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A
Anonymous
April 4, 2019
Question

quality loss using DNG converter

  • April 4, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 13014 views

Hello

I am using LR (v5.7) for my pictures treatment, unfortunately my new camera (SONY A68) is not covered by my LR version.

I've seen that Adobe suggests using DNG converter to sort this problem out so I've converted my new RAW files into DNG using it before uploading them into LR.

Nevertheless, no matter which setting is selected into DNG converter, when I open the converted DNG file into LR, there is visible quality loss on the picture (no need to zoom in).

Except being forced to migrate on LR v6 (with a whole package I don't really need), I would like to know wether there is a real solution possible with DNG converter ?

Thank you for your help

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3 replies

A
Agostina22561630o4r0
Participant
January 9, 2022

Hi everyone! 

I seem to have the same problem. When I use the converter version 14 from my cr3 files to DNG, it does an automatic correction (brightness, saturation and even crop) that changes the photo and the quality seems to be worse. The camera is a Canon r6. 
How can I solve this? 

Per Berntsen
Community Expert
Per BerntsenCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 11, 2022

The screenshots you posted are from Windows Photos, which cannot display raw files, but displays the embedded jpg instead.

The DNG seems to have had lens corrections applied to it (pincushion distortion has been corrected, which does crop the image slightly), as well as an increase in exposure. So did you edit the DNG in Camera Raw?

In any case, the jpg preview of the DNG looks much better than the jpg preview of the CR3 file.

As has been mentioned several times in this in this thread, converting to DNG does NOT affect image quality in any way.

 

In the future, please post screenshots directly in your post. Click the Insert Photos button in the toolbar.

 

 

 

 

    A
    Agostina22561630o4r0
    Participant
    January 12, 2022

    Hi Per Berntsen, 

    Thank you for your response. I didn't edit anything in the photos that you see, just used the converter and that's how they appear. I understand what you are saying of the Windows Photos, because I've seen it happen. But the problem here is that this photo appears also 'edited' in Lightroom, as you can see edited in the Windows Photos. 

    I read the thread and understand what it says, but still cannot find the source of this problem. 

    Might look better but when I try to edit it in LR the photo is already 'edited' and has more noise, due to the exposure change and everything. I would like to edit that myself in LR. 

     

    Thank you, 
    Agostina 

    A
    Anonymous
    April 6, 2019

    OK thanks for your reply. I had the screenshot you requested prepared but I am not going to post it then.

    I didn’t know Windows could show the RAWs with some settings applied to it. I therefore assumed that the RAWs should look like my DNGs (and vice versa).

    However I am still surprised that the noise on the DNG is so high even though I can correct this with LR.

    Per Berntsen
    Community Expert
    Per BerntsenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 6, 2019

    Windows cannot display the raw file, so it displays the embedded jpg preview, which will have camera settings applied to it.

    Noise is usually caused by a high ISO setting and/or underexposure.

    I might be able to make some further comments on that if you post a screenshot of the DNG image at 1:1 in Develop, with the Histogram, Basic panel and Detail panel visible. If you make sure that your mouse is off the image when you take the screenshot, exposure information, including ISO, will be visible below the histogram.

    A
    Anonymous
    April 13, 2019

    Sorry for my late reply. Here is an example as requested :

    JP Hess
    JP Hess
    Inspiring
    April 4, 2019

    I have on occasion used the DNG converter. I have never been able to see any degree of image degradation from converting the DNG when comparing the DNG file with the original raw file. I have done this with my own images, mostly NEF files from Nikon, as well as other formats from other manufacturers. Your comparison could possibly be between the embedded JPEG preview that the camera displays (because the camera cannot display the raw data) and the actual raw data that is displayed when you are actually working on the image. How are you comparing the DNG to the original raw data?

    A
    Anonymous
    April 6, 2019

    Thanks for your reply.

    I’ve looked up on the Internet and, like you, no one seems to have this kind of problem. But the differences between my RAWs and the DNG are so obvious that it’s really troubling and I am doubting to convert the files properly.

    I am not comparing the jpeg previews (which are really poor quality) with the original files. I am comparing the Raws shown by Windows preview with the DNG once imported in LR (with the same the zoom). Colors of the DNG are much less saturated and the the worst problem regards the picture noise which is highly visible on the DNG and almost absent in the RAWs.

    Per Berntsen
    Community Expert
    Per BerntsenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 6, 2019

    kalul59420055  wrote

    I am comparing the Raws shown by Windows preview with the DNG once imported in LR (with the same the zoom).

    Please post a screenshot from Lightroom with the two images compared at 1:1 magnification.

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