Adobe DNG or Camera RAW

melekalikimaka wrote: »

the original raw file from the camera, always imo

As Mele says, maintain the original raw file. You can then convert a copy it to DNG. I tried it but noticed the DNG files were smaller so don't know if they carry over all the NEF info.

DNG files are Adobe's attempt at creating a standardised format for RAW files. Presently, Canon and Nikon et al. use proprietary formats for encoding their raw data, these are unpublished and publicly undocumented formats. The problem with proprietary formats of this type is that while you may have the technology and resources to losslessly process and view the information contained therein now, it is possible that in the future that said technology will be unavailable to you or your retrieval of it may be legally questionable due to obsolescence and altered licenses.

A few years ago, Nikon effectively attempted to lock out third party image processing software from working with their RAW files by encrypting the white balance data, presumably in an attempt to force people into using Nikon's own Capture NX software. While it was technically possible to circumvent the encryption, Adobe and other image processing software producers were wary of doing so as it would most likely violate intellectual property laws, most likely the American DMCA. Nikon eventually relented and the white balance data encryption issue was resolved, but it is a reasonable example of the issues surrounding proprietary formats as they relate to photographers.

soccerc wrote: »

I tried it but noticed the DNG files were smaller so don't know if they carry over all the NEF info.

The DNG converter running on your computer has access to considerably more processing power than the RAW encoder that runs on your camera; this means it can use advanced compression that is more resource intensive but produces smaller files that losslessly preserve the data from the original RAW files.

Valentia wrote: »

There are two ways of saving DNG's. With and without the info. And, I think they can be saved with the RAW info too. I don't use them, just remember reading that somewhere.

I believe the DNG converter has the option of embedding the original RAW file in the DNG file along with the converted image data providing you with the option of retrieving the original RAW file from the DNG at a later date, should you wish to do so.

I always just import the naitive raw files in to Lightroom.