I have a Pentax istDS.
Before I convert the Pentax raw files to DNG files I use the Pentax Browser
to rename the raw files, after discarding the bad ones, AND then saving all
the EXIF data on a spread sheet. That way all the EXIF data is preserved,
although it is all not on the individual file.

AE


"John Francis" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Paul Furman wrote:
G.T. wrote:

Just wondering if anyone here is committed to DNG? I finally tried it
out
last night and really like the fact that the files converted from my
Rebel
XT RAW files are 75% the size of the original RAWs. Adobe says the
compression is lossless, does anyone know for sure whether all info is
retained?

My current workflow is Canon DPP to Photoshop CS but I wouldn't mind
switching to DNG Converter to Adobe Camera RAW to Photoshop if my images
will be safe.

I use it to reduce file size and make what I think will be a better
supported archive for future use. My Nikon D70 files lose a few odd ends
in the EXIF data, that is common for some of the shooting information to
be in a non-standard format and no other program can recover it all
either. I forget what exactly, do a comparison & check for yourself.

Actually, you lose information because it *isn't* in the EXIF data.
That's because EXIF doesn't have tags for some of the data (such as
exactly which lens you are using, for one example), so the camera
manufacturers have to resort to other ways of storing this stuff.

That said, DNG V3.x has the ability to store all this private
MakerNote data in the DNG file for those manufacturers who use a
private RAW file format that is basically an extension to TIFF/EP.
This includes Canon, Nikon & Pentax, and possibly a few others.
While no software I know of is capable, at present, of reading
and displaying this manufacturer-specific private data from the
saved copy of the MakerNote tag, it is at least theoretically
possible. This makes switching to DNG even less risky.

Despite that, though, I still recommend archiving the original
RAW file. Maybe I'm over-cautious, but DVDs are cheap.

I'm just about to switch to DNG myself, so my process will be:

o Create 2nd copy of files to a removable HDD
before deleting from CF cards/microdrives

o Archive original camera RAW files to DVD or CD

o Convert RAWs to DNG

o Copy DNGs to removable HDD (and possibly to DVD)

o Original RAW files can now be deleted from system
(although I'll probably keep selected images online,
just in case I want to use a different RAW converter)

o All the usual image editing stuff.

o Save processed files to removable HDD and to CD.