RAW vs DNG: Ask David Bergman

Today's question from Joseph: “I shoot RAW. When I import into Lightroom, should I keep them in RAW or convert to DNG? I was told DNG is better” and from Cody B: “The images from my Canon M50 are RAW CR2 files, but then I convert them to DNG. Does this compromise my ability to work on them in post-production?”

Production equipment used to produce this video:
Canon EOS R Mirrorless Full Frame Digital Camera Body

Canon RF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Zoom Lens

Manfrotto MT055XPRO3 Black Aluminum Tripod with MVH502AH Pro Video Head

CLAR S30 Focusing LED Light 3-Light Kit

Photek SoftLighter II 60" White Umbrella

Lastolite 6x7' Chromakey Collapsible Disc Background, Green

Audio-Technica AT803 Omni-Directional Lavalier Condenser Microphone

Zoom H4n Pro Audio Recorder, Black

Audio-Technica XLRF-XLRM Balanced cable

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David's "Two Minute Tips" RAW vs JPEG:

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR Body

Adobe DNG Converter:

Canon Digital Photo Pro software:

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#rawvsdng #adobedng #postproduction

[JohnJBloomfield]

Pentax is a cool exception, when you set the camera to RAW you can choose to save as DNG or PEF (their proprietary format) ... The only reason any Pentaxians can see for PEF to even exist is it allows for slightly faster FPS etc as PEFs are smaller because of the jpeg preview compression and nothing is missing in the DNG.

[alanplatt]

Fascinating insight to files and comparison of RAW vs DNG. I found it very interesting indeed, thanks.

[thats_mr_b_]

Ahhhh THANX DAVID for picking my question. You have been a big help in my development and passion to be a professional photographer !

[deemat]

Concise, clear and well-articulated, as well as to the point and informative. Thank you!

[MikeJamesMedia]

Thanks, David. I appreciate you sharing both the technical and the practical.

[thomastuorto]

I use to convert to dng when I first got into digital photography. Now I use my nikon nef along with saving a copy of my original photos to an external hard drive before I import to LR. aS ALWAYS, GREAT VID.

[simondeltree]

Great points. I still use the DNG conversion but embed my original raw files. I just like a standard version since I use both Canon and Sony. As you would say, to each is own. Great information and thank you.

[ricktwice]

Fantastic video on this topic finally! I backup the original RAW on physical archives but i save the dng version to the cloud (my free acconts can last longer) :)
Thanks Dave

[ShaneBaker]

Thanks David. Yet another terrific video. Please keep them coming.
On Capture One and DNG: given the relationship between C1 and Sony, Fuji and now Nikon, I assume those manufacturers are providing all their technical data about their raw formats. Indeed, the other day I watched Joe McNally process a 17yo Nikon file in C1 with no difficulty, so I doubt if there will be archival issues in the medium future.
Also, and a highly subjective assessment - my gut feeling is that raw in C1 provides better results than DNG.

[johnvirdin]

Great info! Thank you for pulling all this info together. One of the first items in my workflow currently is to make a copy of the CR3 raw files to DNG with the embedded original RAW CR3 file. I then take advantage of the backup to Amazon. Amazon has not recognized the CR3 file format as a photo, but they do recognize the DNG format and this step in the workflow permits cloud archival of the images.

[ottawamountainman]

Thanks for the nice review. Did you know that Adobe recently added support for PSB (Photoshop large) file format to LR! For those working with the newest very high Mpix cameras .... it’s been such a game changer in file management not to have to use clumsy work arounds to get past the 4GB limit of tiff. That could make for a nice follow up episode.

[jonlaye]

The latest Adobe RAW software seems to support my old DCR files from the Kodak DCS 520/560/760 cameras. In fact the conversions now are much better than with period software

[nicksouthorn]

Great video, I enjoy watching these whether it is new info or not.

[TheSocialjerry]

I decided not to use LR for a project as I was testing CO Pro. CO didnt support the raw file for the D3500 so I had to convert them to DNG. After the convertion it worked well. CO new update now recognises the D3500 raw file ... so no need to convert the raw files to DNG. This was a brilliant explanation. It was really informative

[albertr]

Hi David. Great video with excellent information. I am a Canon shooter, and I use Lightroom Classic. As far as format in concerned I prefer to use the original RAW CR2 Files. DNG is good. I do have some files that are of DNG format. They are very good, but at the end of the day I prefer to use the original CR2 RAW files. I prefer every bit of data the original CR2 file can give me. The only time I use a DNG file is when I shoot a panorama, or a HDR photo, and in Lightroom classic I have to convert those files to DNG. They do work out fine when I do that. Other than that I simply use the original CR2 files to make sure that I get, and maintain every bit of data the CR2 file can give me.

[felixrodriguez]

David I agree with you about the raw vs dng issue. With the better computers and software this isn't much of a difference plus each camera software gives the right inner workings of the process for one's images. Like the old saying goes if not broken there no need to fix in this case. I found working in raw files much more productive with the camera software. I always backup my images in multi copies and places for sure. Found the information in my good to know folder. Great tip

[Heartkwt]

GREAT INFO, thanks for sharing.

Stay Blessed

[AdrianBacon]

A plus for DNG is that you can embed the original raw file into the DNG. Yes, it makes it bigger, but you get the DNG, and it you ever need to produce the camera original, you can. I switched over to DNG so long ago I don’t even remember, and never looked back. My only wish is that more camera manufacturers would use it. The spec has support for storing everything the camera original raw files do. It’s absurd that manufacturers don’t use it.

[CrispyFrenFry]

As an archivist I strongly encourage DNG files because digital obsolescence is a terrifyingly real thing we encounter all the time. Great video nonetheless!

[tuvajosephfilms]

Thank you for the info. Personally I find working with DNG quite fast, especially with tight deadlines. But I embed the raw file for "safety"