CL - Converting DNG's to JPEGS for print !

[AdamMark]

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Hello everyone,

I wish to create a photobook using the CL.  Photobooks generally only allow the insertion of JPEG files.  Since the DNGs are , at least in my opinion , far superior I would regrettably have to convert the DNGs into JPEGS.

Will converting the DNG’s to JPEGS result in loss of image quality on the final print ?

Thanks.

Adam

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[jaapv]

DNG is not a printable  - or even editable- format. It is always converted to something, otherwise you would have no image.
Normally you would input DNG into your editing program/raw converter and edit and export the resulting JPGs (LR uses previews and converts for export). LR will do this automatically and by default. for you,  Photoshop will give you a choice of formats (not DNG!), but most if not all printers will only accept jpg. 
It is more important to watch your colour space. Don't export in a higher space than the next step can accept.  Adobe RGB is not unusual nowadays, but if you want to be safe export to sRGB. 

[zeitz]

2 minutes ago, jaapv said:

DNG is not a printable format.

DNG is not a printable format; it is not an image at all.  By sending a raw file to a printer, you are telling that printer to make the image himself.  That is quite risky for both parties.  

.jpg is so common and of adequate quality for book printing, I doubt these type of printing houses would want to deal with .psd or .tif either.

A high end printer, such as Whitewall, would probably work with whatever you want to send, for a price.

[jaapv]

4 minutes ago, zeitz said:

A high end printer, such as Whitewall, would probably work with whatever you want to send, for a price.

Yes, but they would simply do the conversion, editing and export for you and end up with a JPG to print - as you say, at a considerable price. And without knowledge of the context of the image, not the photographer's intentions. 

[wda]

6 hours ago, AdamMark said:

.....

Will converting the DNG’s to JPEGS result in loss of image quality on the final print ?

Thanks.

Adam

Imperceptably, at book print sizes.

[jaapv]

1 hour ago, wda said:

Imperceptably, at book print sizes.

But leaving the files as DNGs would make a huge difference - in the form of blank pages.  

[jaapv]

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Look at it this way.
You have a book in Sanskrit. You cannot do anything with it. But you can get a translator to translate it for you. That can be pretty good but it will have lost quite a few nuances. If you want to read those nuances you can attempt to recover them from the translation but it is far better to use the original and have a different translation. When you have exactly the translation you want with the nuances you need you send it to the publisher. For Sanskrit read DNG, for translator read Lightroom, for translation JPG and for publisher read printer. 
And for in-camera JPG read Google Translate  😏

[ramarren]

13 hours ago, AdamMark said:

Hello everyone,

I wish to create a photobook using the CL.  Photobooks generally only allow the insertion of JPEG files.  Since the DNGs are , at least in my opinion , far superior I would regrettably have to convert the DNGs into JPEGS.

Will converting the DNG’s to JPEGS result in loss of image quality on the final print ?

Thanks.

Adam

As others have said, raw files are always converted ... better word: rendered ... to JPEG or TIFF for printing in any form. How are you editing and viewing your CL photographs at present? 

If you're using Lightroom, either CC or Classic, and viewing them directly on screen, you may not realize it but LR is converting the raw/DNG files to a viewable RGB format for you on the fly. It has to do this in order to display them. When you Export your finished, edited work from LR, it is always output as some RGB format ... PSD, TIFF, or JPEG ... unless you specifically tell it to output a file to DNG or 'original' formats for archive/storage purposes. 

Thus, there is no "loss of quality" when you convert DNG files to JPEG or other export format ... The goal of editing your photos in LR or any other image processing app is to render the DNG raw files into the suitable form and look that you want for display or sharing, or printing, or inclusion into other works for printing and distribution. You edit (render) the DNG files to look the way they ought to look for whatever the display or distribution format is needed. 

If you want to make a photo book using the Blurb.com "print on demand" services, there is in fact a standard module in LR for that which will allow you to edit and complete your book layout using your DNG files just as you have them in Lightroom. When you have finished editing your photos, then laying out your book, and tell LR to send it to Blurb for printing, LR renders the book into a suitable RGB format for printing directly and sends that to Blurb. (You can also use Blurb's own dedicated book making software, at which point the workflow is to lay out the book using JPEG files output to the appropriate dimensions and spec from Lightroom or other image processing app.) 

G

[Camaro5]

I've done a few books using Blurb.  They use an ICC profile called GRACoL2006_Coated1v2.icc.  It can be downloaded at:

https://www.color.org/registry/GRACoL2006_Coated1v2.xalter

If you add this to Lightroom you can do proof copies, make any adjustments if needed, and save that as the final image.  I always do a side-by-side comparison to the original.  That ICC profile can be set under the color space tab when you save/export the image.  This is the bet way I've found to get accurate colors in a photo book.  

I also have my photo lab's ICC profile for their printer when used with different Hahnemühle papers.  Hahnemühle has ICC profiles available for just about every printer & paper combination.  My prints now come back exactly as I want them.  It's a bit more work, but worth it.