• 01-20-2010, 08:05 PM
    Jessieh04
    Long shot: Undo In-camera black and white color setting?
    My neighbor who knows nothing about photography (you'll see in just a moment) just got back from a 5 week trip to Europe but had her canon point and shoot on color accent so all her photos are black and white. I never use any in-camera processing so I wanted to ask if there a program or anything that can recover those color files. I don't even know the process for which cameras store the info, I am sure it is a long shot. My best guess is the original can not be recovered, but I promised her I'd ask at a forum.

    Thanks guys!
  • 01-20-2010, 09:40 PM
    BlueRob
    Re: Long shot: Undo In-camera black and white color setting?
    AFAIK if she took the photos on B&W the camera translated all the color to a monotone image so I assume there is no color to recover.
    More experienced users will confirm this...or...enlighten me also.
  • 01-20-2010, 11:44 PM
    n8
    Re: Long shot: Undo In-camera black and white color setting?
    I would guess no. The camera shoots, then converts to jpeg according to the settings. done. this is why you (they) learn their equipment, even if it is a p&s.
  • 01-21-2010, 07:36 AM
    OldClicker
    Re: Long shot: Undo In-camera black and white color setting?
    Some P&S cameras shoot RAW - any chance that they are RAW? - TF
  • 01-21-2010, 04:10 PM
    Medley
    Re: Long shot: Undo In-camera black and white color setting?
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by OldClicker
    Some P&S cameras shoot RAW - any chance that they are RAW? - TF

    My thought exactly. If they're Raw images, then you can recover the color. If they're jpegs, then I'm afraid the answer is no.

    - Joe.
  • 01-22-2010, 01:30 AM
    California L33
    Re: Long shot: Undo In-camera black and white color setting?
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Jessieh04
    My neighbor who knows nothing about photography (you'll see in just a moment) just got back from a 5 week trip to Europe but had her canon point and shoot on color accent so all her photos are black and white. I never use any in-camera processing so I wanted to ask if there a program or anything that can recover those color files. I don't even know the process for which cameras store the info, I am sure it is a long shot. My best guess is the original can not be recovered, but I promised her I'd ask at a forum.

    Thanks guys!

    As others have said, if it shot RAW, and recorded RAW (usually an option) then she might be OK. The bad news is that the only Canon P&S cameras that could record RAW out of the box were the G series (I think), not usually sold to beginners. Others could do it through the hacked CHDK software, but you've got to be a camera nerd to be using that.