Re: Here's a goodie: Can I convert imported TIFF files into DNGs?

[hassiman]

Here's a goodie: Can I convert imported TIFF files into DNGs?

Hi,

I have a number of TIFF files that I have already imported into LR 2.4. I was wondering how I can, or if I can convert those TIFF files into DNGs inside LR and how would I do it so that the converted DNGs carried with them any edits that have been made to the tiffs?

I figure DNGs will be smaller than the TIFFs and I don't have to worry about losing and sidecar files....

 

[Andrew Hayton]

You can convert tiffs to DNG but it doesn't create true DNG files. I think it just wraps the tiff file in a dng wrapper

 

[hassiman]

Does LR convert TIFF into true DNG files if converted on import or are they also TIFFs in a DNG wrapper?

 

[Andrew Hayton]

If it can convert on import (not sure if it can though) it will be in a tiff in a wrapper

 

[sizzlingbadger]

I would ask why you would want to ?

 

[Andrew Hayton]

hassiman said that they want to keep the edits and info in the one file and not have a sidecar file to worry about backing up with the image

 

[sizzlingbadger]

But Tiffs don't need sidecars either...

 

[Brad Snyder]

There is some lossless compression which accompanies the conversion.

 

[hassiman]

Tiff files edited in LightRoom would need sidecar files to store information on LightRoom edits..no?

 

[sizzlingbadger]

[quote author=hassiman link=topic=7655.msg52353#msg52353 date=125134'913]
Tiff files edited in LightRoom would need sidecar files to store information on LightRoom edits..no?
[/quote]

nope, it's stored in the file like dng

 

[clee01l]

The DNG format is an extension of the TIFF 6.' Specification. ( http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/fdd'''188.shtml) So in that regard it is not much different from the TIFF. I'm not sure it would be smaller than the TIFF that created the DNG. Both DNG and TIFF can be losslessly compressed. DNG files commonly created from proprietary RAW files start with 12-14 bit RAW data, they can be smaller because the high order bits don't exist and can be compressed away. A full 16-bit TIFF file will have data in the high order bits and may not compress the same way. TIFF images will likely have the image data arranged linearly in RGB order and not mosaiced sensor data as commonly found in DNG files generated from RAW. Linear DNG files are larger.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

The only real advantage of converting TIFFs to DNG, is that you can embed an updated preview based on your Develop settings but without actually converting the data. The disadvantage is that you lose some compatibility with some other programs in the process.