DNG files: I have been going through and organizing picture files. I have files in Canon, Nikon. Pentax and Olympus formats as well as DNG files. Of late I have been converting to DNG...

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

I have been going through and organizing picture files. I have files in Canon, Nikon. Pentax and Olympus formats as well as DNG files. Of late I have been converting to DNG files and my edited photos are saved as PSD files. The thought occurred to me that if I no longer had PS then I would no longer be able to view my files. Am I correct? If that is the case then are others saving their files as JPEGs or Tiffs in addition to DNGs/PSDs?

Bill_de Loc: US

I am happy to say you are not correct. I just tested a DNG and a PSD in 'Corel PhotoPaint' and 'Zoner Photo Studio'. They both recognize both formats and I'm sure there are many others.

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dmsM43

If you have a Mac, preview will give you a thumbnail image. But to open the image, you will need something like Photoshop Elements, or similar software that will actually open those files. I, too, have thought about saving my image files as PSD's, but it appears that only Adobe software can open those, which leaves jpg's or Tiff's. As far as file size goes, Tiff's and PSD's are pretty much the same, and both allow further editing, but with Tiff's, you don't need Adobe software.
I usually save my edited images as jpg's or Tiff's, but I also save my RAW files as well, in either the original camera format, or in the case of my Sony, as DNG's. That way, if need be, I can go back to ground zero for editing.

Bill_de Loc: US

On1 software will also work with both formats.

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Rongnongno Loc: FL

Do not forget that your original raw will also work so... Converting? There is no need IF this is about the orginal.

Preserving edits? At the moment there is nothing better than a TIFF file even if these suckers take more space than other formats.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

suntouched wrote:

I have been going through and organizing picture files. I have files in Canon, Nikon. Pentax and Olympus formats as well as DNG files. Of late I have been converting to DNG files and my edited photos are saved as PSD files. The thought occurred to me that if I no longer had PS then I would no longer be able to view my files. Am I correct? If that is the case then are others saving their files as JPEGs or Tiffs in addition to DNGs/PSDs?

No, not correct thankfully. Other tools, such as PSP (PaintShopPro) will open DNG, PSG and many other file types including major vendor raw files. However it is good to remember that DNG is still a proprietary Adobe format. It is not a formal standard like JPEG or TIFF. It has been proposed as a standard but not yet accepted. The specification is published and it has a royalty free license. It is convenient, but Adobe could change things at any time. I can't imagine why they would, but it is possible.

On the other hand, converting to DNG may lose some information in the vendor raw files. If you keep your original raw files as well you may use more disk space - which is relatively cheap - but you will have more options going forwards if anything changes.

Good luck

dmsM43

The only reason that I convert my Sony A7R RAW files is that they are a "lossy" format. The newer Sony A7R II got an upgrade to fix that, but not my older A7R. As for my Olympus and Panasonic RAW files, I leave them as is and store them on an external hard drive.

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

Appreciate the time you all took to answer my questions. Good to know that we are not totally dependent on Adobe. I think I may stop converting to DNG and then make a JPEG of the best so they may be shared quickly and simply.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

suntouched wrote:

Appreciate the time you all took to answer my questions. Good to know that we are not totally dependent on Adobe. I think I may stop converting to DNG and then make a JPEG of the best so they may be shared quickly and simply.

Good plan, but don't delete your original vendor specific raw files, that's like burning your original negatives. Your time and creative insight is far more valuable than a little disk space.... Or, make a 16bit TIFF. Much more disk capacity than raw or JPEG, but you have most of the data except camera settings and the ability to readjust those....

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

Peterff wrote:

Good plan, but don't delete your original vendor specific raw files, that's like burning your original negatives. Your time and creative insight is far more valuable than a little disk space.... Or, make a 16bit TIFF. Much more disk capacity than raw or JPEG, but you have most of the data except camera settings and the ability to readjust those....

My plan is to keep the original Raw image (data) and then make a PSD along with JPEG of anything I think is of value. I will just go forward from this point. It shouldn't be that overwhelming since I am very selective in what I keep.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

suntouched wrote:

My plan is to keep the original Raw image (data) and then make a PSD along with JPEG of anything I think is of value. I will just go forward from this point. It shouldn't be that overwhelming since I am very selective in what I keep.

Why keep an extra file (JPG) when you can just recreate using export in PS CC?

As to reliability... While I believe PS CC will last a long time when and IF you stop using PS CC you will be in trouble with all these proprietary files.

Just typing (saying) here....

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Rongnongno wrote:

As to reliability... While I believe PS CC will last a long time when and IF you stop using PS CC you will be in trouble with all these proprietary files....

Can you explain why you think that Ron? Surely something would fill the void created by the demise of PS if that were to occur?

Macronaut Loc: Redondo Beach,Ca.

A while back when there was quite a lot of discussion going on about how great DNG was, I had to check it out. I personally, could see no advantage to it and it only seemed to create an extra step. At this point, I see no need for anything other than raw, TIFF and jpegs for any or all of my needs.

Edit raw>save as TIFF>export jpeg. I will sometimes export TIFFs for things like focus stacking (for example).

Crwiwy Loc: Devon UK

There are many software packages that will view dng files. One very good viewer and editor is Faststone - which is freeware.
Someone will probably correct me - judging by the size of the dng image when viewed in fastone, it would appear that a dng image has a 1024 x 683 jpg image embedded in it.

JimMullinaux Loc: Austin, Texas

The main advantage to DNG for me is when I wish to preserve a transparent background without having to use PSD.