Raw to DNG in LR - does it demosaic?

[steve_wagner1]

<p>That's the question. I'm assuming and certainly hoping no. A post by A. Rodney in response to a question about going from DXO to LR with DNG had me worried.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

[owen_s]

<p>No, cause the dng file (without an attached raw) is not 3 times as large...</p>

[digitaldog]

<p>No, if the original was a Raw. You can encode in DNG, a rendered image. You could save a TIFF inside a DNG but its not a Raw, its a gamma corrected, RGB, demosaiced image. </p>

[steve_wagner1]

<p>Thanks Andrew, so I haven't lost any "archival-ness" or made the files any less of an "original capture" by converting my cr2. I only covert them to avoid sidecars, which drive me nuts, but I don't want to compromise anything by making the conversion.</p>

 

[digitaldog]

<p>You lose any proprietary data in the manufacturer’s Raw since its encrypted. That would mean something like Picture Styles that could be available to the manufacturers but no other Raw converter isn’t accessible. Its just metadata but its data. If you decided you wanted to go back to the manufacturers converter, if it didn’t deal with DNG, you’d be SOL. And if it did accept DNG, you’d lose access to the metadata. Otherwise, the DNG data is Raw data from a Raw. </p>

<p>You can save off one copy of the proprietary Raw prior to DNG conversion if you feel its necessary (I don’t). I’d do this rather than embed the original Raw into the DNG which is an option. Now the file is way bigger and ever time you make a metadata adjustment, it has to be saved in an even bigger file. That’s one tiny advantage to sidecars. They are small so they can be updated and saved quickly. Imagine the difference saving a tiny text file of instructions versus that plus the size of your DNG. Considering I automate all my backups, its not an issue for me. <br>

Sidecar files are used because Adobe will not write data into proprietary Raw files. </p>

[steve_wagner1]

<p>Thanks a lot for demystifying that. Makes sense, and I'm not worried about picture styles and don't see myself running into problems with the stipulation that you laid out, so all is good. Do we know what other manufacturer proprietary data there is that might be worth considering. I don't save or embed the cr2 either. DNGs get backed up in triplicate.</p>

[steve_wagner1]

<blockquote>

<p>You can encode in DNG, a rendered image.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Do you mean export and choose dng, does that bake the file, even if it was a cr2 or dng to begin with, and is it therefore different than choosing convert to dng from the top level menu (what I've always done)</p>

[digitaldog]

<blockquote>

<p>Do you mean export and choose dng, does that bake the file, even if it was a cr2 or dng to begin with, and is it therefore different than choosing convert to dng from the top level menu (what I've always done)</p>

</blockquote>

<p>IF the original selected is a rendered image and you select Export as DNG, then yes, this now becomes a DNG that contains rendered data (not Raw data). Confusing I know. I wish Adobe hadn’t opened that door. So with DXO as an example, it can be (and I believe it does), apply its work, build a TIFF or similar rendered image, then save that into a DNG. It ain’t Raw data any more! </p>

<p>If you convert a CR2 into DNG, its Raw data. Not like the example above. </p>