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Introduction to Adobe DNG Converter
Article
8 of 100
Most
advanced and professional photographers now agree
that shooting
RAW image files is the only way to assure that
you are getting the full benefit of the image processors
in advanced digital cameras.
Virtually
all digital SLR and most of the high end point and
shoot cameras now allow the photographer to shoot
in the RAW image file format.
The
main problem is that every manufacturer has a different
implementation of RAW and they jealously guard their
own proprietary implementation of the RAW image file
format.
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In
an effort to create an industry standard, Adobe has developed
the DNG (Digital Negative) file format and left the source
code open and documented for anyone to implement. This assures
that there will be a way to access any DNG format RAW files
far into the future, even if your camera manufacturer bites
the dust.
Although
both Adobe Bridge and Adobe Lightroom allow you to convert
to Adobe DNG when you are importing a camera native RAW image
file, Adobe DNG allows you to batch process a large number
of native RAW files without having to open one of the other
applications.
In
version 3.3 of Adobe DNG it is also now possible to include
the entire native RAW image file in a DNG file for extra security.
Preserving the native RAW image file creates very large DNG
files of course (my D200
files averaged at 35 MB per image) but could be a very good
alternative for safe long term archival image storage.
One
of the biggest advantages of using Adobe DNG In your workflow
process is the ability to store metadata in the DNG file.
Although native RAW image files can be used in Bridge and
Lightroom, when metadata is added to them (the camera manufacturer
RAW files can not be changed by third party software) it is
stored in a .xmp sidecar file. The danger in using sidecar
files is that they can easily be discarded and lost.
Adobe
DNG files can of course not be read by the camera manufacturer's
software so the Adobe DNG converter also has an extract function
that can, individually or in batch, recover the original native
RAW file at any time.
P.S.
Please do not get upset if your personal experience and views
are different from my own. These opinions are mine exclusively
and do not reflect the views or policies of any of the manufacturers
mentioned in this article...... George
Mann |
