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Canon RAW Light is a RAW digital cinematography format, unveiled by Canon in 2017 on C200 camera.

It is also available on next gen Cinema EOS models, the C300 mark III and C500 mark II.

This video codec intends to provide the flexibility of a RAW format in terms of color grading and dynamic range, while keeping storage and transfer demands reasonable.

Canon RAW Lite grading
source: Brett Danton

Compared to Canon Cinema RAW codec introduced in 2013 on flagship cameras C500 and C700, the RAW Light format addresses the issues that have prevented its predecessor from taking off:

  • Same quality, at up to one fifth of the size, enabling use of high-speed CFast 2.0 cards for 4K recording, and CFexpress for 6K.
  • Use of .CRM file container for video and audio, much more workflow-friendly that previous single-file-per-frame .rmf storage
  • Format supported from day one by leading NLE vendors (Final Cut, DaVinci ...)
Canon C300 mark III

Failure modes

The causes of failure reported by Cinema RAW users are:

Power failures

  • Device was turned off during recording (clip not finalized)

Software failures

  • DIT did not check footage after transfer. CRMs not importing
  • Corrupted files after offload with Silverstack
  • Checksum error in Shotput Pro
  • Error when attaching proxies

Storage failures

  • CFast card can't keep up writing at the required bitrate
  • Accidental deletion or formatting of CFast card
  • Recovery software pulling .DAT or .CR3 files
    instead of playable CRMs.
  • Card filled up and stopped recording.
    It didn't finish wrapping the CRM file
  • CFexpress card wiped

Try Treasured on your damaged CRM files!

Our service offers:

  • FREE diagnostics and preview with Treasured
  • FREE sample of repaired video
  • Try before you buy with a FREE trial of your Repair Kit
  • Enjoy FREE customer support by speaking directly with our trained experts
  • Invaluable expertise, dedication and second to none customer service
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Bitstream Analysis

Little is known about the internals of Canon RAW Light encoding. Although Canon provides a SDK to developers, the codec remains proprietary.

  • Footage is stored in .CRM files, which are modeled after QuickTime .mov containers: One track for Canon RAW Light video, one or several tracks for audio, one track for timecode, and a metadata track
  • Codec fourcc is 'CRAW'
  • Video frame header contains a pyramidal structure of 12 bytes atoms:

0000: FF 01 00 08 00 28 1E B0 00 00 00 00     FF01 is top-level
000C: FF 02 00 08 00 0E 69 28 08 00 00 00       FF02 is secondary level (4 instances)
0018: FF 03 00 08 00 00 66 18 00 20 00 01         FF03 is tertiary level (10 instances)
0024: FF 03 00 08 00 00 52 00 10 20 00 07
0030: FF 03 00 08 00 00 4E 90 20 20 00 03
003C: FF 03 00 08 00 00 4E 98 30 20 00 03
0048: FF 03 00 08 00 01 0D 78 48 20 00 06
0054: FF 03 00 08 00 01 12 08 58 20 00 01
0060: FF 03 00 08 00 01 08 A8 68 20 00 03
006C: FF 03 00 08 00 03 7D 00 78 20 00 04
0078: FF 03 00 08 00 03 A9 30 88 20 00 04
0084: FF 03 00 08 00 02 C5 90 98 70 00 01
0090: FF 02 00 08 00 0A 0B B0 18 00 00 00       FF02 (second instance)
......... 10 more FF03 instances ........
0114: FF 02 00 08 00 06 20 48 20 00 00 00       FF02 (third instance)    
......... 10 more FF03 instances ........
0198: FF 02 00 08 00 09 89 90 38 00 00 00       FF02 (fourth and last instance)
......... 10 more FF03 instances ........
021C: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 3B     End of pyramid after 1xFF01, 4xFF02, 40xFF03
0228: 40 9D D6 5D E0 00 23 9D 00 E3 F6 24     Payload of first of 40 slices

Don't fire your DIT yet!

The first duty of our technicians is to confirm that the lost footage can be recovered with 100% quality, that a reshoot is not necessary.

Fortunately, with Canon RAW this is generally possible.

When we repair corrupted CRM footage, you don't have to worry about using the clips in your project. Repaired videos work just like normal ones. Quality-wise, they are indistinguishable.

Just let your DIT deal with it. Our technicians will provide the tools and guidance to clean the mess — They speak the same language.

Main features of the Repair Kits that we provide are described below.

CFast 2.0 CFexpress

Recovery on Cards

When files have disappeared or card was formatted:

We have DeepMediaScan, to scan your CFast or CFexpress and find lost footage.
Repair Kit rebuilds CRM clips from any data source!

Original Quality

Repair preserves image quality.

Repaired videos have same resolution, bitrate, color and format as originally recorded — You cannot distinguish a repaired Cinema RAW clip from a genuine one.
CRM ProRes

Workflow-friendly

Repair also restores all CRM metadata, at frame level.
Repaired videos are compatible with post-production workflows.

Color grading, transcoding, editing — You don't have to modify your production schedule.

Audio included

Repair also restores all audio channels.

Audio is synchronized from beginning to end.