I'm no fan of Adobe. However their effort to provide an alternative to proprietary raw converters was at first seemingly laudable.
But then along came RawDigger which allows one to examine raw data. To one's surprise and in spite of early Adobe-speak, DNG "raw" is not the same as what a camera writes to the card.
Has it ever been that "raw raw" ? I think the "raw" has always been "what a camera writes". And what is the camera today? A computer with a lens and a sensor.
Btw. Donald, do you know how do cameras manipulate raw files?
Could it be a Foveon-only situation? I have never noticed a difference with Bayer raws.
Could it be that the settings used are converting Foveon to differentiated RGB in the DNG, so that any DNG-capable converter can convert it without knowledge of the Foveon raw color situation?
It would be nice if you could turn that off if it is the case, because converting to RGB makes for losses in monochrome conversions.
It doesn't matter if the digital receive system is for audio, RF, or two dimensional such as in a camera, there is a host of processing prior to the recording. There is the amplification, signal conditioning, potentially companding in RF or power law gamma compression in imaging designed in to insure the voltage presented to the ADC falls in the appropriate range to get maximal dynamic range by insuring the signal range falls into the input range of the ADC. The ADC then quantizes the input data and coverts to a PCM digital output. The PCM data recorded in the case of an image is the raw collect or raw image. However, the signal into the ADC has had both linear and nonlinear operations applied to the output voltage of the photodetectors.
In RF systems, designers often use AGC ( automatic gain control ) to insure the output voltage falls in the input required by the ADC. In digital imagery, it is a function of the person behind the camera properly setting the ISO. The equivalent in digital imagery to an AGC is auto-ISO.
Rawdigger simply pulls the PCM samples. There is a lot that happens from the time the photons hit the detectors and the bits PCM samples hit the card.