Adobe Announces D-Lux 4 Support

[nhmitchell]

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Adobe has released version 5.2 of Camera Raw, which includes support for the D-Lux 4.

[sandymc]

But, read the small print:

 

"With the release of Camera Raw 5.2 (and upcoming release of Adobe Photoshop® Lightroom® 2.2), there is an important exception in DNG file handling for the Panasonic DMC-LX3, Panasonic DMC-FX150, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Panasonic DMC-G1, and Leica D-LUX 4. For those who choose to convert these native, proprietary files to the DNG file format, a linear DNG format is the only conversion option available at this time. A linear DNG file has gone through a demosaic process that converts a single mosaic layer of red, green, and blue channel information into three distinct layers, one for each channel. The resulting linear DNG file is approximately three times the size of a mosaic DNG file or the original proprietary file format.

 

This exception is a temporary solution to help ensure that Panasonic's and Leica's intended image rendering from their proprietary raw file format is applied to an image when converted DNG files are viewed in third-party software titles. The same image-rendering process is applied automatically in Camera Raw 5.2 and Photoshop Lightroom 2.2 when viewing the original proprietary raw file format.

 

In a future release, Adobe plans to update the DNG specification to include an option to embed metadata-based representations of the lens compensations in the DNG file, allowing a mosaic DNG conversion. In the interim, Adobe recommends only converting these files to DNG to allow compatibility with third-party raw converters, previous versions of the Camera Raw plug-in, or previous versions of Photoshop Lightroom"

 

Sandy

[alexc]

unfortunately this update is only for CS4

[elgenper]

unfortunately this update is only for CS4

 

Yes, but there´s the updated DNG converter as well (version 5.2) that can read the raw´s and convert them to DNG files. Those will work with most software.

[alexc]

Per, thank you for the tip. I did not notice this. Now I can forget about C1.

[macgarvin]

Yes, but there´s the updated DNG converter as well (version 5.2) that can read the raw´s and convert them to DNG files. Those will work with most software.

 

Thanks elgenper for the heads up - the direct link on the Adobe site to the DNG converter is here

[alexc]

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I converted RWL files to DNG files with the new converter however for some reason I can not import them into iphoto.

[sandymc]

I converted RWL files to DNG files with the new converter however for some reason I can not import them into iphoto.

 

That's the small print I referred to above. Not many software packages understand flat DNGs......

 

Sandy

[macgarvin]

I converted RWL files to DNG files with the new converter however for some reason I can not import them into iphoto.

 

Apple Aperture and the Apple finder don't display them either - I suspect it is just a matter of time til this gets sorted. You can, however, open dng files created from within Capture One in Aperture and so I suspect in iPhoto as well, but with a strip of rubbish pixels along one edge, and without barrel distortion correction.

 

However, on a Mac, Lightroom 2 does open the dngs created by the new DNG converter 5.2. The area displayed is the same reduced area corrected for barrel distortion shown by Capture One (as you would expect), however the DNGs created by Adobe DNG converter 5.2, unlike those created in Capture One, seem also to be extremely well corrected for chromatic aberration

[mhoutman]

in case you don't have cs4, adobe lightroom 2.2 (camera raw 5.2 built-in) is released in december

[ho_co]

It's interesting that Adobe "plans" to rewrite the DNG spec to include lens correction metadata in mosaic form. No promise, just an intention--brought about by Panasonic's innovation.

 

And so far, ACR definitely offers the better solution here IMHO.

 

First, the DNGs include the optical corrections which Capture One's omit. Second, ACR's DNGs include the edge pixels that Capture One don't. (http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/digital-forum/70383-dng-recover-edges-d-lux-4-a.html)

 

If you bought the Leica instead of her Panasonic sibling just to get Capture One, at least you still got the better-looking of the sisters.

[ho_co]

I converted RWL files to DNG files with the new converter however for some reason I can not import them into iphoto.

 

Capture One's DNG converter will give you a DNG that iPhoto can recognize, although the file won't include the optical processing that the ACR DNG extracts from the RWL.

 

Interesting parallel: When the M8 came out, it was the first camera to work with one of the two DNG designs Adobe had originally specified, so initially only Capture One supported the M8's DNGs.

 

Apple and others will soon extend their definitions to work with the linear DNGs, just as they did with the M8 files. (Isn't this one of the problems of putting the DNG definition into the System software?)

 

And then Adobe will modify the mosaicked DNG specification, so we'll see another round of software updates.

 

(Wasn't DNG to be the archival, universal, future-proof file? )

 

Digital has certainly opened a lot of doors we didn't expect when we thought a sensor was just a replacement for film, hasn't it?