Why does my imported ARW look pink?

[Nev]

Hello everyone,

Over the last 8 months or so I've been trying to develop (no pun intended ) my photography skills, after having purchased my first DSLR (Sony a350). This weekend I thought I would try my hand at trying to photograph the moon. Everything seems to go well, and the image I see on the LCD screen on the back of the camera shows a reasonable image with acceptable exposure revealing a moderate level of detail with crisp edges etc.

However, when I try to import my images into Picasa they turn pink! Actually, to be more precise, the disc of the moon becomes a bright white circle, and any sky-glow (from my home town...thanks a lot light pollution) turns into a full image of pink dots. I think what's happening is that Picasa is somehow trying to compensate for all that blackness, and overexposing the image during import.

Here's an example of what Picasa is trying to do to the image:



The reason I think that it's Picasa that is doing something is that the image looks okay on the LCD screen of the camera, but only goes 'pink' when imported to Picasa. I checked Picasa for import options but couldn't find anything that seemed obvious.

Perhaps I need stronger image software? I have had a look at Lightroom but I'm really only an amateur, and even though I'm trying to be serious about improving my work, I simply can't justify spending hundreds on software (although, after thinking about it, the irony of having already spent a grand on hardware has not escaped me! ).

Can anyone help or offer some advice? I would be very grateful.

Thanks,

N.

[Nev]

Possibly answered my own question. Downloaded IrFanView and it opened the ARW file without problem, showing exactly what I see in the camera LCD screen.

Yay!

(might still buy Lightroom anyway)

Cheers,

N.

[teaking]

I have to say Irfanview is a fantastic portable image viewer that opens pretty much anything and a great batch convert funtion... glad it worked for you