First of all, Adobe are making the new DNG format an open standard. Other developers, including camera manufacturers and software developers will therefore be able to access all the information they need to implement the use of DNG without restrictions. DNG is not something Adobe intend to profit from, but it is something that will bring them and the rest of us in the industry benefit. It should be a win-win situation for all.
As others have pointed out, we currently have a less than ideal situation where there are over 100 different types of raw format that have been in use. And I put emphasis on the use of the past tense here. Six years ago Adam Woolfitt and myself conducted a test report on a range of professional and semi-professional digital cameras. Wherever possible, we shot using raw mode. I still have the CD of master files. If I want to access those images today, in some cases I am going to have to track down a computer running Mac OS 8.6 to load the camera manufacturer software required to read the data! We are talking about just six years ago. What happen in sixty years time?
One also gets the impression that some camera manufacturers are also trying to be a little protective with their formats. They do not like the fact that software engineers from other companies have reverse engineered to 'crack the code'
so other software programs can now read their data. Well I'm sorry, but once I have taken a picture whose data is it? It's my damn data, not the camera companies! All the major camera manufacturers have designed their own raw viewing software and if you were working on the software team building the raw viewer program, wouldn't you be inclined to put your own interests first? We have seen attempts of data encryption in raw files deliberately designed to block attempts to reverse engineer the code. Whose interests does that meet?
DNG offers the industry the option of a common raw format standard. The camera manufacturers may wish to continue developing their own (and ever-changing) raw formats, but the consumer will now have a choice. We can continue to use these formats in our workflows, as before. We can make backups of the raw files by converting them to the DNG format. Or, maybe due to consumer pressure and logistics, the camera manufacturers may decide to adopt the DNG raw format as the standard raw for their cameras.
The DNG format is simply a new container format for raw camera data. How that data is converted will be entirely up to the consumer as I am sure that Phase One, iView etc. will incorporate DNG into their programs. Where Adobe gain, is that as DNG is adopted, it will mean less R&D work spent decrypting every new raw file format that comes on the market for the Camera Raw plug-in. Where the rest of us gain is that we have a choice now to backup OUR raw data in a file format that is designed to meet the needs of us, the customers, instead of solely meeting the protectionist needs of the camera manufacturers.
Martin Evening Photography <www.martinevening.com> Co-listowner ProDIG discussion list <http://www.prodig.org>
Author of Adobe Photoshop CS for Photographers <www.photoshopforphotographers.com>
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