ORF -- Olympus® Raw Format File Tool

ORF is a Microsoft® Windows® application for viewing and converting the Olympus E-10 and E-20 digital camera's RAW Format (.ORF).

PCD Arts logo PCD Arts
PaulChaseDempsey@msn.com

Copyright© 2001-2002 Paul Chase Dempsey
All Rights Reserved

Download ORF from http://groups.msn.com/PaulChaseDempsey/files.msnw. Note that downloading from MSN requires a Microsoft Passport (Microsoft's requirement, not mine :-). See the Links section for additional download sites.

Parts of this software is based on the work of the Independent JPG Group (IJG). See Legal Notices for more information.

Contents

Revision History
Feature Summary
The ORF user interface
    Command line
    General Usage
    ORF Menus
    ORF Function Keys
    File.Open Dialog Box
    Options Tab
        Default Settings
    Curves Tab
    Sharpen Tab
    Histogram Tab
    Image Info Tab
    Save Format Tab
About Interpolation
File types
Installing and Uninstalling ORF
Q&A
Links
Legal Notices
    Trademarks
ORFDump Utility
ORF2TIFF Utility

Revision History

 

Version Changes
1.00 - May 23, 2001 First release.
1.02 - May 25, 2001 Fix some 16-bit option and file problems. Change logo and written materials from "Blue Raven Arts" to "PCD Arts" to avoid confusion with the "Blue Raven Design" company.
1.03 - May 27, 2001 Add automatic Texture Defect detection and correction. This problem with certain E-10 images has been called 'hatching' or 'canvas effect'. Splash and about screen changes (show version # programmatically).
1.04 - May 31, 2001 Fix bug dragging files onto ORF that are already in it's list.
1.05 - May 31, 2001 Channel views in the View and Image menus.
1.06 - June 6, 2001 Camera WB, Rotate and Flip, View in separate window, Info palette. Reworked the internal RIP engine
1.07 - June 7, 2001 Fixed problem updating channel views properly and plugged a big memory leak.
1.08 - June 7, 2001 Add Image Info tab. Add Next/Prev file (F6, F7). Fix problems updating views with curves.
1.09 - June 10, 2001 Add File.Default Settings. Add choice of histograms (interpolated & fully processed). Add white balance menu button for scaling options. Add /nologo command-line option.
1.10 - June 11, 2001 Bug fixes: File save processing file extra time, resulting in light, unbalanced images. Sharpness Hard/Normal settings swapped.
1.11 - June 12, 2001 Prettier progress display. Batch conversion. Add ORF2TIFF to the ORF Suite of tools.
1.12 - June 16, 2001 New: Enhance histogram display: choice of interpolated and fully processed image, tune clipped data, add tick marks, standard deviation. Add tab navigation keys Ctrl+F5...Ctrl+F8. Add window navigation key F9. Add File.Snap Settings for the benefit of ORF2TIFF and add ORF2TIFF -c. Display pixel sample next to thumbnail (no more Info Palette). 
Tuneup: Add feedback cursors for menu buttons. Refine splash when loading at startup. Fix wait cursors. 
Bugs: Fix many focus problems (makes keyboard much more usable). Fix garbage initial filename for save. Fix always saving to same directory and base name. Fix backwards (BGR) pixel sampling for 8-bit info display. Refine batch convert, especially better interlocks while converting. Fix minor bug recognizing Texture prompt change. Fix point sampling in rotated/flipped case.
1.13 - June 22, 2001 New: Unsharp mask. Bugs: More interlocks. Misc minor issues. 
1.14 - June 25, 2001 Fix NT/Win2k display bugs
1.15 - July 16, 2001 Tighten layout for 800x600
1.16 - April 10, 2002 Update for E-20.
ORFDump: Fix thumbnail extraction.
1.17 - April 16, 2002 Implement camera color matrix (thanks to Musha Sun)
1.18 - April 18, 2002 Emit standard Exif information (but not OLYMP MakerNote info). Fix hang loading curve file. Update copyright years.
1.19 - April 23, 2002 Fix USM threshholding bug (much better USM!). Remove Default WB. Display Exif summary. Window navigation on context menu.
1.20 - May 23, 2002 Faster!
Live Preview: All option changes are reflected in the thumbnail.
Display texture defect status of files (green dot next to thumbnail).
Preview in File.Open with Exif info.
Save as Windows BMP.
New default options (scaling hack) to improve color.
Selectable sampler size: 1, 3x3, 5x5
Camera black point.
Raw histogram.
New keys to access channels in dialogs: RGB:Ctrl+F1, Red:Ctrl+F2, Green:Ctrl+F3, Blue:Ctrl+F4.
WB from reference image for Scale.
Annotations  for Artist and Copyright can be added to the TIFFs.
Bugs fixed: TIF files always 16-bit size. Crash saving B&W file.
1.21 - May 24, 2002 Fix TIFF glitch that causes trouble for some programs.
1.22 - May 29, 2002 Fixed: Apply after changing pre-interp option doesn't update. 
1.23 - August 23, 2002 Tweak File.Open previewing. Fixed: USM preview.
1.24 - Sept 25, 2002 Implement fast fixed-point versions of the best interpolation algorithms and delete the rest.
Add Fudge option to separate out this tweak from Scale, freeing scale for other uses.
Add JPEG and Bitmap output, Add Save Format tab
For Convert All, spawn ORF2TIFF if it is found in the ORF dir.
File.Open: Rotation (carries down to conversion). Option for embedded thumb (faster, but cropped). 
Fix mouse wheel image scrolling
Add wheel mouse support for spin-edit boxes, make hi, lo, and gamma options spin-edit boxes
ORFDump: Add Exif from JPEG files, -a, -b options, version banner
ORF2TIFF: bug fixes, version banner, JPEG
1.25 - Sept 25, 2002 Add Saturation option
Fix Next/Prev file

 

Feature Summary

 - Opens E-10 and E-20 .ORF files for viewing

 - Saves as 8bpp or 16bpp RGB and grayscale TIFF files, 8bpp Windows bitmap BMP files, or JPEG.

 - Choice of interpolation algorithms

 - Option to use, ignore, or modify the camera's white balance settings

 - Automatic texture defect detection and correction

 - Curves or scaling raw data (applied before interpolation)

 - Rotate

 - Flip (mirror) horizontally and/or vertically

 - Curves

 - Automatic levels

 - Unsharp mask (sharpen)

 - Gamma correction

 - Automatic color balance

 - Convert to black and white

 - Invert

 - View image histograms, at interpolation, and fully processed.

 - View image capture information (exposure, camera settings, etc.).

 - View individual channels

 - Point-sampling readouts

 - Save, Edit, and Open Adobe® Photoshop® curve files

 - Save and load ORF settings in text-based .OIS files

 - Keep a list of the 20 most recently opened files

 - Batch convert files in a directory

 - Add annotations to the saved files

The ORF user interface

ORF is a standard application for Microsoft Windows. To get the most out of ORF, run it once with the /Register command-line option. This gives your ORF files a nice icon, and allows you to double click an ORF file to open the file in ORF with the most recent settings.

Command line

The command-line options allow you to configure ORF, uninstall ORF, or start with specific settings.

ORF [options] [settings] [file]

Parameter Syntax Description
options /reg[ister] Register .orf and .ois file extensions and icons.
  /unreg[ister] Remove all ORF registry entries. That is, uninstall settings.
/nologo Suppresses the logo splash screen.
settings filename Start with settings from a previously-saved ORF Settings (.OIS) File.
file filename Open the specified .ORF file.

You can open only a single orf file at a time. You can specify both a settings file and an orf file, but the settings must come first. For more information on the registration settings, see Install.

General Usage

The Shift and Ctrl keys modify various menu and keyboard commands, button clicks, and the effect of mouse wheel. Try it!

Long processes that display the animated progress indicator in the lower-right-hand corner can be canceled by pressing Esc.

In most numeric edit boxes, you can use the wheel mouse and arrow keys to increment and decrement values, as follows:

Action Description
Up, Down Increase/decrease the value (usually by one)
Shift+Up, Shift+Down Increase/decrease the value in bigger steps (usually by ten)
Roll wheel up, Roll wheel Down Like the Up, Down arrow keys
Shift+Roll Like the arrow keys plus shift.

ORF works with groups of files. Drag a group of .ORF files onto ORF. ORF opens the first, then adds the rest to it's list of files. Click the arrow (menu) button in the lower-left corner of the ORF window or press F2 to display the file list. Click a file in the list to open it. Of course, ORF has the normal File.Open command, too!

To open the last file you were working on, press F8.

Right click the full image for zoom, channel, and file options. When zoomed, you can scroll using a wheel mouse. Press Ctrl and Shift to scroll by differing directions and amounts.

The thumbnail shows the current effect of all changed options. Click Apply or press F5 to update the full image with all the current options. If ORF detects the Texture defect at the current threshold, a small green dot is displayed next to the thumbnail. 

If you want to see more of the full image, you can open it in a separate window. Choose 'View in separate window' from the main View menu.

Pixel Sampler  (a.k.a. Eyedropper)

Just click and/or drag in the main image to sample pixels. Select a sampler size from the menu button. This information is displayed next to the thumbnail:

Inputs: 10-bit RGB values and luminance (%) Coordinate of sample
Outputs: 10-bit RGB values and luminance (%) 8-bit RGB values and luminance (%)

The Inputs (first row) reflect the image data immediately after interpolation. The Outputs (second row) reflect the final output image data that will be saved.

In addition to this information, the Curves and Histogram tabs track the sampled pixel and show you where the sampled pixel falls on the graph.

Notes

ORF never modifies a .ORF file. The Save command saves only in TIFF format.

ORF is not an image editor. All of the options are applied in sequence in one process as a file is imported.

Since processing the full image can be slow, the effect of an change in an option or curve is displayed immediately in the thumbnail. To see the effect of a change in the full image, click Apply (F5) or reload the file (F8).

ORF Menus

File Key Description
Open... Ctrl+O Open a file. To see a preview of the selected file with Exif information, turn on the Preview check box.
Close Ctrl+F4 Close the current file
Save As... Ctrl+S Save the ORF as a TIFF, JPEG, or Windows Bitmap file
Reopen Ctrl+Shift+O Reload the file from disk (a.k.a. Revert).
Convert All Convert all files in the current directory. All files are saved according to the options in the Save Format Tab.
The current directory is the folder of the current file open in orf, or if no files are open, the folder of the file with a bullet in the File list.
Load Settings... Ctrl+L Load options and curves from a .ois file.
Save Settings... Ctrl+T Save current options and curves in a .ois file.
Default Settings Ctrl+D Reset the options and curves to the default settings.
Snap Settings Snapshot the current options and curves to the registry. Use this command in conjunction with ORF2TIFF -c to use ORF as a GUI for ORF2TIFF settings and curves.
Exit Alt+F4 Close ORF
Zoom
Fit to Window Ctrl+F Display the entire image in the display area.
100% Ctrl+1 Display 1 screen pixel for 1 image pixel.
200% Ctrl+2 Zoom 2:1 -- 2 screen pixels for 1 image pixel.
400% Ctrl+4 Zoom 4:1
800% Ctrl+8 Zoom 8:1
1600% Ctrl+6 Zoom 16:1
View
All Channels   Normal RGB image
Luminance   View as Grayscale
Red Channel   View only the Red channel
Green Channel   View only the Green channel
Blue Channel   View only the Blue channel
File List F2 Pop up the file list menu
Image in separate window   Display the full image in a separate window
Help
About   Display program information (hold shift for build date)
Right Click
zoom   Zoom settings (same as Zoom menu).
channel   Channel (same as channel section of View menu)
Open, Close, Reopen   Same as File menu commands
File List F2  
list of files   Open the selected file
Clear List   Empty the file list
Open   Open a file. Same as File.Open

When you choose File.Convert All, the ORF2TIFF program is spawned in a separate MS-DOS Prompt window. The ORF2TIFF program must be present in the same folder as ORF. Once started, ORF2TIFF runs separately from ORF. Press Ctrl+C to abort processing. If the ORF2TIFF program is not available (for example, you may have installed only ORF.EXE), ORF processes the files itself. Press Esc to stop processing. Do not change options while the folder is being processed, as they will take effect almost immediately, which may not be a sensible point in the process :-).

 

ORF Function Keys

Name Key Description
Help F1 Display ORF documentation. The ORFDoc.html file must reside in the same folder as ORF.EXE.
RGB channel Ctrl+F1 View RGB channel. Use in Curves or Histogram to see the data for the channel.
Red channel Ctrl+F2 View Red channel. Use in Curves or Histogram.
Green channel Ctrl+F3 View Green channel. Use in Curves or Histogram.
Blue channel Ctrl+F4 View Blue channel. Use in Curves or Histogram.
File List F2 Display the File list menu.
Refresh F5 Apply the current settings to the main image.
Previous File F6 Open the previous file in the current directory.
Next File F7 Open the next file in the current directory.
Current File F8 (Re-)Load the current file. This is most useful when first starting ORF, to begin working where you left off in the previous session.
Switch Windows F9 Switch focus between the image and the current tab. This is very useful when you're using View Image In Separate Window. You may need to press F9 to use the TAB key to move the input focus in a tab, or to use the navigation keys or the mouse wheel to scroll the main image. 
Options Tab Ctrl+F5 Activate the Options tab.
Curves Tab Ctrl+F6 Activate the Curves tab.
Sharpen Tab Ctrl+F7 Activate the Sharpen tab.
Histogram Tab Ctrl+F8 Activate the Histogram tab.
Image Info Tab Ctrl+F9 Activate the Image Info tab.
Save Format Tab Ctrl+F10 Activate the Save Format tab.

Once you've opened a file, you can use F6 (Previous File) and F7 (Next File) to visit all the ORF files in the same directory.

File.Open Dialog box

The Open dialog is an enhanced Windows explorer Open dialog. You can see a preview of the image before opening the file, along with some of the Exif camera information. You can rotate the preview to see an upright image for vertical shots. The rotation is used when opening the file.  By default, the preview is the JPEG thumbnail embedded in the file by the camera. This preview is designed for display on the camera LCD and is a cropped version of the image. Turn off Use embedded preview to generate a larger, full-frame preview. Generating the preview is slower than using the embedded preview.

Option Key Description
Preview Alt+P Enable previewing (thumbnail display) of the currently selected file.
Use embedded preview Alt+U When previewing, use the thumbnail embedded in the file by the camera. When this option is turned Off, a full-frame preview of the file is generated.
Rotate left Alt+L Rotates the preview 90 degrees counter-clockwise. The file will be opened with the orientation you see.
Rotate right Alt+R Rotates the preview 90 degrees clockwise. The file will be opened with the orientation you see.

 

File.Save As Dialog Box

The Save As dialog is an enhanced Windows explorer Save As dialog. You can choose additonal options for saving the current file. The options for this dialog box are the same as  the Save Format tab and provides an additional Description annotation string. The default options are taken from the Save Format tab, but you can change them for the current file. See Save Format Tab for more information.

 

Options Tab

The Options tab displays controls for the process of opening ORF Files and converting them to useable images. The options are displayed in the order of processing, from top to bottom, and left to right. The RAW options are Texture, Black Point, Camera White balance, Scale, and Raw Curves. Raw options are applied before the CCD pattern is interpolated. The thumbnail shows a preview of the effect of all options. To update the main image to the current options, click Apply or press F5.

The options in the following table are processed in the order listed:

Option Description
Texture Some images have what ORF calls the 'texture defect'. This appears as hatching or a canvas-like appearance to the image. It is caused by excess gain in the green components of alternating rows in the raw ORF data. The cause of this problem with the Olympus E-10 camera is unknown. Fixing the texture defect yields a slightly softer image.
If an image has the texture defect (at the current threshold), a green dot is displayed next to the preview.
Fix Detect and (optionally) correct the texture defect.
Prompt before fixing Gives you the choice to fix or open the file without adjusting for texture. This option has no effect if the Fix option is not checked.
Threshold Sets the minimum average difference between odd and even rows to consider the texture defect to be present in the image. In a few images, a defect of only value 3 is noticeable. In other images, the defect is not noticeable for values as high as 30.
Camera Black Point Subtracts the camera's optical black point from all pixels in the image. This can slightly reduce noise in
Camera white balance Applies the Red and Blue bias factors set by the camera's white balance settings.
To modify the camera's settings, uncheck this option, check Scale, then choose Camera Settings from the menu button.
Fudge Applies a magic fudge factor to improve color rendition. It applies scaling by R:250/256, G:268/256, B:252/256. These numbers were determined by fiddling around with a few sample images, so this fudge factor may not be ideal for your subjects or shooting conditions.
Scale Applies the specified ratios to the raw sensor data. This can be used for simple color correction.
menu button (>)
Pops up a menu with the following options. When you choose an item from the menu, it sets the Scale factors to the values indicated by the item. Note that you must check the Scale box for the new factors to be applied to the image.
Item Description
Camera Settings: camera info Sets the scaling factors to the camera's white balance settings. The current camera info is shown in the menu.
Camera setting from reference image... Sets the scaling factors to the camera settings from a different ORF file that you choose.
3000° K Hot white incandescent light bulb

Sets the scaling factors to the same scaling factors that the camera uses for the indicated color temperature.

The most common usage is to choose a color temperature that matches the lighting conditions for the subject when the picture was taken. You can choose a different setting to change the mood or color balance for the image.

This option is handy when you accidentally shoot a picture with the wrong color balance setting on the camera.

3700° K Incandescent (preserve mood)
4000° K White fluorescent
4500° K Intense white fluorescent
5500° K Clear Day
6500° K Overcast or Flash
7500° K Shade on a clear day
Raw Curves Applies the curves shown in the curves dialog to the sensor data. Only one of Curves or Raw Curves is applied.
Method Selects the interpolation method used to convert the CCD image pattern of the raw file to RGB pixels. Methods are listed in approximate order of ascending quality and descending speed. The highest quality and slowest processing is at the bottom, and the fastest, but lowest quality is at the top. For more information, see Interpolation.
Tip: Set Bilinear for initial adjustments, then set the last method for final saving.
Color Matrix Applies the camera's color transformation matrix. Improves saturation when turned on. When turned off, images tend to be somewhat flat and neutral.
Rotate Rotates the image 90 degrees clockwise, 90 degrees counter-clockwise, or 180 degrees (upside down).
Flip Flips the image horizontally (left <-> right) or vertically (top <-> bottom). (a.k.a. mirror, reflect)
Auto Levels Calculates and applies a simple ramp (straight-line curve) to distribute an image's values across the available range of values. Auto levels is a simple way to improve the contrast and/or color balance of an image. For more sophisticated corrections, use curves.

Specify Hi and Lo thresholds in percentages. Hi and Lo percentages specify how many pixels are clipped at the given end (Hi = bright, Lo = dark). Specify 0 to perform no clipping at that end. That is, ORF finds the highest or lowest pixel value in the image and sets the end point of the curve at that value. Specify -1 to suppress leveling at that end. This sets the end point at 0 (Lo) or 1023 (Hi). (0-1023 is the 10-bit range of the information in a .orf file.)

To see the exact ramps created by Levels, use the Auto button in the Curves dialog.

Levels    Analyzes luminosity, and applies a single ramp to all channels.

RGB    Analyzes and applies a ramp to each channel separately. The RGB option can solve (or create) significant color casts in the image. You will use this rarely.

Curves Applies the curves shown on the Curves tab to the image
Color Balance Automatically balances color in an image using the "gray world" algorithm. This can remove color casts in an image. It works very well for images that are mostly gray, or have a wide variety of colors. It causes severe color casts in images with large areas of a strong color.
Black and White Creates a grayscale image, based on luminosity
Sharpen (USM) Sharpens the image using unsharp masking, or USM. Set USM amount, radius and threshold parameters on the Sharpen tab.
Tip: Sharpening is very slow, so you may want to leave it off while you experiment with other settings, then turn it on to make  final refinements to the  image.
Gamma Converts the linear values from the sensor to nonlinear values that better match the power response curve of the human eye. You will nearly always leave Gamma turned on, with the default value of 2.2222. This is the ITU REC 709 standard value.
Invert Creates a negative
Save 16-bit When checked, saves 16 bits per pixel in a TIFF. When unchecked, ORF down-samples to 8 bits per pixel when saving. Note that many programs do not support 16 bpp images. However, Adobe Photoshop 5.0 and above DO support 16bpp. Note that although the data is saved as 16bpp, .ORF files contain only 10 significant bits of information.
Annotate When checked, adds the Artist and Copyright annotations to the saved TIFF. Edit the annotation information using File.Annotation Info (Ctrl+A).

 

Default Settings

Option Value Parameters/Comments
Fix Texture On Threshold: 4
Camera Black Point On
Apply camera white balance setting On  
Scale On R: 250/256  G: 268/256  B: 252/256 (fudge factors to improve color balance).
Raw Curves Off  
Method Luminance/gradients This is the best quality, but slowest method.
Tip: For quick previewing and initial adjustments, use Bilinear
Color Matrix On
Rotate None  
Flip Horizontal Off  
Flip Vertical Off  
Auto Levels Levels Hi=0.00% Lo=0.04%
Curves Off All curves are default (no-change) curves by default.
Color Balance Off  
Black and White Off  
Sharpen Off Amount=100 Radius=1.1 Threshold = 0. This is a modest amount of USM. Many images, especially for printing, can use much more.
Gamma On 2.2222 (Standard: ITU REC 709)
Invert Off  
Save as 16-bit Off  

 

Curves Tab

The input (bottom) and output (top) gradients always preview changes in the curve. Changes in curves are previewed in the thumbnail image only if you have Curves turned on in the Options tab. Even when curves are not currently applied, you can edit, load, and save curves.

Button Description
Default Sets the curve to a default "no-change" curve.
Revert Restores the curve to the curve used to load the current file.
Auto Creates a curve that is equivalent to the Auto Levels option.
This is a great way to get started with a correction curve. The Hi and Lo thresholds from the Options tab are used to calculate the curve.
Load Loads a Photoshop curves (.ACV) file.
Save Saves the current curves as a Photoshop curves (.ACV) file.
Prev Point Selects the previous point for modification. Hold Shift for Next.
Next Point Selects a point for modification. Hold Shift for Previous.

To quickly change channels, you can use shortcut keys:

Channel Key
RGB Ctrl+F1
Red Ctrl+F2
Green Ctrl+F3
Blue Ctrl+F4

The curves tab offers many shortcuts for working with points on the curve:

To do this: Do this:
To apply Default, Revert, or Auto to all channels at once Press Ctrl when clicking the button. Without Ctrl, Default, Revert, and Auto affect only the current channel.
To see where a pixel falls on the curve Click (and drag) in the full image.
To add a point Click near the curve.
To move a point Drag it.
To delete a point Ctrl+Click, or drag it off the Curves tab.
To make fine changes in a point

1.  Click 'Next Point' to select the point to change, or click in an Input or Output box to set the focus so the wheel works on the selected point.

2.  Move the point as follows:

 -  To shift the selected point up and down: Rotate the mouse wheel.

 -  To shift the selected point left and right: Ctrl+Rotate.

 -  To move a point by one unit up or down: Hold Shift as you rotate.

To increase/decrease the input or output value by one With the Input or Output box active: Press Up or Down, or Roll the mouse wheel
To increase/decrease the input or output value by ten With the Input or Output box active: Press Shift+Up or Shift+Down, or Shift+Roll the mouse wheel

 

Sharpen Tab

The Sharpen tab lets you preview and change the parameters for the Unsharp Mask (USM) process. The preview on the tab shows you a peephole into the main image at 100% (pixel-for-pixel). It is a more accurate representation of the USM effect than can be seen in the thumbnail. To move the preview, click and/or drag in the main image. While the mouse button is down, the preview shows the image without any USM. When you release the mouse button, the preview displays the effect of the current USM settings.

USM Cannot correct a badly focused image. USM works by comparing an image with a blurred version of the image, and exaggerating where they differ. The blur is a Gaussian blur. The effect is to increase the contrast at edges in the image. The human brain perceives the increased edge contrast as a sharper image. 

Item Description
Amount Specifies how strong a difference is applied.
Radius Specifies the radius of Gaussian blur. The best results are when you have a radius larger than noise effects, and just slightly smaller than the size of the smallest details. To a small degree,he larger the radius, the slower the processing. Amount and Threshold do not affect the processing speed. 
Threshold Specifies the minimum difference before the change is applied. You can give a higher threshold to help avoid enhancing noise, but still enhance the important edges.

Histogram Tab

The Histogram Tab displays a histogram of the 10-bit image data. You can view a histogram of the raw data, the data after interpolation, and after full processing.

Item Description
Channel Selects the channel to show information for. RGB lists the master, or luminance, distribution of the image. Red, Green, and Blue select the corresponding channel.
Raw image data Shows a histogram of the uninterpolated image data. In RAW, only the R, G, and B channels are shown the RGB (luminance) channel is not available.
Fully processed image Shows a histogram of the fully-processed 10-bit image data.
Interpolated image Shows a histogram of the 10-bit image data immediately after interpolation, but before any other processing.
Histogram caption Lists the following information:
Min - Max values where there is any information.
Mean value
Standard Deviation
Count, smallest bin - largest bin.
Scale (tick marks) The tick marks indicate the Min, Median, and Max values. The bar through the median tick shows the extent of +/- standard deviation.

Click (and drag) in the full image to see an indicator where the pixel falls on the histogram. Not available for Raw.

To quickly change channels, you can use shortcut keys:

Channel Key
RGB Ctrl+F1
Red Ctrl+F2
Green Ctrl+F3
Blue Ctrl+F4

 

Image Info Tab

Displays camera and image capture information from the file, including date and time, exposure, focal length, camera firmware version, and so on.

For the technically minded, this information is decoded from the Exif and Exif MakerNote sections of the file. For more information on the ORF file format and the relevant industry standards, see the Links.

Save Format Tab

Sets the format and options for saving files. These settings are used for Convert All, and provide the default options for Save As.

Item Description
Save Format Select the file format: TIFF, JPEG, or Windows Bitmap
TIFF Options Sets options used when saving TIFF files.
Exif Information Saves Exif information
Annotate Adds Annotations
16-bit Saves 16 bits-per-pixel
JPEG Options Sets options used when saving JPEG files.
Exif Information Saves Exif information
Annotate Adds Annotations
Quality Specify the quality of JPEG compression, from 10-100. Lower quality means smaller files. Higher quality means larger files.
Quality should normally be between 50 and 95. 75 is often adequate. Quality larger than 95 is not recommended, because the file size balloons without a commensurate increase in image quality.
Annotations Sets the annotation strings used when annotations are enabled.
<< This helper button inserts a standard copyright string into the Copyright box, based on the text in the Artist box.

 

About Interpolation

An ORF file contains a readout of the signals from the image sensor in the camera (the CCD). The sensor consists of a grid of receptors for each of the Red, Green, and Blue components of light. The camera does not capture all three RGB components at each receptor site. The ORF file contains a 2256 x 1684 grid of light receptors in the Bayer pattern:

    R G R G R ...
    G B G B G ...
    R G R G R ...
    G B G B G ...

An image file that you view on your computer contains all three RGB components at each pixel. The process of converting the CCD sensor pattern to RGB is a process of interpolation, where the surrounding values are used to estimate the missing components at each pixel. ORF offers a number of interpolation methods to choose from. They vary in accuracy, speed, and the nature of the artifacts that are inevitably produced by interpolation. You may notice that the image sizes produced by the different methods are slightly different. This is due to differing numbers of edge pixels that are not converted by a given interpolation algorithm. These pixels are omitted from the final image.

ORF offers the following interpolation methods:

Name Description
None - CCD Bayer Pattern This does not produce a usable image, but it's interesting to see exactly what the camera captures.
Bilinear interpolation The fastest and simplest interpolation method. The values of neighboring pixels are averaged to determine the value of the missing components. Images are fuzzier than the other methods. There can be 'zippering' and color fringes at edges. Colors are muddier than the other methods.
Black and White Creates a monochrome image with just the Luminance channel, using the first half of the "Luminance/gradients" process. All subsequent processing is faster, since there is only one sample per pixel instead of 3.
Luminance/ gradients This is the slowest but  generally produces the highest-quality images.

Tip  Use Bilinear interpolation for quick viewing and adjustments, then switch to the last option before saving for the highest quality image.

Versions of ORF earlier than 1.24 offered more interpolation algorithms and choices among integer and floating-point implementations. Most of the differences are of academic interest only, since what you really want is the best possible image. Starting in 1.24, ORF offers the most useful options, in faster fixed-point implementations.

File types

ORF works with the following file types:

.ORF Olympus Raw Format
.OIS ORF Import Settings - Options and curves for ORF.
.ACV Photoshop Curve File
.TIF Tagged Image Format (TIFF)
.BMP Windows bitmap

 

Installing and Uninstalling ORF

You can install and run ORF simply by copying the ORF.EXE file to your computer and clicking on it. To get the most out of ORF, run it with the following command-line options. Specify command line options from the system Start.Run command, an MS_DOS prompt, or a shortcut.

ORF /Register Gives your ORF files icons and registers ORF as the default application for opening .ORF files. You can shorten the option to /reg. This command line writes information to the Windows registry to enable ORF as the application for .ORF and .OIS files.
ORF /Unregister Removes all ORF registry entries, including current options and recently viewed files. ORF displays only the splash screen briefly, then terminates.

When you run ORF with these options, ORF displays only the splash screen briefly, then terminates.

Q&A

Q: What if I want something added to ORF or I find something wrong with it?
A: Send the author email! Click here.

Q: How do I save a set of options and curves to use on other images?
A: Make the settings and curves you want, then choose Save Settings from the file menu (Ctrl+T). You can load this file from the command line, or choose Load Settings from the file menu (Ctrl+L).

Q: How do I reset ORF to the default settings?
A: Choose Default Settings from the File menu.
Tip: Save your favorite settings in a file so you can load them easily.

Q: How do I start ORF with the same settings each time, instead of remembering the previous settings?
A: You can set up a shortcut that runs ORF and lists an ORF Import Settings (.OIS) file on the command line.

Links

http://groups.msn.com/PaulChaseDempsey is my personal web page on MSN, where I drop the latest versions of ORF. (Download from the Files page.) Look for ORF Decoded on this site: a detailed explanation of the ORF file format. Note that you may have trouble accessing this site or downloading files without a Passport or an MSN account.

Partly because of these problems, the friendly gracious and helpful Dave Nicholls kindly mirrors the ORF releases on http://www.dcnicholls.com/plugins

ORF Suite is also hosted by the E-10 club in the Downloads section.

While working on this program, I found many of these links useful.

Useful CCD interpolation information http://hobie.cacc.ncsu.edu/Projects/ColorFilterArray/demosaicking_paper.html
If you dig around, this site also contains PDFs for relevant patents.
More CCD Info. http://ise.stanford.edu/class/psych221/99/tingchen
There are other relevant interesting class projects here.
PIMA: Photographic & Imaging Manufacturers Association http://www.pima.net/index.htm
Exif standard http://it.jeita.or.jp/jhistory/document/standard/exif_eng/jeida49eng.htm
DCF standard http://www.pima.net/standards/it10/PIMA15740/dcf.htm
Other standards (e.g. TIFF/EP) http://www.pima.net/standards/it10/IT10_POW.htm
Exif as HTML on the web http://www.media.mit.edu/pia/Research/deepview/exif.html
TIFF spec http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/PDFS/TN/TIFF6.pdf
Accurate Image Manipulation for Desktop Publishing (AIM) http://www.aim-dtp.net/index.htm
Great information on calibration, Gamma, ICC, and Profiles, with links to similar relevant discussions (including the ones they disagree with, incl. the well-known Poynton FAQ.) There is a lot of advocacy combined with the good info.
Poynton's Color and Gamma FAQs. http://www.inforamp.net/~poynton/Poynton-color.html
These are geared mainly to television standards, but they usually apply to still images as well.
Bibble http://www.bibblelabs.com
Commercial/shareware RAW image conversion. Supports Nikon, Canon, and Olympus RAW formats.
QImage http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage
Commercial/shareware RAW image conversion, upscaling, and printing. Supports Nikon, Canon, and Olympus RAW formats.
JPEG FAQ http://www.faqs.org/faqs/jpeg-faq

Legal Notices

ORF Suite - Copyright© 2001-2002 Paul Chase Dempsey, All Rights Reserved

This program is free and provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk for the quality and performance of this program is with you. Should the program prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction.

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group (IJG).

The IJG code carries the following legal notice:

The authors make NO WARRANTY or representation, either express or implied,
with respect to this software, its quality, accuracy, merchantability, or
fitness for a particular purpose. This software is provided "AS IS", and you,
its user, assume the entire risk as to its quality and accuracy.

This software is copyright (C) 1991-1998, Thomas G. Lane.
All Rights Reserved except as specified below.

Permission is hereby granted to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
software (or portions thereof) for any purpose, without fee, subject to these
conditions:
(1) If any part of the source code for this software is distributed, then this
README file must be included, with this copyright and no-warranty notice
unaltered; and any additions, deletions, or changes to the original files
must be clearly indicated in accompanying documentation.
(2) If only executable code is distributed, then the accompanying
documentation must state that "this software is based in part on the work of
the Independent JPEG Group".
(3) Permission for use of this software is granted only if the user accepts
full responsibility for any undesirable consequences; the authors accept
NO LIABILITY for damages of any kind.

Trademarks

Olympus® is a registered trademark of Olympus Optical Co. Ltd.
Adobe® and Photoshop® are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc.
Microsoft® and Windows® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

ORF is NOT a product of Olympus Optical Co, Ltd. PCD Arts and Paul Chase Dempsey are not affiliated with Olympus Optical Co.

ORFDump Utility

Some releases of ORF such as The ORF Suite include the ORFDump utility. ORFDump is a small command-line program that can extract the Exif information (camera/capture/image data), JPEG thumbnail (identical to the camera's .THM file) , or other information from an ORF, TIFF, or JPEG file. If you didn't get ORFDump along with ORF, you can download it from the site noted at the top of this file.

Syntax
ORFDump options orf-file... [options orf-file...]
-a Appends to output file.
-b Dumps Exif information in bare format without headings.
-d Dumps full decoding of the ORF or TIFF.
-x Dumps only Exif information from the ORF, TIFF, or JPEG. (default)
.ext Sets the output file name(s) to orf-file.ext
! Sets the output file name(s) to orf-file.TXT

 

Syntax 2
[-d|-x] orf file Decodes orf to file

 

JPEG extraction
-j[:(file|.ext|*)] orf-file Extracts the JPEG thumbnail (same s .THM file) from orf-file. You can use * as a shorthand for '.JPG'.
This is not a conversion to JPEG -- it simply extracts the embedded thumbnail JPEG.

 

Hex Dump
-r:file Prints a raw hex dump of file to the standard output (can be any file).

 

Examples
orfdump P6100569 Prints the Exif information for P6100569.ORF to the console.
orfdump ! P6100569 Extracts the Exif information for P6100569.ORF to P6100569.TXT. Note the required space between ! and the file name.
orfdump .xif *.orf Creates .XIF files containing Exif information for all the .ORF files in the current directory.
orfdump -d ! *.orf Extracts full decodings of each .ORF file in the current directory to plain text files named orf-file.TXT.
orfdump -j:.THM *.orf Recreates the .THM files for all .ORF files in the current directory.

ORF2TIFF Utility

Some releases of ORF such as The ORF Suite include the ORF2TIFF utility. ORF2TIFF is a command-line version of ORF geared for batch conversion of Olympus Raw Format files. It is most easily used with OIS files saved from ORF, or with the -c option, which uses ORF's current settings.

See the separate ORF2TIFF Documentation for more information.