Author Topic: Configuring DNG Files  (Read 4382 times)

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MCC

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Configuring DNG Files
« on: 2011-06-14 18:05:25 »
When I installed TP8 service pack 1, I could no long see any Adobe DNG files. (I don't remember if they were natively supported in the first installation.) I manually added DNG's in preferences under the "Camera" files and set the DNG's to be equivalent to PEF raw files (the most common raw file I use.) I've been having two problems though:

First is speed. It takes 4-6 seconds for the preview to show up when I select a DNG file.  Until the preview shows up, I can't drag and drop the file into other apps. It also take several seconds when I select multiple files before I can drag them. By contrast, the preview for JPG's and even very large TIF's (600+ MB) appear within 1 second.

Second problem is that the DNG images are all adjusted to look the same. If I have three files, one well under exposed, one well over exposed, and one just right, the thumbs all look the same. They all appear to be about 1 stop over exposed with very low contrast. I'd like to be able to evaluate basic exposure based on the thumbnails and skip ones that are way off. White balance differences DO show in the thumbs. Exposure differences show in other file types like JPG and TIF.  They do not show in DNG and other raw files.

So - does Thumbs plus support DNG natively?  If so - any suggestions on how to get them to show up?  If not, any suggestions on how to add DNG's so they display better and preview faster?

Thanks -

MCC

Daan van Rooijen

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Configuring DNG Files
« Reply #1 on: 2011-06-14 21:14:11 »
.DNG files are supported through the Digicam plug-in, which is actually two plug-ins: Digicam and Digiraw. In the .DNG file type configuration, instead of defining it as identical to .PEF, you'd set Load File Using to Cerious Plug-in, with in the field to its right either plug_digicam or plug_digiraw. That would allow you to choose the other plug-in for DNG files if you don't want to change the one that is being used for your Pentax files.

To fine-tune how either plug-in works, see Options | Digicam Plug-in and Options | DCRaw Plug-in (the latter is actually for Digiraw).

One of the options there is if (instead of developing the full raw data, which takes time) you want to use the embedded preview image for thumbnail creation, slideshows, viewing, etc, to speed things up. In the Digicam settings, this option is called 'Load embedded JPEG or thumbnail for..' on the General tab. In the Digiraw settings, it's named 'Quick Interpolation for'. Use that for thumbnailing and it should work much faster.

The exposure equalization that you are seeing is probably due to a DCRAW feature that causes it to develop raw images such that none of their pixels are clipped (even if they really should be, due to over-exposure). I'm not sure which of its settings affects this.. it could be 'load 16 bits per channel' or (if that's inactive) 'automatic brightness level'. You may want to experiment with those, or try plug_digicam instead of plug_digiraw for the 'Load File Using' setting.
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MCC

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Configuring DNG Files
« Reply #2 on: 2011-06-14 23:05:10 »
> .DNG files are supported through the Digicam plug-in, which is actually two plug-ins: Digicam and Digiraw. ....

Many thanks - my install of the Digicam plugin was apparently corrupted - I uninstalled it and reinstalled. Now the DNG files show up fine, without being a clone of the PEF files.
 
> One of the options there is if (instead of developing the full raw data, which takes time) you want to use the embedded preview image for thumbnail creation, slideshows, viewing, etc, to speed things up.

Unfortunatley, I'm not seeing improvement here. It still is taking 4-6 seconds to display. I checked and 'use embedded preview' for the raw files is checked and so is 'quick interpolation' in DCRaw.

> The exposure equalization that you are seeing is probably due to a DCRAW feature that causes it to develop raw images such that none of their pixels are clipped (even if they really should be, due to over-exposure). I'm not sure which of its settings affects this.. it could be 'load 16 bits per channel' or (if that's inactive) 'automatic brightness level'. You may want to experiment with those, or try plug_digicam instead of plug_digiraw for the 'Load File Using' setting.

Thanks - it was the 'auto gamma' setting. That was enabled for the PEF's and that was copied over to the DNG profile I had created. Now the exposure of the images is showing properly.  I don't usually work with the PEF's - I convert them to DNG's and work from those - but I ran some tests and the 'auto gamma' setting also makes the PEF's look all the same. Disabiling it solves that problem...

Thanks again - this has been very helpful!

Daan van Rooijen

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Configuring DNG Files
« Reply #3 on: 2011-06-14 23:15:16 »
My pleasure! As for the speed, I now suspect that the DigiRaw 'quick interpolation' option is something different altogether than the 'use embedded preview image' option for Digicam. Have you tried using the latter? It really should be much faster - approximately as fast as thumbnailing regular JPG's!
I'm volunteering as a moderator - I do not work for Cerious Software, Inc.