Raw, PEF, DNG & Lightroom

[Zoe]

Ok, so I thought it was time I made the switch to raw so I was fiddling the settings on my camera (Pentax K-m) and I found out it lets me choose 2 types (formats?) of raw: PEF and DNG. Now which one does Lightroom like (I suppose only DNG?)? I tried to look this up through Google but can't figure it out. Help!

Also, I can choose from 3 different formats on my camera, JPEG, raw and raw+. I checked my manual but there's nothing about raw+, does anybody have any information about that?

[clm738]

Hi Martine, DNG is Photoshops conversion to RAW files. What it does is changes the cameras RAW file to Photoshops RAW file so it can process it.
Which version of Lightroom do you have?
What is the full model no. of your Camera?
If you let me know these I will look it up and let you know if your Lightroom supports your camera.
I Googled "Pentax K-m raw files" and it came up with the following in the specs on one site.
Image formats: JPEG (8-bit, Exif 2.21), PEF/DNG Raw (12-bit); RAW+JPEG available
What that means is: JPEG - the correct bit size for uploading to web sites and printing
PEF/DNG: PEF is Pentax letters for its RAW file. DNG: is photoshops letters for its raw file
RAW+JPEG: Camera takes both RAW and JPEG photo at the same time. So if you want to process the RAW file yourself in Lightroom you can and if you just want to print or upload to web you can use the JPEG without doing anything to it as the camera has done all the processing for you, although, you really still need to do some sharpening on the JPEG photo.
Hope this helps and is not too confusing for you.

[Kym]

I use PEF and LR 2.6; K-x is supported in LR 2.6. PEF are slightly smaller than DNG

[Zoe]

Smaller is good! I use Lightroom 2.4, I might try PEF next time - thanks Kym.

I didn't know there were different models for the Pentax K-m, Carmen, my manual only says K-m...I know in some parts of the world it's sold as the K2000 - don't know if that helps. Thanks for the explanation though, I don't think I'll ever use raw and JPEG together, it seems like it would take up a lot of space and I never print without having fiddled with a photo in Lightroom anyway.

[Scotty72]

Smaller is not always better.

eg the colourspace options

sRGB is smaller but Adobe RGB gives a wider depth.

When shrinking... you will lose detail.

And, from what I understand, the next generation of cameras are going to change it all (and up the file sizes) again.

Scotty

[arthurking83]

...

sRGB is smaller but Adobe RGB gives a wider depth.

When shrinking... you will lose detail.

....

Scotty

That's only true of raster images(in camera that means JPG and TIFF made in camera).

The raw data captured by the camera is not colourspace aware. It's just a bunch of binary bits(and pieces?) that have to be interpreted by the camera and the software on the PC.
You can reset/change the colourspace on the PC via your editor to whatever you like with no affect on the quality of the colour within the raw file.