Ma ster Files a n d d e r i v a t i v e F i l e s Adobe software. Perhaps the most efficient tool for DNG conversion is the standalone DNG converter. Thissimpleandefficientapplicationrunsintheback- groundtoconvertadjustedrawfilestoDNG,leaving your computer free to do other things. It has a short listofpreferences,themostimportantofwhichspecify whether a JPEG preview file will be embedded and, if so, whether it will be medium or full size and whether the proprietary raw file will be embedded. Thereisanotheroption,whichisnotwellunderstood. This preference setting asks whether to" preserve raw image"or"converttolinearimage."Preservingtheraw imagespecifiesthattheimagedatawillremainmosa- iced. Converting to linear image will bake in the current adjustments and create what is essentially a TIFF file. It will no longer have the ability to be behind when you convert to DNG? NO! Everything isintact,plusafewadditionalthingsareincluded;for example--camera model, sensor type, camera serial number,proprietaryrawfilesspectralcharacteristicsof thesensor,andanylensissuesareincludedwithinthe DNG DNG Issues · Third-party software manufacturers do not read DNGormakeuseoftheirownproprietaryinfor- mation.Theycould,butsofardonottakeadvan- tageoftheformat'scapabilities. · Third-party software needs to become "smarter" aboutitsabilitytotakefulladvantageoftheinfor- mationwithinaDNGfile.