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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Iridient Developer in now available for Windows !!! | |
traveler wrote:
Forgive my ignorance, but I've NEVER ever touched a DNG file before. So explain if you will what the process really is. If I take a RAF raw file in my Fuji X-T2, then place it on my desktop lens say, then open up Lightroom CC. What is the next thing I do? Does Lightroom just magically know what the DNG file is and open it translating it without any other manipulation? Or is there an additional move one has to make to open it? I'm a bit confused. So I'm sure the file FIRST has to be opened up in Iridient to be translated in it's own manner, but then what? I assume it's saved as a DNG at that point, but what does one do from there to just open it in Lightroom CC to finish the job? Thanks....Show more →
Think of a DNG similar to a PDF -- readable by many different systems as long as the system is given initial capability to read it and it'll look the same no matter what you read it on.
Most camera makers unfortunately use their own, propriety RAW format -- meaning all software has to account for all the .ORFs, RAFs, NEFs, (Olympus, Fuji and Nikon, respectively, etc. etc.) in order to be able to open and translate those RAW formats.
***technicality***
(much of the time this 'translation' is just updating the software program to update its own "authorized list" of cameras to make it recognize the new camera model header in the raw file . For instance, if an X-T3 came out, bets are unless Fuji radically changed the way they do RAW files, one could actually edit the header of an X-T3 raw (using an external program) to make it read "X-T2" and then open that modified RAW just fine in most programs (in fact, I've done this).
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A DNG is a 'universal' RAW format invented by Adobe. There are actually multiple versions of DNG because features were added (like support for lens correction flags, color profiles, support for lossless compression, etc.) but for the most part, any program that is capable of reading a DNG can open it up and get very similar performance as if one were opening a native file.
Pentax is the only maker I know of that will actually natively output DNG files. However, Adobe makes a free DNG converter, so that you could conceivably batch all of your various raw formats into all DNG files.
So yes -- almost any RAW editor can open a DNG, though I'm sure there are exceptions (like Canon's own software, maybe Nikon's). LR will read a DNG just fine, as does Bridge, PS, etc.
What Iridient converter does is open the RAF and save all of that raw information into a DNG. Then, one can use whatever program they want to edit that DNG and take advantage of Iridient's sharpening and 'translation' of the RAF instead of relying on the native translation abilities of their program when it reads RAFs.
So, to break it down:
If I open a RAF in LR CC, it's going to look different than in Capture 1, Silkypix, etc. because all of those programs translate the raw information slightly differently, and a lot of people (including me) love Lightroom's workflow but hate how they demosaic RAFs.
For DNG (as far as I know...fuzzy memory here), if you open a DNG in Capture 1 or Silkypix or Lightroom, it should look the same...though whether each program supports the various flags within the DNG (lens corrections, color profiles, etc.) might vary.
Iridient will demosaic the RAF using its own code, then write this as a DNG -- When LR opens this, it doesn't do its own demosaic because Iridient has already done that.
That's why an Iridient DNG, from a Fuji RAF, will look much different in LR compared to LR reading the RAF itself.
Edit -- To further clarify (or confuse, your choice), the *creation* of the DNG can vary wildly.
If I get Iridient to make a DNG from a RAF, then get LR to export a DNG from a RAF, those DNGs are still going to look differently from one another (because each program has performs its own 'translation' of the RAF as it creates the DNG)....but they'll look the same in every program that can open DNGs -- So a LR-created DNG, opened in Silkypix, looks exactly the same as if it were opening in LR itself.
The cool thing about DNGs is that they're fairly universal (not completely though). So if I'm using ancient Lightroom 3 and I have an X-T2 and still want to shoot raw -- I could do so just by running my RAFs through a DNG converter (Iridient, Adobe's free one, whatever) and then import those into Lightroom 3 and it would read most of it just fine (might not support the color profiles) and I'd still have the editing headroom that a native raw would give me.
Again, an Iridient X-T2 DNG will look different than a LR X-T2 DNG, but both would be able to be read by older programs as long as they supported DNGs.
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