We asked camera companies why their RAW formats are all different and confusing

Every camera has a unique RAW format even cameras from the same company. The article briefly mentions this but doesn't go into that much detail. I've got at least 10 Nikon cameras going back to 2005 and every "NEF" Nikon RAW file is different so if you buy your camera on the first day it is released you have to wait for your software vendor to add support or shoot in JPEG format. There have been a few times when the RAW files are so similar that you can use a hex or EXIF editor and change the camera model EXIF field to an older supported camera and load the file. But in theory the RAW converter has been profiled for each specific camera using ICC color targets and stuff like that.

> But in theory the RAW converter has been profiled for each specific camera using ICC color targets and stuff like that.

In practice too, if consistent results are desired. The format being identical doesn't mean the values the sensor captures under the same conditions will be identical, so a color-calibrated workflow could produce wrong results.

It would be nice to have a setting for "treat camera Y like camera X (here there be dragons)" though. I've had to do something similar with the Lensfun database to get lens corrections working on Mk. II of a lens where Mk. I was supported, but a GUI would be nice. A prompt to guess the substitution automatically would be even nicer.