Is there any software that can add raw files

Thomas you posted while I was writing.

 

The short answer is: I don't know of any. Why does the result need to be in a raw (proprietary or DNG) format? If you can

do it with layered smart objects and if you need to, use blending modes and clipping masks to achieve a result you are

satisfied with, save a flattened version back into Lightroom and export it as a DNG would satisfy your criteria?

 

If you go the in camera multiple exposure route what I see is that the camera is making decisions for you regarding how you want the relative weight of different subjects to balance against each other. There's a large degree of serendipity involved which can be a wonderful thing.

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<p>Op here. The intent was not to combine shadows and highlights. I'm not trying to do anything like HDR.</p>

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<p>So I repeat a question I asked several pages back. <strong>What are you trying to accomplish</strong>? Exactly what problem are you trying to solve that such software (assuming it existed or could be written) would be useful? Many good folks here have offered a variety of options but none of these seem to address your concern. </p>

Mike, here is an example of what I want to do. . . I want to do a very long exposure, about half hour in daylight without nd

filtration. Let me average 1000 raw images and delete the originals. Now I have a 20mb file with everything I need.

Sure smart filters would work but then I'm using 20gb of disk space. I can do 10 in camera so why not 1000 on my

computer? If you have any alternative suggestion for a half hour exposure without filtration at non diffraction limited

apertures during daylight with all the flexibility of raw format I'd be glad to hear it.

<p>Thomas,<br>

So it is clear that you wish to capture several exposures over a long period of time, without using nd filtration, and with a non diffraction limited aperture, and finally somehow combine these exposure to obtain a file in raw format. Unfortunately the general consensus is that the last of these desires is likely not possible.</p>

<p>What you have not made clear is what ultimate goal you wish to achieve with the final image. (You have stated that you are not seeking to increase the dynamic range, but this only tells us what you are not aiming to accomplish.) There are lots of very bright people on this site, and lots of ways to skin a cat. So if you can be more explicit about <strong>where </strong>you want to go rather than<strong> how</strong> you wish to get there, I am sure someone can help.</p>

<p>Thomas, I'm not sure why you got so much pushback and so many bad answers on here. You're right that it should be possible to add two RAW files and perform operations such as averaging, since the values are linear (usually). Just because popular tools don't support it doesn't mean it's impossible. It's more accurate to do it at the RAW stage than after demosaicing and tone curves have been applied, since the tone curve has to be re-converted back into linear values to do a true average.<br>

<br /> Stacking an hour's worth of shots into a single averaged long exposure is something I would like to be able to do as well. I think the reason we don't see this feature in RAW converters is that almost no one does really long exposures, so producing the software would not be economical. It would be even easier and more practical to have the feature in-camera (it would avoid writing and transferring gigs and gigs of RAW files), but we don't see that either except with a few manufacturers' limited multiple exposure modes.<br>

<br /> I <em>am</em> a software engineer, and I occasionally write software to do things like this. If I ever make a tool that can do RAW sum or average, or come across one, I'll be sure to let you know.</p>

<p>Sam, Thanks for understanding. I have notifications enabled so if you update this I'll see.<br>

I'd be happy to test whatever you write!</p>

<p>I know this an old thread, but every so often I look around for raw averaging tools and this thread continues to be one of the top links every time.<br>

So for those that come here looking I just wanted to say that there IS software to do something like this, Pixel Fixer at pixelfixer.org . It does median and maximum and also dark frame subtraction with raw files outputting raw files (among other tools). He hasn't added average but given a poke I think he would.</p>

<p>Thanks Edward Downer! Especially since it's such an old thread. That looks great. If I understand correctly the output is still a raw file?<br>

Really looking forward to experimenting with it later.</p>

<p>Indeed it is still a raw file. I am hoping he will add other math operations like mean/average. While I don't see myself using say a minimum operation you never know and it shouldn't be too hard to add.</p>