DNG or regular RAW?

libeco

TPF Noob!
Joined
Dec 19, 2006
Messages
101
Reaction score
0
Location
Netherlands
Website
www.libeco.nl
Now that I'm getting the grip of shooting in RAW it's the only thing I do, didn't try any JPEG's anymore. However I've been reading about the RAW format a lot and the biggest problem is the diversity of RAW files and the question whether they'll still be supported in a couple of years.

So naturally I also read about Adobe's DNG format. What do you guys do, save all RAW files in the format your camera has and risk that you cannot open them in five years from now? Or convert everything to DNG and hope it is the format of the future?
 
Yup, I wish the manufacturers would agree on a format, but they're not going to rush to build a business for Adobe with all their research and investment. At some point the market place may demand it, but as long as they offer easy conversion software (propriety raw format -> .psd,.jpg, or .tiff) there won't be a huge shift.

The new Leica M8 shoots .dng as it's native file format. Other less market-dominant brands may choose to do the same. The question also is who they source their sensors from, and how those are designed.

There's a lot of moving parts to how this will play out, and it is virtually impossible to predict, or to influence. Heck, for all we know we'll be shooting that new Windows format that will be part of Vista.
 
as adobe's DNG is not an open format either, it is not more safe than any other manufacturer's format.
see this:

http://www.openraw.org/
 
Interesting, Alex_B, thanks for that link.

It would take a strong company like Sony to adopt OpenRAW - they would be perfect. Very far behind in market share, but with the required capital to stay in the game, build quality products, and force a format. Historically Sony has done the opposite - usually trying to create a format that everyone else had to use. blu-Ray comes to mind as the latest example. Then again, they have also adopted existing formats, such as USB, so who knows...

Here's hoping for the best!
 
At the moment I convert my cr2 raw files to dng but I also embed the cr2 file in the dng so I have all options covered. My major complaint with DNG right now is that I am evaluating Aperture and Lightroom...and Aperture is terrible for DNG format. Yeah I know it takes my cr2 just fine but it would be nice to have one file across all apps so I don't have to maintain two versions of everything.

Here's hoping someone makes a decision one way or another in the future!

Regards,
Peter Witham
 
Photoshop doesn't save raw files back to the native RAW format (except, apparently, with the new Leica.) You will need to save a converted file in either DNG or one of the other formats like TIF or PNG that will save the full 16 bit file.
 
Fmw, that's because Leica's raw file format is actually DNG. The M8 also shoots JPG and TIFF. Gotta love 'em for that.

EDIT: they no longer do TIFFs.

DP Preview of Leica M8
 

Most reactions

New Topics

Back
Top