Converting SJ7 Raw Files on Linux for use with Darktable

OK So I’m a bit awkward but I prefer to use Linux rather than Windows. Luckily there’s a great raw image developer running on Linux called Darktable.

Unfortunately the tools that convert the .RAW files from the SJ7 into a .DNG file Darktable can use are Windows based tools. Rather than having to boot up Windows to convert the files then reboot up into Linux to do the editing I decided to hit the WINE.

WINE
WINE is a software package that add a compatibility layer into Linux providing libraries and dlls so that some Windows programs can be run under Linux.

Installing it was easy on Linux Mint 18.2 – all I did was open up a terminal and entered the following (it might be different with your distro)

sudo apt-get install wine​

and entered my password and the package was installed.

EXIFTOOL
Eiftool, the tool that sets the white and black levels in the DNG files, is also available on Linux. Installation was done in a similar way using

sudo apt-get install exiftool​

RAW2DNG
I got the link for the conversion tool and directions for use from Troy and followed the instructions to set up the software.

I then copied the “RAW2DNG for YI Z26L” directory to “/home/<username>/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)”

(replace <username> with your own username)

Adobe DNG Converter
Unfortunately Darktable doesn’t read the DNG files created by this tool correctly, to solve that I have to install another Windows tool called Adobe DNG Converter

Open up a terminal in the directory you download the tool in and type

wine DNGConverter_10_0.exe​

If this is the first time you’ve ran Wine then it may go through some setting it self up, installing Mono, etc – just enter the necessary choices and info for it to install.

It will then run the install program for the DNG Converter and put it into the wine program directory mentioned earlier.

Creating the Desktop Icons
Rather than typing in the commands from a terminal every time I want to use them I set up desktop icons for the three tools.

To create a launcher I right clicked on a blank area of the desktop then selected “Create Launcher”. For the three tools I entered the following info into the fields

RAW2DNG - wine "/home/<username>/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/RAW2DNG for Yi Z26L/raw2dng_en.exe"

exiftool - exiftool -WhiteLevel=1024 -BlackLevel=65 %1 -overwrite_original

Adobe DNG Converter - wine "/home/<username>/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Adobe/Adobe DNG Converter.exe"

Remember to replace <username> with your own username.


Workflow
Double clicking of RAW2DNG desktop icon opens up the tool and you can drag and drop your .RAW images onto the program windows and set the output directory then run the tool.

In a file browser window select all the created DNG files and drag them onto the exiftool desktop icon so it will set the black and white levels of all the images.

Finally double click on the Adobe DNG Converter desktop icon and set up the input and output directories and file info then convert.

The resulting .DNG files can then be edited in Darktable. If you’re using another software package (RawTherapee for example) then you may not need to use the Adobe DNG Converter.

 

I've worked with Wine. When it works, it's fantastic. When it doesn't, it's a real pain, and there's no way to know where the "surprises" are. About the only way to know what to avoid is to follow the developers' bugs reporting. What is hard to follow unless you're a Linux developer.

Have fun with it!

Cheers,
Rick

 

I have installed latest 1.20 firmware but where is setting for shot raw image file?

 

see my answer here
https://sjcam.com/community/threads/sj7-star-raw-file-creator.2149/#post-3669

 

FWIW, the stable Ubuntu distro is currently 16.04.03 LTS (Long Term Support). I use 17.10 - artful aardvark. The 17 series changes more often and it's close to "bleeding edge" (nightlys are the real bleeding edge). However it has tools with more development. And the updates aren't as ugly as the move from 16.04 to 16.04.03. That needed a fresh installation. Not Nice.

17.nn has moved to Gnome from the Unity GUI seen in 16.nn. Some like it, some don't.

 

I'm using Linux Mint 18.2 which is the current long term supported version.

I then proceed to break it by installing from source, using ppas etc.

My laptops new so I've hardly had a chance to break it yet and darktable, wine & exif tool were installed from the standard repositories and worked OK - at least until I minimised the raw2dng window as wine then didn't display the window at all. The process worked the same on my desktop which I mess about with more often.