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lcohen5757
Participant
September 6, 2020
Answered

export or save as dng

  • September 6, 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 19728 views

Why can't photoshop save an image to a DNG?  Since Adobe is promoting DNG, this should be a no-brainer for a person to be able to save an image from the program to a DNG.

 

 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer JohanElzenga

    Thank you All, I am able to understand this better now. Another question please...If instead of having two separate backups of memories as JPEG and DNG, if I want to save them as DNG only, can Apple's own Photo app display DNGs exported from Lightroom Mobile with the edits please? If not, what other apps can display these DNG with edits for watching memories with Friends and Family on a large TV or Projector please?

    If this is not possible then I will save as JPEGs for watching and DNG as backups. Please advise. 


    @Kandisa4u wrote:

    If I want to save them as DNG only, can Apple's own Photo app display DNGs exported from Lightroom Mobile with the edits please? If not, what other apps can display these DNG with edits for watching memories with Friends and Family on a large TV or Projector please?


    I believe I already answered that and you said you understood my answer. The answer is no. If you export as DNG, then the edits will not be applied to the image but will be stored in the metadata, and Apple Photos cannot read this. It means that Photos will display the DNG as unedited image. This always happens this way, no matter what the file format of the original image is. The only apps that can read the metadata-embedded edits are Adobe apps.

     

    4 replies

    T
    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    January 12, 2023

    I wonder if people are aware that allowing save of edited files as to mosaiced (camera format) DNG would be destroying 75% of the colour info, way worse than saving as JPEG. I think refusing to save as camera format, no matter how much it SEEMS a good idea, is very definitely the right thing to do, and people will just have to find a different convenient workflow.

      JohanElzenga
      Community Expert
      JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      January 12, 2023
      quote

      I wonder if people are aware that allowing save of edited files as to mosaiced (camera format) DNG would be destroying 75% of the colour info, way worse than saving as JPEG. I think refusing to save as camera format, no matter how much it SEEMS a good idea, is very definitely the right thing to do, and people will just have to find a different convenient workflow.


      By @Test Screen Name


      I don't think you understand how this works. Lightroom can export as DNG, so let's see what happens if you do that. Exporting as DNG does not mean that an RGB image is somehow converted to mosaiced data again. That is not possible. It would be like converting an omelet to raw eggs again. If you export as DNG, then Lightroom will pack the original raw data in a DNG envelope, and will embed the edits as non-destructive metadata instructions.

      If the original is not a raw image, then it works the same way. The original RGB data are written to the DNG, so the DNG will simply not be a raw file in that case. Photoshop cannot work directly with raw data, but there is no reason why it could not export an RGB file as DNG. But because Photoshop edits are not non-destructive metadata, the result would be that the edited pixels would be packed in a DNG envelope. That is pretty useless because it is no different than saving as TIFF, and because DNG does not support layers and other stuff, it would be much more limited than TIFF. But you would not lose 75% colour info like you suggest.

       

      -- Johan W. Elzenga
        TheDigitalDog
        TheDigitalDog
        Inspiring
        January 12, 2023
        quote
        quote

        I wonder if people are aware that allowing save of edited files as to mosaiced (camera format) DNG would be destroying 75% of the colour info, way worse than saving as JPEG. I think refusing to save as camera format, no matter how much it SEEMS a good idea, is very definitely the right thing to do, and people will just have to find a different convenient workflow.


        By @Test Screen Name


        I don't think you understand how this works. Lightroom can export as DNG, so let's see what happens if you do that. Exporting as DNG does not mean that an RGB image is somehow converted to mosaiced data again. That is not possible. It would be like converting an omelet to raw eggs again. If you export as DNG, then Lightroom will pack the original raw data in a DNG envelope, and will embed the edits as non-destructive metadata instructions. That is as good as it gets. And if the original is not a raw image, then it works the same way. The original RGB data are written to the DNG, so the DNG will simply not be a raw file in that case.

         


        By @JohanElzenga

        Lightroom Classic can export a JPEG as a DNG. It's still a JPEG and scrambled eggs. I wonder if this is what Test Screen Name is referring to. 

        Lightroom Classic can export a raw as DNG. It is as raw as the original.

         

        Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
        TheDigitalDog
        TheDigitalDog
        Inspiring
        December 12, 2022

        If you have a JPEG, you have a JPEG and placing it into a DNG does not change that.

         

        Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
        TheDigitalDog
        TheDigitalDog
        Inspiring
        April 19, 2022

        Photoshop only edits and saves rendered image data. At this point in time, saving to DNG or TIFF would be the same and in fact, DNG is a cousin of TIFF.

        What would you gain by saving in DNG instead of TIFF from PS?

        Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
        K
        Kandisa4u
        Participating Frequently
        November 30, 2022

        Storage space? DNG files take less space than TIFF.

         

        So, is it correct that Lightroom Mobile doesn't export as DNG? Reason I ask is that after I imported a Canon RAW file to Lightroom Mobile on my iPad Pro, and made the edits, I exported the file as DNG to iPad's Photo app/Camera Roll. Lightroom downloaded the original RAW file instead without edits. 

         

        I'm confused, and I don't want to export as JPEG or TIFF.

         

        K
        Kandisa4u
        Participating Frequently
        December 17, 2022
        quote

        ...If instead of having two separate backups of memories as JPEG and DNG, if I want to save them as DNG only, can Apple's own Photo app display DNGs exported from Lightroom Mobile with the edits please?

        By @Kandisa4u

         

        There are some subtleties here. I just edited a raw file in Lightroom on iPad, exported it as DNG (using Export As [Edit: Export As might not always be correct, see my later reply below] ), and added it to Apple Photos on the iPad. It worked, and the Lightroom edits were obviously being displayed, because in its exported copy, Lightroom embeds a DNG preview that represents the edits.

         

        The subtleties to pay attention to are:

        • On mobile, Lightroom and Photos cannot reference the same DNG file. Each contains its own copy. So if you export from Lightroom and import to Photos, the original that’s still in Lightroom is not connected to the exported copy, so if you continue editing in Lightroom, future edits will not show up in the DNG copy in Photos. 
        • Johan said edits will be made to metadata and not show up in Photos. That is true in a slightly different desktop scenario with Lightroom Classic, and is actually not possible on mobile. Because you asked about Lightroom on mobile, Lightroom can’t hand an image to another app without exporting a copy, and exported copies and their previews always show edits (unless the export Format is set to Original). 
        • But it also seems to depend on what format your original is. I also edited a JPEG original in Lightroom on iPad and exported that as DNG. Unlike the DNG exported from a raw original, the DNG exported from a JPEG original had no preview, and could not be previewed in either the Files app or Apple Photos, even though both apps accepted it.

         

        If that seems too complicated to understand…just export to your archive as high quality JPEG, it’s simpler.

        quote

        …what other apps can display these DNG with edits for watching memories with Friends and Family on a large TV or Projector please?

        By @Kandisa4u

         

        Almost none as far as I know. If your goal is a format that is readily playable on almost any device with a screen, then you must use JPEG, because support for DNG in consumer electronics practically doesn’t exist. Almost all recent TVs with a USB port can display a JPEG slide show right away from storage media plugged into that USB port, but probably none of them can display DNG.

         

        The only reliable way to display DNG on consumer electronics is to feed it in from a seperate connected device that is running an app that supports DNG. For example, connect a phone to the TV/projector and run the slide show from the Lightroom app.


        Thank you,

        There are some subtleties here. I just edited a raw file in Lightroom on iPad, exported it as DNG (using Export As), and added it to Apple Photos on the iPad. It worked, and the Lightroom edits were obviously being displayed, because in its exported copy, Lightroom embeds a DNG preview that represents the edits.

         

        This is not working on my iPad using Lightroom Mobile...how did you achieve this please?

        JJMack
        Community Expert
        JJMackCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        September 6, 2020

        Photoshop does not support Camera Raw Sensor mosaic images.Photoshop Supports converted RGB images. Why should Photoshop be able to save images it does not support.

        JJMack
          I
          Icelandfan@me.com
          Participant
          April 19, 2022

          It seems Photoshop should support DNG files since iPhone 13 Pro Max has an option to take pics in Apple's ProRAW format.  My goal is to take pics with my iPhone in the format, import into Photoshop or Lightroom to edit, and then export to SmugMug for distribution in highest resolution possible.  How does Photoshop accommodate pics taken by iPhone?  I was hoping it would be compatible to accepting a 12 bit file so more information and dynamic range would be available when editing exposure and white balance.  If this capability is available in the latest versions Ps or Lr, please advise the technique I should use to import RAW format from my iPhone and saving them in Ps or Lr in this highest resolution format DNG taken with the latest iPhone with their RAW option selected.  If not possible, what is the highest resolution format that can be saved in Photoshop?  Thank you for helping me getting on track with having pics taken on my iPhone imported to either of the Adobe applications.

          T
          Test Screen Name
          Legend
          April 19, 2022

          Photoshop can READ raw files. It can't write them, because writing them is a camera's job. Raw is not an interchange format, it's a way of getting pictures out of a camera and nothing else. The idea is that a raw file, even if edited is never changed - it is like a negative, you don't chop up your negative to crop a print.

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