Monday, June 30, 2008

How to make Apple Aperture 2.1 read Raw files from the samsung GX20





I have recently bought the Samsung GX-20 digital SLR. It is a clone of the Pentax K20d with very slightly different firmware.

The first shots I took with this ended up being dull and lifeless. I tracked this back to the use of the default raw converter in Apple Aperture. 

Here is a shot with the standard Aperture raw conversion applied.


Since Aperture version 2.1 it has supported the Pentax k20d so I was very disappointed to find that the Samsung equivalent was not. After some searching I found a way to resolve.

Beware, by doing the following you can seriously mess up your system so if you are not 100% confident with the instructions then do not attempt this hack.

Obviously, quit aperture before you start

1. Navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/ and find the file called RawCamera.bundle
2. Make a copy of this file and put it somewhere safe in case you mess up.
3. Right-click on the file and 'show package contents'
4. Navigate to Contents/Resources/ and find the file Raw.plist
5. Right click on the file and get info, change the permissions so 'everyone' can read and write
6. Open raw.plist using your favourite plist editor (I used Textwrangler)
6. Find the section labelled 'Pentax K20D'
7. Create a line above that and ... unfortunately I don't seem to be able to write xml into this blogpost as blogger won't tolerate it.

7a. go find the part of the file with the k100d super. You can see from that how the file format will accept a 'synonym' for another camera's settings. Copy that format i.e. ..key..Samsung GX20.. string..Pentax K20D..string

7b. If anyone knows how to get blogger to print xml let me know...

8. Save the file, reset permissions, close and start aperture.

Whenever you import new photos the new profile will be used.

You can reapply the raw conversion to existing photos by selecting 'Apple' on the preset dropdown on the raw fine tuning brick.

Let me know if you get it to work. 

Here are 2 comparison photos from me