Lightroom 2 not opening DNG files?

[gerardk11193936]

Hi all,

when i try to open DNG files in lightroom 2 i get:

The files appear to be unsupported or damaged.

They open fine in Photoshop.

appreciate some help.

[Just Shoot Me]

From what camera?

If you really are running LR version 2, which was released back in 2008, then the cameras it natively supports, even if they are DNG files, would need to be from sometime in 2008 until LR 3 was released.

[richardplondon]

The idea of the DNG file format, is to be self-documenting enough to decode into an image regardless of direct support for that camera model.

However, there have been a number of new revisions to the DNG file format over time, also DNG conversion can be set to target a given ACR version. Also various new sensor arrangements have been developed which were not previously thought of, therefore would not be understandable by older software. So while there's a lot of "backward compatibility", that can't be unlimited.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/adobe-dng-converter.html#compatibility_preferences

Perhaps the DNG conversion settings need to be changed to suit an older ACR format, to get the best chance of compatibility.

Or else a newer version of LR will have no trouble, besides enjoying all of the newer adjustment features and the further developed Raw processing which come included in that.

[Just Shoot Me]

Richard Leica uses the DNG format for their RAW files but if you buy a M10 and try to open the native DNG files produced by the M10 in LR 2 they will not import. In that case you would need to first run them through the newest DNG converter.

Not sure why you are replying to me. All I am asking is the camera model the OP is using and pointing out that LR 2 is nearly a decade old.

[richardplondon]

Just Shoot Me: no implied criticism of your post.

I agree completely that it is the age of the LR version causing the problem here; just, the nature of the incompatibility is probably "generational" so far as the DNG format...not, the absence of specific camera raw support per se.

Otherwise people could never use DNG conversion to workaround a newly released unsupported camera - and they can do that usually.

Perhaps setting the (current) DNG Converter to an earlier DNG file standard, will do whatever is necessary for - will restrict itself to data understandable by - the old software.

Such as, for a non-Bayer sensor, demosaicing into a "linear" quasi-Raw instead. Or I recall certain Olympus m43rd cameras with embedded lens correction data, at one time needed to be linearised in DNG conversion, before LR of that generation could open them showing those corrections.

Analogy: when you don't already know something's name in an exhibition, you can consult the name label. Someone introduces a barcode system that you can scan with your phone instead. But to keep the exhibition legible to people who haven't got a phone, that novel barcode is no good; there has to be a label in plain words. It's not a matter of what exhibits such a person already knows the names of. It is a matter of what technology he's got, for reading labels, on exhibits he doesn't know the name of.

[gerardk11193936]

hi, sorry for late reply, thanks but i dont want to buy or upgrade to a new version.

[JP Hess]

gerardk11193936  wrote

hi, sorry for late reply, thanks but i dont want to buy or upgrade to a new version.

I think what Richard is suggesting is that, rather than shooting in the DNG format, shoot in the raw format that is native to the Olympus camera and use the current free DNG converter to convert the images to DNG. It's possible that the DNG format created by the camera is too new for Lightroom 2. I understand that you don't want to upgrade to a new version. But I must say that you are really cheating yourself by not doing so. The program has improved dramatically since Lightroom 2, and you are really missing out. You have invested in a very good camera. $79 to upgrade your software seems reasonable to keep up with the hardware technology. But that is a decision that only you can make.

[richardplondon]

It appears from a quick web check that Lightroom 2.x can access DNG files saved to the 1.3 format, but not 1.4.

(If you haven't already done so, good idea to make sure you are on the highest number release of that 2.x generation).

I believe any recent version of the DNG Converter will save to version 1.4 of the DNG specification by default.

So this raises an incompatibility with Lightroom 2.

Changing that DNG version setting inside the DNG converter, to 1.3, is definitely a worthwhile experiment.

Then re-convert a sample ORF using those settings and see whether your LR can import it. The instructions on how to change that setting, are in the link I attached to my first reply.

regards, RP

[gerardk11193936]

Hi,

Sorry for late reply, the camera is a Olympus stylus 1.