Why can't [most] point-and-shoot cameras don't support RAW?

Question

Well, I haven't tried all the point-and-shoot cameras in the world to see if they have RAW support. So if you know a point-and-shoot camera that supports RAW format then please list it here.

Answer 1

The Canon PowerShot G9.

Answer 2

because typical users would not know what to do with raw pics.

Answer 3

Point & Shoot users are mostly amateurs who would find it difficult to process a RAW file satisfactorily. Thus they would think that the camera outputs a lower quality image and the reputation of that model would suffer. RAW data is more than camera processed Jpeg (Jpeg compression throws out data which results in lower size) thus implementing burst modes, continuous shooting at high frame rates would call for a better image processor and data pipeline which would result in a higher camera cost. The point & shoot segment is very price sensitive & most users would not pay a premium for a feature they might never use! Hence no RAW option in most P&S cameras.

Answer 4

Price  $$$

All companies are trying to keep the cost down, on their lower priced cameras, and putting RAW in them will "up the Co$t"

They'd rather keep the price down,

or add features that more people would use, in that price class.

Answer 5

Well every single one of them support RAW since that would be what the sensor natively captures.  But as mentioned, only a few such as the Powershot G series writes the RAW file to the card without any kind of simple hacking.

There is a 'firmware hack' for the Canon Powershot series called CHDK http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page that adds a lot of functionality to a camera.  RAW is one of them.  It's actually a really elegant hack because it doesn't actually overwrite the firmware, hence not voiding any warranty.

As mentioned, the average P&S user would be too inconvenienced with RAW and the post-processing, so it's not an option on most cameras.  BTW: It has nothing to do with cost.  RAW is just the data before it gets processed by the imaging chip (such as DIGIC in Canon) and converted to JPEG.  It's actually cheaper if the camera only wrote RAW files.

Here's a list of all the Powershots that have a version of CHDK for them.

A450, A460, A530, A540, A550, A560, A570, A610, A620, A630, A640, A650 IS, A700, A710 IS, A720 IS, S2 IS, S3 IS, S5 IS, G7, SD450 (IXUS55), SD500 (IXUS700), SD630 (IXUS65), SD700 (IXUS800), SD750 (IXUS75), SD800 (IXUS850), SD850 (IXUS950), SD870 (IXUS860), SD1000 (IXUS70), TX-1