--prod_450D.html

A quick search on ebay found :
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dual-45-Split-image-Focus-Screen-Canon-450D-500D-O5E2-/190361800748?pt=UK_Photography_DigitalCamAccess_RL&hash=item2c5272902c#ht_3087wt_934