Jump to content

DNG and JPEG?


keithhl

Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I am a new M8 owner. Why should I use the camera in DNG plus JPEG form? What is the down side of doing this? This question must have been answered many times already but an FAQ search on "DNG JPEG" produced nothing. Would somebody please either explain this to me or point me to the thread where it has all already been explained. Thank you.

Link to post
Share on other sites

The main idea is to see the processing done on the JPG on the review screen, ie. if you choose B&W, you will see that on the review screen. A potential second use is if you need JPGs quickly, but want more quality for later. A press photographer might choose this option. Note that the writing speed is much slower for both.

Link to post
Share on other sites

As a new M8 owner myself I intend to start with DNG+Fine Jpeg so that I can compare the results from both. My previous Digilux2 and current Nikon D50 both showed a marked improvement in quality between a well processed Raw or DNG to Jpeg and a 'straight from the camera' Jpeg - Less so on the D2 than the Nikon.

 

What you will notice is that you get only about a third the number of images on an SD card between straight Jpeg and DNG+Jpeg i.e Jpeg only will give you +250 images per card wheras DNG+Jpeg only about 65.

 

I tried using the Leica C1 software tonight and struggled a bit at the end of making adjustments when it came to 'save' the adjusted DNG file.....Is the M8 DNG read by Adobe CS2 Photoshop? I hope so!

 

Good luck.

 

Graeme

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest WPalank
Is the M8 DNG read by Adobe CS2 Photoshop?

 

Yes, graeme. The M8 DNG is read in CS2, CS3, LightRoom, Aperture, RAW Developer, iPhoto and several other image applications.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I shoot news photography with the M8 under all sorts of available light. I use the DNG+jepg fine setting. For quick viewing and editing I use Nikon View to look at the jpegs, then open the desired DNGs in the CS3 raw converter where I can do a great deal of fine tuning of the less than ideal light I encounter and then finish processing in CS3. Its quick and easy and the quality of the images is significantly better than straight jpegs.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorting the downloads is a bit of a pain if you take JPEG+DNG as apart from the suffix, the files have the same name.

 

Wilson

+

 

Photo Mechanic works well. Only one thumbnail per DNG+Jpg. I'll also save DNGs to one folder & Jpgs to another to make editing easier in CS3 Bridge.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I shoot RAW only and convert to DNG and rename and move the files to a prepared folder (Windows Explorer) as I download the card (CS3--Bridge). This is all, essentially, a single step. I do my first preview(s) and clean-up edits using FastStone MaxView. This is a free download. Very fast, full screen shots. Here I mostly delete, but there's the option to open up the files directly into PS. This way, full data is archived and easy to preview----and I only use jpeg for a pre-determined size and res.

Link to post
Share on other sites

If you have spent >£3,000 on a body and north of £1,000 on a lens, you would be wasting your money NOT to use RAW. And learn how to process it properly.

 

Shooting jpg is the equivalent of shooting "Drugstore Own-brand film"

 

IMHO.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I was an intimidated M8 newbie about 11 months ago. Now I'm just relatively uninformed. After a while, I begin to realize the chance of my composing a photograph like Guy or Jaap was about the same as taking MJ one on one, Tiger in a round, or Fed in a set. Meanwhile I realized that I simply never ever use JPEG's anymore- RAW is simply too versatile and easy as well (I use Lightroom...)

 

My 0.5 cents.

 

Peter

Link to post
Share on other sites

If you have spent >£3,000 on a body and north of £1,000 on a lens, you would be wasting your money NOT to use RAW. And learn how to process it properly.

 

Shooting jpg is the equivalent of shooting "Drugstore Own-brand film"

 

IMHO.

 

That may be a bit strong Andy. I've just finished PP'ing about 40 shots from jpg because I'm thousands f miles from home with a re-installed OS and a copy of PS7. It seemed like a good opportunity to use the recently bought Jeff Anscough set of actions.

 

And it was an absolute delight, quite liberating in fact.

 

So now I'm beginning t wnder why I ould want to shoot RAW :)

 

Seriously, I can see using RAW to save shots plus a few relatively obscure reasons but the shots straight out of the M8 are really easy to work with

Link to post
Share on other sites

I hit post and then had a follow up thought to follow up on a different thread from a few days ago.

 

To play the devil's advocate, if the files from the M8 are so good, then surely the need (if that is the right word) for a RAW file is lessened?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well the raw allows you 16 bits and post manual white balance, and AWB on the M8 jpeg is very iffy. In a world where chip memory is now cheap, not to at least record Raw is a actual loss. I have learned to record B&W jpegs as a big plus with the RAW. The readout is then B&W on the dispay and very useful if you are going to end with B&W.

Link to post
Share on other sites

If you have spent >£3,000 on a body and north of £1,000 on a lens, you would be wasting your money NOT to use RAW. And learn how to process it properly.

 

Shooting jpg is the equivalent of shooting "Drugstore Own-brand film"

 

IMHO.

 

I really like this comparison and - I FULLY AGREE!

 

Use RAW, by any means!!!!

 

It is as easy to use a RAW, lets you process all you want afterwards (JPEG different sizes, BW, Sepia, ....) with much better SW than available in any camera (take LR e.g.) and you keep all freedom you might want or developing your photos.

 

IMHO I would prefer cheaper camera models from several vendors as a choice, which just do not support all these JPEG features - or like the new E-3 does with Shadow Adjustment - absolutely unnecessary (and also not useable) if you shoot RAW. But it makes cameras more expensive and complicated, because they need to have all the additional SW and Menu options. So for example a M8 for 30% less without the JPEG capabilities. Plus Leica could stop fooling around with WB, which they fonally will never get correct, because you can adjust everything in post processing very easily and convenient.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...