More and more digital cameras are saving photos in the lossless RAW format. The problem here is that there is no one RAW format, but many different manufacturer-specific versions. It is possible that no program will be able to read any of your files in a few years using them. Which is the best way to archive your RAW photos?
In reality, there are number of examples of digital data formats in the history of computers which started promisingly, failed badly, and then finally disappeared from the scene. Now, attempts to open documents in such formats with current programs either fail or result in illegible junk. This is a risk in the case of RAW photos as well. Hence, it makes sense to convert your pictures into a format that has a good chance for survival next year: DNG, short for Digital Negative.
This file format for camera RAW data, initiated by Photoshop manufacturer Adobe in 2004, was introduced to replace the multiple proprietary RAW formats used by manufacturers. It has not worked well so far, but there is still a good chance that DNG will establish itself as a standard just like the PDF format. The reason is that Adobe has disclosed all the format specifications, unlike other camera manufacturers, making it easy to adopt and standardize. Flexible processing options are an advantage of DNG files. There is no need to use specific software bundled with a camera by its manufacturer; plus there is no danger of possible incompatibility between older cameras and newer RAW software versions. Users have the option to choose the software they want to use for processing DNG files further. A variety of applications can already process the DNG format. Since the end 2005, more and more camera manufacturers including Leica, Samsung and Ricoh, are directly supporting DNG. Adobe has provided a free DNG converter at www. adobe.com/products/dng to convert your RAW files. You can get started after downloading the 35 MB program and subsequently installing it.
Start Adobe DNG Converter and select the source folder that contains your pictures. Then specify the directory in which the program should store the completed files. Name the photos and, if required, adjust parameters such as the size of the preview pictures using ‘Presettings’. If you want to play it safe, you can not only convert the RAW files but also embed the originals into the digital negative as a backup. The drawback of doing this is of course that each file's size increases by almost double. On clicking ‘Convert’, the program converts all the selected pictures to the DNG format in one go.
In reality, there are number of examples of digital data formats in the history of computers which started promisingly, failed badly, and then finally disappeared from the scene. Now, attempts to open documents in such formats with current programs either fail or result in illegible junk. This is a risk in the case of RAW photos as well. Hence, it makes sense to convert your pictures into a format that has a good chance for survival next year: DNG, short for Digital Negative.
This file format for camera RAW data, initiated by Photoshop manufacturer Adobe in 2004, was introduced to replace the multiple proprietary RAW formats used by manufacturers. It has not worked well so far, but there is still a good chance that DNG will establish itself as a standard just like the PDF format. The reason is that Adobe has disclosed all the format specifications, unlike other camera manufacturers, making it easy to adopt and standardize. Flexible processing options are an advantage of DNG files. There is no need to use specific software bundled with a camera by its manufacturer; plus there is no danger of possible incompatibility between older cameras and newer RAW software versions. Users have the option to choose the software they want to use for processing DNG files further. A variety of applications can already process the DNG format. Since the end 2005, more and more camera manufacturers including Leica, Samsung and Ricoh, are directly supporting DNG. Adobe has provided a free DNG converter at www. adobe.com/products/dng to convert your RAW files. You can get started after downloading the 35 MB program and subsequently installing it.
Start Adobe DNG Converter and select the source folder that contains your pictures. Then specify the directory in which the program should store the completed files. Name the photos and, if required, adjust parameters such as the size of the preview pictures using ‘Presettings’. If you want to play it safe, you can not only convert the RAW files but also embed the originals into the digital negative as a backup. The drawback of doing this is of course that each file's size increases by almost double. On clicking ‘Convert’, the program converts all the selected pictures to the DNG format in one go.
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