RAW Photo in DNG...between apps staying DNG. Is it still RAW?

[cayenne]

HI all,

I'm trying to understand the relationship between RAW and DNG files.

Let's say I have a camera that the RAW files come out as DNG files (ok, it's not a canon camera).

Now, let's say this image is an anamorphic one....I bring it into an editor that will allow me to de-squeeze it to the proper aspect ratio, and export that out as a DNG file.

If I then bring that file back into a RAW editor, like Capture One for example....would I still be editing that image like a RAW image, giving me the full breadth of color, luminance, etc that it would if I'd brought the original DNG file out of the camera into C1 and began working color, etc?

I know DNG is more or less a container....so, when does what it contain stop being a RAW image?

Thank you in advance!!

cayenne

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

A partial answer is that it depends on the flavor of your DNG file.

Obviously, native DNG files from a camera can be 100% raw.

If you convert a raw file and choose the flavor of DNG that includes the original raw file in its container then you can be reasonably sure that it is unchanged.

That leaves the DNG file type called linear. I believe that it is not as capable as the original camera raw file.

This is a fairly extensive writeup explaining how DNG works. Myself, I believe that there is always a possibility of something being inadvertently lost during the conversion process.

DNG | dpBestflow

dpbestflow.org

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

If the original DNG file is truely raw and you process it, then save as a DNG again, it becomes a linear DNG file which is not a true raw file, it has parameters baked in like tiff or jpeg.

 

[cayenne]

Ok thank you VERY much !!!

I was guessing as such, but I figured folks here would know more definitely how it works!!

C

 

[Michael Clark]

A lot depends upon which DNG convertor you use. Adobe's, for instance, strips out all of the maker note section of the EXIF info and also throws away the information from masked pixels. This isn't an issue if you're then going to use Adobe products afterwards, because they ignore all of that data in Canon CR2 and CR3 files anyway. But some other apps do use that information that Adobe discards. Black point and white point are also baked in.

For most DNG convertors, what you end up with is a close equivalent to a 16-bit TIFF that has already been demosaiced and had black/white pints set.