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DNG - Aperture's Camera Support Safety Net
If your new camera doesn't appear on the Digital camera RAW formats supported Knowledgebase document, that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't add its Raw files to your existing Aperture library. Thanks to baseline DNG support in the current version of Aperture, you have a high-quality safety net until your camera's Raw profile is included.
I recently ran into this problem with a new camera I was testing for a review. I could have shot Jpeg only, but I want to see the Raw files, and I wanted to use some of the tools in Aperture such as Web Gallery publishing to share the results with others.
I discovered that Adobe Bridge/ACR could read the files. So I used Photo Downloader (it comes with Bridge disguised as "Get photos from camera") to convert the files to DNG during upload to my hard drive. That's right, Photo Downloader will do the conversion for you as you transfer the files from memory card to computer. (You can learn more about if from this TDS post and from this TDS Podcast.) I then imported the folder of DNGs into Aperture and went to work. It did add an extra step to the process, but it was an easy step.
The first thing you might notice when using baseline DNG in Aperture is that the initial previews aren't quite as pretty as those from your supported cameras. That's because the decoding for the supported cameras is tailored for their particular Raw format. Baseline DNG is more like a general decoding. But after an adjustment or two, the end results can be just as good compared to what you can get with supported cameras.
And if you plan on using this system often, take two minutes to set up a Camera Default for your imported DNGs in the Raw Fine Tuning brick in the Adjustments panel. In my case, all I had to do was increase the Hue Boost a bit to get the initial preview I was expecting. Now, every time I import a DNG from that "unsupported" camera, I get everything I would normally expect: Raw control (via DNG), complete EXIF metadata (including Lens Model), and a handsome preview.
So the bottom line is, as long as I can find a way to convert the Raw files to DNG, it really isn't that big of a deal. This doesn't mean that I don't hope that Apple supports the new camera as soon as possible. But lack of native support isn't a deal breaker.
The plain old Adobe DNG converter will do the same exact thing and does not require ACR or running photoshop at all. You can set the import folder to your card and presto. Just a word of advice, if you are doing this backup our original RAWs as well or just use the embed native option and you can always use Aperture to archive the DNG conversion with the embedded native RAW in one package.
The plain old converter is here]http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/
RB
Nice pile-on there Roger. Thanks so much!
Derrick,
With respect this DOES NOT work- I have several esoteric camera products that are supported by Adobe Camera RAW, but Aperture will not open the DNG files, bringing up an unsupported format warning.
DNG is not a magic bullet cure and full implementation has to be built into Aperture and updated on a regular basis for it to be of any use.
Hopefully might get their act together and turn the great potential of this app into something real
Hi NIc, Actually, I'd like to explore this a little further, because I've had good luck with this process. First, are you using the latest version of Aperture? Next, which cameras have you been unable to use with this process? Third, tell us about how you convert to DNG.
I'd like to have some clarity around which "unsupported" cameras work, and don't work, using this process. Thanks!
Any Sigma cameras do not.
Derrick,
I have a question that is a bit off subject, but I need some help... When I select to edit an image on PS, I have it setup as a 16 bit PSD, but I also want it to open as a ProPhoto color space. How do I do that? Right now it opens as Adobe RGB.
Derrick,
I want to convert images to DNG on import as part of Aperture but haven't worked out how to do it. I have a supported camera (1Ds Mark III) but I want to convert to DNG for other reasons.
I've discovered a Convert to DNG action from Ben Long that I've downloaded, but I can't work out how to make it part of my Aperture workflow. I'd actually like to make it a plug-in (in Automater there is an option to save-as a plug-in but I've yet to get it to work as I want). Any suggestions?
Also, I'm disappointed with the way that Aperture handles DNGs. It's probably the only major gripe I have with Aperture 2 (apart from it not supporting IPTC Core). What I'd like to be able to do is store the adjustment instructions and the jpg preview of the adjusted image inside the DNG. That way those instructions are transported inside the image. I think Aperture is just a little too purist on the non-destructive editing. Having this ability doesn't mean that the image data has been destroyed. All it means is that I've put my "recipe" inside the file instead of just inside the Aperture library.
Unfortunately, Adobe DNG conversion introduces some well-known date/time discrepancies, so this isn't a perfect solution, I'm afraid. These discrepancies are read properly by Adobe products, but not by Mac OS X or Aperture.
Looks like Apple's DNG support does not work for "Linear DNG" image data. So in Adobe DNG converter, the option to use is the default "Preserve Raw Image".
Which may be why it also doesn't work for Foveon cameras -- which is what the Sigmas use. Their raw image data doesn't use the typical Bayer encoding.
I wonder if Apple supported Linear DNG if the Foveons would be a problem?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307385