I have used Adobe DNG Convert to replace my Nikon NEF Raw files with Adobe DNG files prior to entry into Lightroom. I have chosen to use this route. I have set the preferences as follows .. Using Raw 7.1 or greater ... JPEG Preview: Medium size...Embed fast load .. Don't use Lossy Compression...Preserve Pixel count ... Don't embed originals. OK! All conversion went smoothly ... over 10,000 photos converted. Now my question is: When I look at the photos using Windows 10 Photo Viewer ... the DNG photos are significantly reduced in quality compared to looking at the corresponding original NEF photo with Windows Photo Viewer. My concern is this ... when I look at the DNG photo with Windows Photo Viewer, am Iooking at the Medium size JPEG Preview and is that why the photo is much poorer in quality? My concern is that when I import into Lightroom I want to be working with the best quality photo. I have saved all my original NEF files so if necessary I can do away with the DNG files and replace quickly with the originals In my reading, I was under the impression that using DNG files would be easier in that the XMP files are stored internal to the DNG files and I do not have to keep track of them and that seemed easier for me. Also I understood that the quality of the DNG file would be the same as the quality of the original Raw NEF file. I am totally new to photo manipulation and have not yet imported anything into Lightroom. I have been trying to organize all my photos ..many photos ... 25,000 plus .. many of my photos are not RAW photos taken before I had my Nikon D300. My reading highly recommends careful and consistent file organization prior to entry into Lightroom and I have spent several weeks coming up with a meaningful schema for organizing my photos. And in my last step I was going to convert NEF RAW files to DNG to save room and to save organization issues later (ie...not worrying about XMP files). So I am questioning why when I look at the DNG photos and compare to the NEF photos using Windows Photo Viewer, why are the DNG photos of much poor quality than the NEF photos?
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