To DNG or not to DNG?

[Bella]

That is the question!

I got Lightroom 2 as a Christmas gift, and because I jumped into Lightroom 1 without fully understanding the capabilities of it's organizational superiority, my files are kind of a mess now.

I'm almost done re-labelling folders, and putting all my sub-folders into one main "lightroom" folder, which means, I'm about ready to import everything into LR2.

So, my question is, do you use DNG when you import, instead of importing RAW files, and why do you or don't you?

Thanks,
Cindy

[mathia]

Personally, I have stuck with the native RAW format. Knowing me, if I converted to DNG, I would still want backups of the RAW files. SO...rather than backing up 2 file formats, since Lightroom is nondestructive, I figure why mess with yet another format. I know that DNG is supposed to be the format of the future and was designed just in case your format is no longer supported, but, to me, it is a waste of time. There might be other advantages to it that I am not seeing, but for now, I will continue as I am. Just me.

[kb5kjn]

I switched to DNG over a year ago.

[KBerntsen]

My take is that if at some point Adobe drops support for my raw files I'll do a massive coversion at that time with the last version of ACR that supports them. In the mean time I'll save my disk space and only keep the original raw file.

[JohnT]

I started converting to DNG a few months, and I allow LR to do the conversion during importation. I lose no valuable data, achieve a smaller file size, and don't have to worry about future compatibility. Another advantage is I don't have to worry about LR or ACR not being able to read my image files when I upgrade to a new camera; no waiting for Adobe's update. It's a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

[Sonny]

meh, waste of time for me at the moment. In my opinion it seems like a lot of hassle for marginal benefit. I'm fine with Lightroom and my original RAW files. I like the idea of DNGs, but drive space is cheap and not an issue for me.

The advantage/disadvantage is totally up to the user. There is no all-around right or wrong answer. The best answer is what works for you.

Come on, is Adobe and RAW really going anywhere? NO! Eventually the world is gonna end too...guess I better prepare for that as well.

Someday if I have to convert to DNG then I'll do it. The conversion option will always be there.

[Bella]

Thanks for the input all . . .looks like a coin toss kind of decision. Without any overwhelming reason *to* do it, I think I'll choose to just stick with my RAW files at this point.

Cindy

[Duffy Pratt]

Adobe just made this decision for me. I got a new Canon G10. Lightroom 2.2. recognizes the Raw files with no problem, but I can't then import them from LR to PS CS3. CS3 doesn't accept the new ACR plug-in, so I would have to upgrade to CS4 to keep my old procedures in place. Or, I can convert the RAW files in LR to DNG, and then there's no problem. So this turned out to be a no-brainer, even if each session with that camera will now take a few minutes longer.

Duffy

[KBerntsen]

Or you convert it to a TIFF on the way into CS3