[WMBP]

Just a followup to my earlier report on the tests I did.

As I said earlier, my tests showed me that shooting continuous mode and saving as PEF was slower than saving as DNG -- and that saving as DNG allowed me to get a couple more shots into the buffer before the camera balked.

I just want to add that I don't personally care too much about either the speed difference or the difference in the number of shots that can be gotten off before the buffer is filled. My tests showed that there IS a difference, but they also showed that it's not huge. The number of shots I can get on a card is more important to me -- and here PEF is the clear winner.

Will

[davemdsn]

I am using Lightroom and when I try to export a photo as DNG, it shows an option for how good a quality imbedded JPEG is going to be. This leads me to believe that DNG stores two copies of an image: raw and JPEG. This actually makes sense to do. Most upscale DSLR's(K10D, D200, 5D) let you store two images of a photo: raw and jpeg. The problem is management: importing pictures into Lightroom, for example, causes doubling of a picture. By keeping JPEG and RAW in one file, makes it much easier to manage.

All RAW files have a jpeg embedded in them, but they are previews only, not full size. They are how your file browser shows you the content of the RAW file. For that matter, they are how your camera shows you the image on the LCD screen. All of these show you the embedded preview jpeg, not the actuall RAW data.

[darkstorm82]

All RAW files have a jpeg embedded in them, but they are previews only, not full size. They are how your file browser shows you the content of the RAW file. For that matter, they are how your camera shows you the image on the LCD screen. All of these show you the embedded preview jpeg, not the actuall RAW data.

True, because if you shoot RAW, and take a test shot at something using different "in camera" JPEG settings, all thumbnails/previews will look different, but the RAW images will all look the same once you open them.

[davemdsn]

I have noticed as of late that my DNG files no longer contain the lens name. Frustrating, about the last 3700 images do not list lens name in the EXIF so are not searchable by lens in Lightroom. I am not sure what changed. I am using the same camera and lenses and the same software so somewhere one of the links changed their protocol.

[Jacob]

I have noticed as of late that my DNG files no longer contain the lens name. Frustrating, about the last 3700 images do not list lens name in the EXIF so are not searchable by lens in Lightroom. I am not sure what changed. I am using the same camera and lenses and the same software so somewhere one of the links changed their protocol.

Hi,
this is actually off-topic aleready, but let me answer in short:
The problem exists as of K10D Firmware 1.20 / LR 1.0.
Neither K10D FW 1.30 nor LR 1.1 solved it.

The data seems to be kept as well in the DNG though. I was very happy, when in a german forum the free program PhotoMe was mentioned (also in english on PhotoME - Exif & IPTC Metadata Editor). Here you can see also for DNGs under maker notes - lens data the lens type. This small program is really cool.

So my interpretation is, that Pentax changed their format of lens data and LR hopefully will recognize this in future (LR 1.2?).

Regards
Jacob

[pgenovese]

I shoot PEF but convert everything to DNG.

The reason is simple PEF files are smaller and i get almost 200 shots on a 2GB card as opposed to 120.

There may be a small speed advantage as well but it is not significant enough to be noticable unless you are using very slow sd cards.

Once I download my cards I always convert to DNG. I find that converting to DNG gives me the following advantages.

1. The XMP data that is usually saved as a .XMP sidecar file is integrated into the DNG file itself so it is easier to manage coz you don't have to move the .XMP file with the original dng file.

2. Future readability of DNG is likely to be better than that of PEF with popular software.

Rgds
Patrick