Crop Corner

In a previous article, I mentioned Adobe DNG as an archive strategy for preserving RAW files. Here, I'm going to spell out my step-by-step procedure for utilizing this tool. You'll need Adobe's DNG converter (it's a free download from their Web site). You will also have to make certain decisions about your existing proprietary RAW files but I'll get into that as we go along. In case you are unfamiliar with DNG, here's a brief explanation. DNG is an open-source (meaning publicly documented) program for preserving RAW files, unlike the proprietary files your camera creates. RAW files from any camera can be converted to this format and you can even embed the original proprietary file in case you want to extract that in the future. DNG also embeds the metadata. Proprietary RAW files generally create separate "sidecar" files for this which can get misplaced or lost. Additionally, you can set the DNG preferences to include a JPEG preview. That's very handy when perusing a bunch of RAW files anywhere on your computer other than in Bridge or Camera Raw. You can see what images those cryptic file names actually represent.