DNG Convertor vs your camera`s RAW format should you use it?

Tinderbox (UK)

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Hi.

My Fuji x100s is 16mb but the raw files are around 32mb that seems very large for a 16mp raw file, but when is convert to dng the file size is around 21mb quite a saving.

I have not started to use the dng convertor yet, what do you think?

Thanks

John.
 
To DNG or not to DNG really boils down to do you want to be able to recreate the camera JPEG based on the settings in the camera at the time the photo was taken and do you want access to the widest range of software possible.

If you use the raw conversion software supplied by the camera manufacturer, so for example you shoot Canon and use DPP, then DPP will be able to apply the camera settings for contrast and saturation and picture style etc. that were set on the camera when you took the photo. Independent raw converters are not going to process that data and so using LR for example, even with the original camera raw files, you won't be able to recreate the camera JPEG. If that doesn't matter to you then there's no real downside to DNG as long as you know the software you want to use supports DNG -- most raw converters do, but not all.

So that's the next issue. Does your software of choice support DNG along with your camera raw files? In many cases DNG is really helpful when you have a new or less common camera that is not supported by your raw conversion software. That software will likely support DNG files and so all you have to do is convert your originals to DNG. There are however a few odd out raw converters that do not support DNG like Corel's After Shot Pro (to be avoided).

I shoot Canon which is widely supported by all raw converters, but my carry everywhere compact is a Samsung. Those Samsung SRW files are less widely supported and not all of my raw conversion software would process them so I just converted them to DNG. This in fact gave me an advantage. The Samsung camera came with it's own raw converter (a copy of SilkyPix which I believe is what Fuji supplies). SilkyPix refused to show me the camera raw files without applying basic lens distortion correction -- the same correction the camera software applied to JPEGs. However PhotoNinja easily read the converted DNG files and allowed me to adjust that lens correction and do a much better job.

Joe
 

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