Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
I mentioned that you have the option of having your photos converted to DNG
(Digital Negative) format as they're imported. DNG was created by Adobe because
today each camera manufacturer has its own proprietary RAW file format, and Adobe
is concerned that, one day, one or more manufacturers might abandon an older format
for something new. With DNG, it's not proprietary—Adobe made it an open format,
so anyone can write to that specification. While ensuring that your negatives could
be opened in the future was the main goal, DNG brings other advantages, as well.
The Adobe DNG File
Format Advantage
Setting Your DNG Preferences:
Press Command-, (comma; PC: Ctrl-,) to
bring up Lightroom's Preferences dialog,
then click on the File Handling tab (as
shown here). In the Import DNG Creation
section at the top, you see the settings
I use for DNG conversion. Although you
can embed the original proprietary RAW
file, I don't (it adds to the file size, and
pretty much kills Advantage #1 below).
By the way, you choose Copy as DNG at
the top center of the Import window (as
shown below).
Advantage #1: DNG files are smaller
RAW files usually have a pretty large file
size, so they eat up hard disk space pretty
quickly, but when you convert a file to
DNG, it's generally about 20% smaller.
Advantage #2: DNG files don't need
a separate sidecar
When you edit a RAW file, that meta-
data is actually stored in a separate file
called an XMP sidecar file. If you want to
give someone your RAW file and have it
include the metadata and changes you
applied to it in Lightroom, you'd have to
give them two files: (1) the RAW file itself,
and (2) the XMP sidecar file, which holds
the metadata and edit info. But with a
DNG, if you press Command-S (PC: Ctrl-S) ,
that info is embedded right into the DNG
file itself. So, before you give somebody
your DNG file, just remember to use that
shortcut so it writes the metadata to the
file first.
 
 
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