FYI: Lightroom doesn't support DNG format yet (in Beta 3)

[pvonk]

Just wanted to pass on this reply to a query about DNG files generated by Lightroom Beta 3 not containing any LR edits:

"DNG import/export into and out of Lightroom is broken. It's a known issue that will be addressed when Camera Raw and Lightroom get synced up to read and exchange settings back and forth. "

Source:  http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=589&threadid=1164124&forumid=72

I edited a CR2 file in LR and exported to DNG.  However the DNG file, when viewed in IVMP and Bridge, did not display the edited version, only the original version.

- Pierre

[peterkrogh]

Pierre,
Lightroom does support DNG, it just does not yet embed an adjusted preview, AFAIK. Also, it does not yet fully support ACR created edits, although it should display them. These are file points, but an important distinctions to understand.
Peter

[johnbeardy]

Pierre,
Lightroom does support DNG, it just does not yet embed an adjusted preview, AFAIK. Also, it does not yet fully support ACR created edits, although it should display them. These are fine points, but are important distinctions to understand.
Peter

...and even more reasons for treating it as beta software and being very cautious before integrating it into your workflow. No matter how often that's said, you get the feeling people aren't quite listening.

John

[pvonk]

Herre's another more recent post in the Lightroom forum (with two typos corrected) - from an Adobe spokesperson:

"Lightroom supports DNG. . .what -ISN'T- working is that metadata settings from Lightroom can not yet be understood and rendered by Camera Raw and Camera Raw settings can not be rendered and understood by Lightroom yet. So, if you set the settings in Bridge/Camera Raw, Lightroom doesn't render them correctly. Same way if you export as DNG, Camera Raw can not render the Lightroom settings.

This will change...Thomas Knoll and Zalman Stern ('Z') are now working to adapt and adopt Camera Raw and Lightroom settings to be able to read each other and render correctly. This will take -AT LEAST- one more update to Camera Raw and another Lightroom beta. There will also have to be a rev of DNG as well (which happens when Camera Raw is rev'ed)."

What surprises me from all this is that DNG is still a moving target.  I thought the DNG specs were defined and fixed - that all software would be able to properly read DNGs.  Now it looks as though each software product can implement the edits in a DNG in a proprietary way, making other software not compatible when viewing the DNGs.  I wonder- if the next Camera Raw/DNG revision changes things, does this mean IVMP will have to update their product so we'll be able to view the new version DNGs, and I assume products like IVMP will have to be backward compatible to properly view older version DNGs.  And how long will this "revision" thing keep occuring?

I keep following the Lightroom forum and tinkering with LR, but it's a good thing I haven't used LR as part of my workflow.

- Pierre

[peterkrogh]

>What surprises me from all this is that DNG is still a moving target. 

The real moving target here is metadata-based imaging, not the container (although it will be upgraded as the technology improves).  So adjustments made with any RAW file converters are unlikely to be available to other RAW file converters (ACR, LR, Bibble, C1, Silkypix, etc).  This is the nature of Metadata Based Imaging.

The DNG helps greatly to address the issue of adjustment instruction being non-interchangeable.  Since you can wrap a fixed rendering of the adjusted file in the DNG, multiple applications have the ability to show adjustments, even if they lack a RAW file rendering engine, or even if they don't understand the instructions as saved by the RAW file conversion software.

You are confusing the DNG spec with DNG implementation, which are two different issues.
Peter