[LRflex] Re: Adobe DNG converter- Another view.
- From: David Young <dsy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2012 08:08:08 -0700
Good Morning, Xavier!
Your dissertation on DNG is most interesting. And, I am sure, quite accurate.
The article on William Beem's site [ http://williambeem.com/the-dng-trap/ ] is
also interesting.
My understanding is that Leica (one of the early adopters of DNG) went to it as
they were near bankrupt, at the time of the development of the M8, and Adobe
offered (and continues to offer) their proprietary DNG "standard", for free.
It saved Leica a lot of money, as they did not have to design their own format,
from the ground up.
I have converted my Olympus ORF files to DNG since I first got my E3 (and,
perhaps sadly, not kept the original ORF files). I have done so, as I believe
that while Nikon and Canon RAW files will be supported by third party vendors
for a long time, the ORF files might not be ... a suspicion made stronger by
the recent scandals that have rocked Olympus and rumours of it possible sale.
While I like Oly cameras (and especially their Zuiko glass), I continue to have
doubts about the long term viability of any "minor" camera maker, these days.
Although I have not done so, for storage considerations, it is possible to set
Adobe's DNG converter to embed the original ORF (or other source file) in the
DNG file. Perhaps this might be a way to simplify the storage workflow.
That being said, I have not done this, to date, and frankly, despite any lack
of data in the converted DNG file, I find that in 12x18" (30x45cm) prints I
cannot find any noticeable difference in image quality, between photos made
from the "native" DNG files from the R8+DMR and those made from the Olympus via
DNG files converted from ORF files.
(If it makes you feel better, I do keep my old Canon images in their original
Cr2 format.)
However, there is one more fly in the ointment... I recently had a chance to
borrow Oly's new OM-D from a friend. The version of Adobe's DNG converter that
I had would not read the ORF files from the OM-D, yet it reads the ORF files
from my E3, beautifully! This makes me wonder... Has the internal structure
of ORF files changed, along the way?
BTW: loading Adobe's newest version of their converter solved the problem, but
it still strikes me as odd!
> Now I start to understand how SilkyPix V5 is able to offer some
> automatic adjustments on files out of the panasonic LX5 or Digilux3, ISL
> has obviously the mapping of the hidden and specific data.
The version of SP offered with Panasonic camera works automatically, I'm sure,
because ISL was most likely be given Panasonic's full specification. I would
assume that Adobe's version is "reverse engineered".
> Sorry for the long post, I wanted to share what seems to be a good
> marketing hoax by ADOBE. Their products are good, BTW and I'm sure that
> the software suite offered with the LEICA M8 or M9 is giving the best
> possible results.
>
> At least, for an OLYMPUS or a PANASONIC, it's better to get the plugin
> offered graciously on their site, it might prove to offer a better
> result on the long term.....
Not everyone would agree with you, on this point. This website is dedicated
specifically to Olympus and it's suitable software. http://tinyurl.com/cr4s28x
With regard to the Oly plug-in for PS, they say: " some say it is not the best
plug-in available, better to use the Adobe Camera Raw one."
Similarly, the "Olympus Master" program that comes with the camera's is slow
and difficult to use. It produces results almost identical to the Jpeg
converter built into the camera. I would assume the same "engine" is in their
PS plug-in.
Based on my high level of practical success with Adobe's DNG converter, and my
continuing fears for Olympus' ORF format, in the long term, I will continue to
convert and keep my Olympus files as DNGs.
David.
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