P: Exporting DNG (from Merge) as a new DNG w/ Compatibility set to 14.0 creates a damaged file

[John R Ellis]

Exporting a photo-merged DNG as a DNG with compatibility Camera Raw 14.0 And Later creates a DNG that can't be opened in either Photoshop Camera Raw or in LR Develop.

Tested with LR 13.2 and Camera Raw 16.2 on Mac OS 14.2.1.

1. Open this small catalog:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dzg9nvdz727wgam/merge-export-dng-bug.2024.03.25.zip?dl=0 

2. Select both photos and do Photo > Photo Merge > HDR with these settings:

3. Select the merged DNG and Export with these settings:

4. Open the exported DNG in Photoshop and observe the error "The file appears to be damaged":

5. Import the exported DNG into LR, go to Develop, and observe the error, "The image appears to be damaged":

6. Repeat step 3 with Compatibility: Camera Raw 15.3 And Later, and observe the exported DNG opens without error in both Photoshop and LR Develop.

[John R Ellis]

"I have tried setting Compatibility: Camera RAW 15.3 or later Lightroom develop still fails however PS works without error - the same if I export choosing "Original""

I'm not able to reproduce that using test test catalog and images I published above, merging and exporting the 15 raws you published above, or exporting the four merged DNGs you published.  In call cases, using Compatibility: Camera Raw 15.3 Or Later produces exported DNGs that can be successfully re-imported in my LR 13.2.

Perhaps you could upload one of the merged DNGs that fails to export correctly in your LR 13.2, and I can see if that happens in my LR.

[Adil36199917kev4]

Hi Rikk

Are you refering to Lightroom Classic (LrC) or Lightroom (Lr) when using "LR" terminology? Its the cloud version of Lightroom (Lr) (version 7.2) that has this problem when importing the exported DNG file - see below

Exporting a photo-merged DNG as a DNG with compatibility Camera Raw 14.0 And Later creates a DNG that can't be opened in either Photoshop Camera Raw or in LR Develop.

Tested with LR 13.2 and Camera Raw 16.2 on Mac OS 14.2.1.

1. Open this small catalog:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dzg9nvdz727wgam/merge-export-dng-bug.2024.03.25.zip?dl=0 

2. Select both photos and do Photo > Photo Merge > HDR with these settings:

3. Select the merged DNG and Export with these settings:

4. Open the exported DNG in Photoshop and observe the error "The file appears to be damaged":

5. Import the exported DNG into LR, go to Develop, and observe the error, "The image appears to be damaged":

6. Repeat step 3 with Compatibility: Camera Raw 15.3 And Later, and observe the exported DNG opens without error in both Photoshop and LR Develop.

By @John R Ellis

[Lumigraphics]

This is the Lightroom Classic forum, you are having problems reading files in Lightroom CC/Desktop?

[John R Ellis]

"Are you refering to Lightroom Classic (LrC) or Lightroom (Lr) when using "LR" terminology?"

As mentioned by @Lumigraphics, this is the Lightroom Classic forum, and unless otherwise specified "Lightroom" and "LR" refer to LR Classic.

"I have tried setting Compatibility: Camera RAW 15.3 or later Lightroom develop still fails however PS works without error - the same if I export choosing "Original" ... It's the cloud version of Lightroom (Lr) (version 7.2) that has this problem when importing the exported DNG file"

Thanks for the clarification.  

Using the LR Classic catalog and test images I posted above, I tested the ability of LR Desktop 7.2 to import a merged photo created by LR Classic 13.2, and I only see an error when exporting as DNG with Compatibility: Camera Raw 14.0 And Later:

Merged photo: no error

Merged photo exported as Original DNG: no error

Merged photo exported as DNG 15.3 And Later: no error

Merged photo exported as DNG 14.0 And Later: error

This is expected, since LR Classic 13.2, LR Desktop 7.2, and Camera Raw 16.2 all have the same version of the Camera Raw engine inside, and thus we'd expect them all to behave similarly. But if you have a sample merged photo that doesn't, please share it.

[Adil36199917kev4]

The export of DNG file was using LrC which is causing the issue of importing the same file back into Lr - so the issue belongs here as it appears LrC export process is the issue 

[zitas68750655]

hey mate did you solve this I have Airbnb as a client and the merged HDRs dont save in DNG as a merged file. 

[Adil36199917kev4]

On the export dialogue set compatibility to "Camera Raw 15.3 or later" will solve the problem if using Lightroom Classic or Photoshop for editing. Alternative try running the failed exported DNG files through Adobe DNG convereter using the latest camera RAW setting available in the dialogue.

Hope this helps.

Regards

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Greetings all, 

Updates for the Adobe Photography Products have been released.  The May 2024 updates contain an update for this issue. 

If you do not see the update in your Creative Cloud Application, you can refresh it by hitting [Ctrl/Cmd]+[Alt/Opt]+[ R ].

Note: It may take up to 24 hours for your update to be available in your Creative Cloud app.

Thank you for being so patient.

[John R Ellis]

I confirmed the bug recipe no longer results in error in LR 13.3 / Photoshop 25.9 / Mac OS 14.4.1.

[jma313]

Good morning.  Also a photographer for Airbnb - same export requirements (as .dng, compatability at 14.3 or later) and had the same issue for recent shoot 2 days ago.  I did 12 shoots in April, first part of May without incident - so this freaked me out.  Changed the Compatibility setting to 15.3 or later and export worked fine.

One other thing I noticed that wasn't mentioned in this thread is that the exported file when Compatibility was set to 14.3 or later did not show a preivew in Finder - bigger concern was that the files averaged around 183 MB in size - 10x to 12x larger than the .dng that was being exported!  

[jma313]

Spoke too soon.  Using Compatibility 15.3 or later works and creates ouptut .dng, but the pics are really dark and not at all what they look like in other apps, including in LRC.  So not happy and not understanding why the files stopped creating correctly when Comp was at 14.0 or later.  Frustrating and may lose this customer as result becuase only work with LRC.

[John R Ellis]

Which version of LR are you running?  (Do Help > System Info.)

[jma313]

Thanks John.  Using LRC 13.3.1.  Mac OS is Sonoma 14.5.  (OS was recent update - wonder if that's causing fits for LRC export.)

[John R Ellis]

I'm unable to reproduce the problem in my LR 13.3.1 / Mac 14.5 with a quick test, so there are likely conditions triggering it that we haven't identified. In situations like this where Adobe can't reliably reproduce the problem, they're unlikely to pay much attention unless many people report similar symptoms.

Do you have a sample original photo you could share here? If so, select it, do Metadata > Save Metadata To File, and upload the original photo, it's .xmp side car, and the exported problem DNG to Dropbox, Google Drive, or similar and post the sharing link here. That would be more likely to allow Adobe to reproduce the problem.

[wandam21077454]

Hello, I also work independently for the real estate agent and I also have this problem, I take a lot of HDR photos for work and the merge to DNG does not go well, the file is empty, I cannot open it and it is low in MBs, which is not normal for an HDR. I work with Bridge and I have already tried everything with Lightroom, Photoshop... but it goes wrong with camera RAW... I have already submitted several reports to Adobe but I have heard nothing! I have to use the latest version because the program doesn't see my photo files... I'm slowly getting desperate 😞   Sorry is in Dutch, see difference between old version and new version