CR2, DNG etc, what do you use? (1 Viewer)

Hi,
I wonder how you store your images. I currently store all my images as the cr2 images they are imported from the camera. It has the pro or con that you get a separate file for metadata and probably lots of more pros and cons vs DNG or other type of files. How and why do you store your images?

Edit: I Forgot to say, I use Lightroom 3 and it is very easy to work with raw-files in LR3, your software may differ.

I'm interested in this topic too.

I use Lightroom 3 and after reading Scott Kelby's book on Lightroom I followed his suggestion to convert everything to dng file type. I'm not clear how this will help me though. He suggests to do it so you don't have two files to deal with.

I'm finding a couple of drawbacks with this though. It adds extra time to the download from the card and I don't think I can use DPP to show where the focus point was on the file if I want to check.

I may switch back especially if other answers here make a better case for cr2.

Kristoffer, As far as I am aware most people only convert to DNG when their RAW converter does not support the RAW's from their particular Camera - e.g. versions of Photoshop and LR only support versions of ACR up to a certain level which means that for new Cameras the version of ACR may be be out of date. In this case people have the choice between buying the latest version of Photoshop (or LR) or still using the existing software by converting the RAW to DNG.

To simplify this Kristoffer if you kept your version of LR that you have now for around three years or so and then buy a new Camera you could well find that your LR would not support the RAW's. This gives you two choices, Pay-up and upgrade LR or convert your RAW's to DNG and carry on using your existing version of LR.

I know there may be certain advantages to DNG like smaller file sizes (around 20% I believe) , and that the DNG's will stand the test of time. plus storing the Metadata and RAW settings with the file itself and does not need a side car file. But I suspect most people would not bother unless they had to.

Other may disagree with this but this is my 2p's worth.

Another vote for DNG. No need for sidecar files, the RAW data and the conversion settings are all contained in one file, better for transporting between machines and archiving. Forward and backward compatibility. Another plus is that the preview thumbnail is updated , so the image you see in Bridge or Lightroom or whatever is of the image after your fiddling not before.

The whole thing could be sorted out if the camera manufacturers just got together and agreed a common format, there is no technical reasons why each new camera needs a new flavour of RAW file.