Is there any benefit to reconverting Lightroom-created DNG files with Adobe DNG Converter?
Asked 12/16/2016
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I import my Canon CR2 raw files into Lightroom 5.7.1 and convert them to DNG during import. Would there be any advantage to taking those existing DNG files and running them through the standalone Adobe DNG Converter again? For example, would a newer Adobe Camera Raw/DNG Converter version update the files in any useful way, improve image quality, or add anything from newer ACR processing?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
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The original data in the CR2s should be preserved in the automatically created DNGs LightRoom made for you.
A DNG can be thought of a a generic file format wrapping multiple types of RAW files from different makers. ACR version does not affect that format.
No additional data or detail will turn up doing that.
The new version of ACR may have slightly different processing algorithms that may generate different processed images than your previous versions, but ACR itself has no effect on the actual raw data in the DNGs. This means you might see (slight) changes in the final image file ( JPEG usually ) generated by LightRoom using the new version of ACR, but these would probably be minute.
There's no reason to convert to DNG using a different app ( than LightRoom ) or updating your DNGs just because ACR changes unless some new version of ACR in the future requires a new format of DNG and rejects your existing DNGs ( which it should not ).
Originally by user46861. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user46861
9y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Probably not. If Lightroom already converted your CR2 files to DNG, the original raw image data should already be preserved inside those DNGs. DNG is just a standardized raw container format; the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) version does not change the underlying raw capture data.
Running existing DNGs through the standalone Adobe DNG Converter again will not reveal extra detail or improve image quality. A newer ACR version may use updated processing algorithms, so you could see slight differences when rendering/exporting images, but that comes from the software processing the raw data—not from “updating” the DNG file itself.
So in normal use, there’s no real reason to reconvert Lightroom-made DNGs with a newer DNG Converter.
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