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elfelm
Known Participant
November 26, 2018
Question

photomerge creates huge dng files

  • November 26, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 610 views

LR classic 8 (2019) - when I'm done with a project I convert to lossy dng for archiving.  files are usually around 14MB.

If I used LR to produce a [photomerge] - [hdr] the file becomes average 165MB.  Attempts to convert this .dng to lossy .dng do not result in any file size savings.  

A .tif with zip compression is better at 40MB (export using LR) - but requires a few more steps.

and export as a high jpeg the size is about 15MB as expected.

Is there a way to get the convert to dng process to work as expected ?

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2 replies

GoldingD
GoldingD
Legend
November 26, 2018

"Is there a way to get the convert to dng process to work as expected ?"

Huh? That is exactly what is expected, large files with lots of dynamic range.

    john beardsworth
    Community Expert
    john beardsworthCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 26, 2018

    Get a bigger hard drive and stop worrying about file sizes. Seriously.

    Lossy DNGs are lossy because you've thrown away image data. They have their uses, but if you re-edit images in future you won't have as much image data available. The merged DNG contains raw data, so one would expect it to be bigger.

      JohanElzenga
      Community Expert
      JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      November 26, 2018

      https://forums.adobe.com/people/john+beardsworth  wrote

      Get a bigger hard drive and stop worrying about file sizes. Seriously.

      Lossy DNGs are lossy because you've thrown away image data. They have their uses, but if you re-edit images in future you won't have as much image data available. The merged DNG contains raw data, so one would expect it to be bigger.

      AFAIK, the merged DNG does not contain raw data anymore. They contain linear demosaiced data. That is exactly the reason why the DNG becomes so big. Raw data are one color channel per pixel. Demosaiced data are all three color channels per pixel.

      -- Johan W. Elzenga
      E
      elfelmAuthor
      Known Participant
      November 26, 2018

      Thanks for that - so if i want a reduced and lossy version I should export as a different file type. 

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