The Difference Between RAW and DNG File Formats
Posted: February 11, 2020
[caption id="attachment_186838" align="alignright" width="463"]
Image: Digital Photography School[/caption]
RAW and JPG are two very familiar photography file formats and there has been a long-time debate about the best format to shoot photos in. Each of those types has advantages and disadvantages, but there is a third type you may not even be familiar with - Digital Negative (DNG). Rather than making it a "contest" between the three types and which is best, it's more a matter of RAW vs DNG. Understanding the difference between RAW and DNG is the first step to deciding which format is best for you to use.
As a photographer, you have no doubt heard people talk about file formats, specifically
RAW and JPG. Some people shoot only in RAW, others like JPG, and many photographers use both. Each format has benefits and drawbacks, but if you want the most amount of control over your pictures, you probably shoot in RAW. However, there is a third option you might not even know about: Digital Negative, or DNG. With this other format in the mix, the issue isn’t so much RAW vs JPG, but RAW vs DNG.
Understanding RAW
RAW files, unlike JPG files,
store all of the light and color data used to capture an image. That means you can recapture blown-out highlights, make better white balance corrections, and have a great deal of editing freedom you don’t get with JPG.
Nikon, Canon, Sony, and others all let photographers shoot in RAW, but each of their RAW files is different. For example, the file extension for a Nikon RAW file is NEF, Canon is CRW, and Sony uses ARW.
Read the entire article,
RAW vs DNG: What’s the Difference and Why Does it Matter?, on
Digital Photography School.