Convert Raw to DNG Automator Action

January 10, 2008 by Ben Long
Filed under: Automator Actions 

Adobe’s Digital Negative Specification, or DNG format, provides an open standard for the storage of raw camera data. However, since few cameras can store directly into Digital Negative format, if you want to take advantage of DNG, you first need to convert your existing raw files to DNG format using the Adobe DNG Converter. Mac users running OS X 10.4 ("Tiger") or later can ease their conversion tasks using this Automator action, which lets you batch process your DNG conversions, as well as include DNG conversion in a more complex image processing pipeline. This updated version adds Leopard support as well as the ability to convert Sony SR2 files.

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For photographers who shoot raw, DNG offers several important advantages over proprietary formats: it’s open source, so any software or hardware vendor can support it; it won’t vanish if any particular company goes out of business; and it includes support for all raw conversion metadata, making for a more efficient, all-in-one, raw format/metadata file.

Automator, meanwhile, is an excellent workflow automation tool which allows you to create applets that automatically manage your post-production pipeline.

The Convert Raw to DNG action allows you to use Automator to drive all of your DNG conversions. You’ll need the Adobe DNG Converter 3.2 or later, a free download available here, as well as OS X 10.4 or later..

Convert to DNG Automator Action

To use, simply follow the included installation instructions, and then add the action to a workflow. Configuring the action is very simple:

- If you leave the Name or Destination fields alone, then all resulting DNG files will be saved in the same location as the source, with same name as the original, appended with a ".dng" extension.
– Select a new destination to store the resulting DNGs in a different folder. Enter a new name to give each DNG file a new, sequentially numbered name.
– Configure the Output options appropriately (see the Adobe DNG Converter on-line help for more information.)
- This new version offers substantial speed improvements over the previous, 1.0 version. However, to achieve this speed increase, two previous options have been dropped. Consult the included readme for more details.

Click here to download the Convert Raw to DNG Action

If you find this Automator action useful, why not click here to PayPal me some cash! I’d really appreciate and would be sure to put it to good use, like burritos or pizza!

Need to upgrade to Tiger? Order it now from Amazon.com.

Related Links:
Other photo-related Automator Actions

AppleScript for Digital Photographers

Taking Action with Photoshop Actions
Adobe Illustrator Automator Action

For more on Automator, check out automatorworld.com


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Comments

16 Comments on Convert Raw to DNG Automator Action

  1. Adam on Fri, 11th Jan 2008 11:47 am

    2. Thanks for getting this working in Leopard! It works great.

    - Adam

  2. Thomas on Wed, 16th Jan 2008 2:17 am

    3. Can not get it to work with .nef or .orf files… The action seems to always try and find .cr2 files…

  3. Claudette on Sun, 20th Jan 2008 12:40 am

    4. Hi,

    This does not work for me either :-( Leopard and Nikon raw files.

    A message pops up: “find (…) “.cr2″ – maybe that helps?

    C

  4. anthony on Sun, 20th Jan 2008 7:17 pm

    5. ditto on .nef – does not work

  5. Ben Long on Sat, 26th Jan 2008 9:48 pm

    6. Sorry guys, it now works for all file formats. Download the new version and you should be good. Unfortunately, there was also a bug in the “Check for Updates” mechanism, so it’s not working in the version you have. That’s fixed now, too.

  6. Thomas on Mon, 28th Jan 2008 5:44 pm

    7. Thank you! The new version does the trick :-)

    Thomas

  7. Tea Vui Huang on Wed, 13th Feb 2008 6:55 am

    8. DNG now supported on Google Mobile Phone (gPhone)
    http://teavuihuang.com/dng

    Tea Vui Huang’s “DNGwriter” is a Google Android library that allows gPhone (Google Android Handset) camera images to be saved straight to the Adobe Digital Negative (DNG) Raw image format. This product includes DNG technology under license by Adobe Systems Incorporated.

    Sample DNG photo is available on the above website.

  8. Cannot add this action... on Sat, 16th Feb 2008 1:17 am

    9. Hi

    Downloaded this action. Installed it with double click to automator. The action refuses to participate in any workflow (does not move to the workflow window when creating the workflow).

    I can create any other kind of workflows, but raw dng converter will not want to participate.

    Running 10.5.2.

  9. Fintan on Sat, 16th Feb 2008 6:06 am

    10. Hi

    Same problem. Cannot add this action. The action refuses to participate in a workflow. Any ideas?

  10. John Scherer on Thu, 13th Mar 2008 5:45 pm

    11. Maybe a stupid question but is there any way I can have the Convert Raw to DNG action put the created DNG files into a subdirectory of the original directory without having to specify it at run time

  11. Mike on Mon, 17th Mar 2008 7:55 pm

    12. Like number 8 & 9 I can’t get this action to work after installing. :(

  12. Justin Kent on Fri, 21st Mar 2008 10:06 am

    13. Thanks a lot! I used it to convert a batch of Sony .ARW files and it worked perfectly.

  13. Marco on Tue, 24th Jun 2008 1:08 pm

    14. Thanx a lot!
    I’ve got 1 little problem though (besides my english), maybe someone can help me out.
    In automator i created a hotfolder so when i shoot a raw file (tethered) the dng converter automaticly kicks in. Though with every new file I have to set up the settings of the dng converter… Since I’m new to automator mayb somebody can help me out to make a sort of default setting..

  14. Marco on Wed, 25th Jun 2008 11:19 am

    15. ah, nevermind, found it, DONT show action when run, like I said; new to automator….

  15. glenn on Sat, 20th Sep 2008 4:25 am

    16. I’ve downloaded this action, but couldn’t find any option to convert .ARW files. I’ve tried using all Sony and Minolta RAW format but as soon as I import them to Aperture, the exposure and white balance shift is so great it makes the photo look bright and pink. I tried converting manually and importing them to aperture manually and everything is fine. Is there any way this can be fixed?

  16. Aaron Smale on Sun, 28th Sep 2008 5:11 am

    17. Is there any way this could be made into a plug-in for Aperture so that it works in the same way as the DNG converter built into LR? This has the option of converting to DNG on import or after.

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