Following last week’s article why to shoot in RAW, is a simple tutorial how to convert your RAW files to Adobe DNG. The benefits are explained in the previous article.

Step 1

To install Adobe’s DNG converter, head over to http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/ and select your Operating System from the right sidebar. Filesize is about 40MB. After you’ve downloaded it, double click on the file and install it. Once finished, locate the installation folder and open up DNG Converter. You should have screen similar to the one below.

The converter is designed as an automated batch converter. Click on the button “Select Folder” to select the folder in which you have the RAW files ready for conversion. Note that you can select the “parent” folder and include subfolders as well.

Step 2

Select a destination folder for the converted DNG files. You can select to save them in the same folder or in a different one. You can also create subfolders in the destination folder that match the source’s subfolders.

Step 3

Select a name for the converted DNG files. You have a plethora of options such as Document Name (RAW_file_name.dng), 1 Digit Serial Number (1.dng), Serial Letter (a.dng), mmddyy (122109.dng) and many more. Note that you can combine these options as well. You can also select a lowercase or uppercase file extension name (dng or DNG).

Step 4

When you click on “Preferences” you should have a screen similar to the one below. Inside, you can select compatibility issues, readable by the latest version of Camera Raw or not, Preview JPEG Quality and you can also Embed the Original RAW File. Note that this will create a larger DNG file.

Step 5

When you tick that you want to “Embed Original RAW File” you can then later  open up DNG Converter and click on “Extract” and the Converter extracts your original RAW files from the converted DNG files. You can select a source folder where you have the DNG’s with the RAW embedded and destination folder to extract the RAW files.

When you have finished with the preferences, just click on “Convert” and let the software do its magic!

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