DNG Conversion; The Issue Just Won't Die!

[PCF]

I have read the May and September requests regarding DNG conversion on ingest and want to say that this is a really important issue which I hope you will address in the 4.5 release. I am guessing you have been looking at Bridge in CS3. In any event, I plan to use DNG now as part of my workflow because I recently learned that I could save the Camera Raw settings to the DNG files without modifying my raw data destructively. It seems like a pretty good way to get both archiving and adjustments since I don't trust Nikon to support its RAW file format but Adobe has committed to maintaining DNG.

I long winded justification for using DNG but I don't want to give up on PM to do so. Any prospects on the horizon?

[Kirk Baker]

I have read the May and September requests regarding DNG conversion on ingest and want to say that this is a really important issue which I hope you will address in the 4.5 release. I am guessing you have been looking at Bridge in CS3. In any event, I plan to use DNG now as part of my workflow because I recently learned that I could save the Camera Raw settings to the DNG files without modifying my raw data destructively. It seems like a pretty good way to get both archiving and adjustments since I don't trust Nikon to support its RAW file format but Adobe has committed to maintaining DNG.

I long winded justification for using DNG but I don't want to give up on PM to do so. Any prospects on the horizon?

What exactly are you asking for?  Do you want your NEF files to be converted to DNG and then delete the NEFs, or

Either way, the feature set for 4.5.0 is pretty much set.  But we usually add several features in each and every point release so there is plenty of opportunity to add additional features along the way.

-Kirk

[PCF]

I currently launch DNG Converter first. I then convert the NEF's on my card to DNG's in a central folder on my computer which always remains named the same. After the conversion is successful I erase the NEF's (by reformatting the card in the camera.) I launch PM to copy the DNG's from my "Ingest folder" to a date named folder. It would be great if I could launch PM and during the first step of an ingest process have PM call DNG Converter (which memorizes its last settings) then take the files from my common folder and move them to a new folder and empty the "Ingest folder" during the move. In PM while there is a process for erasing the card after ingest I do not see a way to erase a folder's contents using the ingest process. The benefit of using PM for me is that I can control the destination folder naming and then start previewing.

It would also be great if there was a way to double click the image and have Photoshop load rather than use the edit button.

I hope this clarifies my workflow and my request. Thanks.

Peter

[k_bennett]

I'd like to chime in here and say that what I want is simple in concept -- though I realize it's maybe not so simple in execution. I want Photo Mechanic to convert my .CR2 files to .DNG files during the Ingest process, at the same time it is renaming and applying the IPTC stamp. That way I end up with a folder full of ingested DNG files in only one step.

--Ken Bennett
Wake Forest University

[Kirk Baker]

Ken,

I'd like to chime in here and say that what I want is simple in concept -- though I realize it's maybe not so simple in execution. I want Photo Mechanic to convert my .CR2 files to .DNG files during the Ingest process, at the same time it is renaming and applying the IPTC stamp. That way I end up with a folder full of ingested DNG files in only one step.

What should happen to the original CR2 files then?

-Kirk

[Hannibal]

Choice of:
  Same folder
  Different Folder
  Delete

My 2 cents

[Junebug]

I would really like to see the convert to dng feature added to PM.

Currently I am ingesting with CS3 Bridge and converting to dng.

The big drawback is that I lose PM's ability to ingest multiple cards. Adding IPTC information is limited and the front end choosing destinations and just getting started is slower than PM.

I used to convert and embed the raw files into the dng, but lately I've just been converting to linear dng.

It would be nice to have options to ingest as Raw or any one of the options in Adobe's DNG Converter and to be able to make the same choices for the secondary destination.

Will that new plug-ins feature I've been hearing about support custom ingest options something like this?

Jb.