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Naoki-Hada
Naoki-Hada
Known Participant
October 9, 2017
Question

[Q] Proper DNG file size

  • October 9, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 1457 views

Hi all,

I did not know mobile version of Lightroom can take photo with DNG format until last week.

So I tried with Nexus 5X which has 12.3 MP.

Nexus 5X - Wikipedia

The saved DNG file is 24,163KB. It is almost double.

Is this supposed be like this big?

I have Sony Alpha 5100 (24 MP)  and the raw file (ARW) is about 24.5MB.

Sony α5100 - Wikipedia

Other old camera is Canon 5D mk2 (21MP) and raw file is about 22-24 MB.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II - Wikipedia

So I thought MP (mega pixel) representation and raw file (mega byte) is similar range.

Thank you,

Naoki

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Conrad_C
Community Expert
Conrad_CCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 9, 2017

It's a coincidence that the Sony and Canon megapixel sizes are so similar to the megabyte sizes. There is not normally a correlation between them. The file size in MB can can be different numbers for the same number of pixels, depending on what type of data is in the file and what type of compression is applied.

When taking DNG photos, the file size can be quite different depending on the camera mode used when the photo was captured. For example, taking DNG photos with the Lightroom camera on my phone's 12 megapixel camera, a DNG photo captured with Auto mode is 14.3MB, while a DNG photo captured with HDR mode is 40.5MB because it’s a merge of multiple exposures.

Do you get different DNG file sizes on the Nexus phone when you use different camera modes?

    Naoki-Hada
    Naoki-HadaAuthor
    Known Participant
    October 9, 2017

    The Nexus 5X's regular DNG file size were all same size 24,714,902 byte  (24,743,936 byte on disk).

    There were about 10 photos.

    I have not tried with HDR, but I'll try.

    I did not know the HDR supported for DNG.

       Lr Mobile Update: Raw HDR capture mode for iOS and Android

    But DNG is not equal to RAW. So it makes sense.

    And I think it makes sense more on phone as smaller physical area on sensor make less color depth.

    Thank you,

    Naoki

    Naoki-Hada
    Naoki-HadaAuthor
    Known Participant
    October 9, 2017

    Nexus 5X was not supported for HDR.

    > For Android users, at this point only the Samsung S7, S7 Edge, Google Pixel, and Pixel XL are supported.

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