WB and exposure as shot, no other adjustments applied in ACR. What I'm after here is Nik's assertion that using .DNG alters the original. I don't much care if it adds (or changes) metadata as long as it doesn't screw up, but I always want the option to just start over with what came out of the camera when I screw up (or learn something new).
DNG doesn't alter anything. There are proprietary metadata tags, like WB that can only be accessible by the proprietary converter expecting that data (that means the manufacturer's converter). Raw is Raw and a DNG is the un-demosaiced data. The DNG is just that, minus, due to either encryption or data a converter can't utilize because its processing engine isn't setup to use that data. The WB tag has no effect on the Raw data. Only exposure and ISO alter the Raw data.
WB and exposure as shot, no other adjustments applied in ACR. What I'm after here is Nik's assertion that using .DNG alters the original. I don't much care if it adds (or changes) metadata as long as it doesn't screw up, but I always want the option to just start over with what came out of the camera when I screw up (or learn something new).
Richard,
just to be on an accurate side (we're all nerds afterall):
1) DNG is a result of a conversion (I heard of only one somewhat obscure camera that can store SOOC files in DNG), hence some information can be lost/mangled during the process;
2) once the conversion is done, the "raw" data probably stays intact and all the manipulations are supposed to be done to a separate part of the file. However, bad things happen to the best of us, and a file that was open in a "writeable" mode is way more exposed to a potential corruption than the one open "readonly".
Bottom line - backup issues aside (it's a separate subject) I like my RAWs as they are.
Comments
DNG doesn't alter anything. There are proprietary metadata tags, like WB that can only be accessible by the proprietary converter expecting that data (that means the manufacturer's converter). Raw is Raw and a DNG is the un-demosaiced data. The DNG is just that, minus, due to either encryption or data a converter can't utilize because its processing engine isn't setup to use that data. The WB tag has no effect on the Raw data. Only exposure and ISO alter the Raw data.
Author "Color Management for Photographers"
http://www.digitaldog.net/
just to be on an accurate side (we're all nerds afterall):
1) DNG is a result of a conversion (I heard of only one somewhat obscure camera that can store SOOC files in DNG), hence some information can be lost/mangled during the process;
2) once the conversion is done, the "raw" data probably stays intact and all the manipulations are supposed to be done to a separate part of the file. However, bad things happen to the best of us, and a file that was open in a "writeable" mode is way more exposed to a potential corruption than the one open "readonly".
Bottom line - backup issues aside (it's a separate subject) I like my RAWs as they are.