> Cameras absolutely could emit DNG instead, but that would require more development friction: coordination (with Adobe), potentially a language barrier, and potentially making it harder to do experimental features.

I think this is being too generous.

DNG is just an offshoot of TIFF. Having written a basic DNG parser having never read up on TIFFs before, it really isn’t that hard.

As far as experimental features, there’s room in the spec for injecting your own stuff, similar to MakerNote in EXIF if I recall.

If you are planning to do experimental stuff, I’d say what Apple pulled off with ProRAW is the most innovative thing that a camera manufacturer has done in forever. They worked with Adobe to get it into the spec. All of these camera manufacturers have similar working relationships with Adobe, so there’s really no excuse. And if you can’t wait that long, again, MakerNote it.

In my opinion, custom RAW formats are a case study in “Not Invented Here” syndrome.