Propriety RAW Vs DNG.

[alfie2902]

Yes, I know DNG is propriety to Adobe, but seems to work with most software!

The Pentax uses .PEF RAW files that I can edit & develop in Pentax DCU, but I don't like it very much. I have a copy of Lightroom 2(.7), but it doesn't recognise .PEF. The K-5 can be set to DNG & then I can use LR2.

What is the difference between RAW & DNG & what are the pros & cons of using DNG over PEF?

[Fergie]

There is a good explanation on the Adobe site about DNG - I hope it will be of help to you.

http://www.adobe.com/products/photos...splayTab2.html

Cheers

[i_should_coco]

DNG is an attempt to standardise the various raw formats (CR2, NEF, etc.). It probably doesn't matter which you use.

[alfie2902]

There is a good explanation on the Adobe site about DNG - I hope it will be of help to you.

http://www.adobe.com/products/photos...splayTab2.html

Cheers

Thanks, will have a read!

[alfie2902]

DNG is an attempt to standardise the various raw formats (CR2, NEF, etc.). It probably doesn't matter which you use.

Cheers, Pete, I'll have a try with DNG files & see how I get on.

I really like the way you can edit & save a JPeg & the RAW file remains untouched. I will have to see if this works the same in DNG (Not a problem to make & work on a copy if not)

[Mark LJ]

I set my K-5 to DNG - takes up slightly more space than the PEF but changed it for reasons of greater compatibility. I don't take jpegs at all. I only ever work from the RAW file as there is far greater headroom and I don't see the point of clogging up the card with a file I'll never use.

[mikehit]

I really like the way you can edit & save a JPeg & the RAW file remains untouched. I will have to see if this works the same in DNG (Not a problem to make & work on a copy if not)

If you are using Lightroom you work on the RAW file (or DNG or whatever) and it remains untouched because all the changes are stored as a separate 'recipe' file. Once you are happy with the results you can output to Photoshop (or other program) and do specialist changes including using layers.

[Mr Cat]

I set my K-5 to DNG - takes up slightly more space than the PEF but changed it for reasons of greater compatibility. I don't take jpegs at all. I only ever work from the RAW file as there is far greater headroom and I don't see the point of clogging up the card with a file I'll never use.

yep, same here - shoot in raw, make any changes to the image (normally bit of sharpening, bring brightness level back up), save as .JPG and leave the raw image as it was...

[alfie2902]

Thanks all for the advice!

Just to clarify I am shooting in RAW (Well DNG now) playing around a little in Lightroom & then saving the one or two images I'm happy with as JPeg's. Would saving as TIFF's be a better idea?

A couple more questions, Does LR4 offer much over LR2(.7)? & How good is PS Elements compared to full Photoshop? I've used earlier PS4 & PS7 versions, so know my way around a little. I used to use layers alot in a previous hobby.

[mikehit]

As you are using lightroom, I would way you could save them as JPEG. If you wanted to do specific editing then you output the LR file straight to PS (or whatever program you are using).
However, once you start editing in PS it would in theory be best to save in TIFF or PSD. The reason for this is that every time you edit and re-save a JPEG the compression is reapplied which means that you sufffer a gradual loss of information (fine detail as well as dynamic range) so if you saved the file as JPEG and then opened/edited this then you would suffer image degradation. However, some people have tried this (you may be able to find it on google) and say that even after 30 or more open/edit/save cycles they do not see any degradation - my view is why risk it if all it takes is a bit of disc space.

Between LR2 and LR3 there were significant advances in the noise reduction facility and some improvements in the shadow recovery. LR4 takes shadoe recovery one step further again. To be honest unless you are hugely critical, or cropping a lot or printing big these advantages may not be a dal breaker if cost is an issue.

[BobC]

Thanks all for the advice!

Just to clarify I am shooting in RAW (Well DNG now) playing around a little in Lightroom & then saving the one or two images I'm happy with as JPeg's. Would saving as TIFF's be a better idea?

A couple more questions, Does LR4 offer much over LR2(.7)? & How good is PS Elements compared to full Photoshop? I've used earlier PS4 & PS7 versions, so know my way around a little. I used to use layers alot in a previous hobby.

I use LR3 for all my file management, storage and editing...save in DNG, memory is dirt cheap so why save a compressed and lossy format such as JPEG. Any edits in LR3 are economical as all LR 3 does is save the difference and attach it to the original DNG, which is why you can always undo the edit at any time, a huge advantage. plus LR3 has one of the best catalogue systems going. PS is only really needed for pixel level editing...all IMHO of course.

LR3 allows you to output JPEGs to apps such as Flikr and does this automatically once set up, it really is easy to use once you get used to it.