# Magic Lantern Lets You Shoot Lossless 14bit DNG in-Camera



## Canon Rumors Guy (Jan 2, 2017)

```
A <a href="http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=18443.msg176809#msg176809">breakthrough at Magic Lantern</a> has opened up the possibility of shooting lossless 14bit DNG format on your Canon DSLR.</p>
<p>Magic Lantern developer a1ex has figured out how Canon decodes their CR2 files and modified the output to allow the camera to produce a lossless DNG file instead.</p>
<p>There is proof of concept over at the Magic Lantern forums as shooter Danne has posted a couple of lossless 14bit DNG files <a href="http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=18443.msg176818#msg176818">here</a>.</p>
<p>There is no mention of when this feature may become available, but stay tuned.</p>
<p>image credit //  <a href="http://petapixel.com/2016/12/30/magic-lantern-breakthrough-lets-shoot-lossless-14-bit-dngs-camera/">PetaPixel</a></p>
<span id="pty_trigger"></span>
```


----------



## IglooEater (Jan 2, 2017)

I'll be showing my ignorance here, but is there some hard advantage of DNG over CR2?


----------



## HawkinsT (Jan 2, 2017)

IglooEater said:


> I'll be showing my ignorance here, but is there some hard advantage of DNG over CR2?


Files are 15-20% smaller and image previews load faster in lightroom. The disadvantage is some metadata is discarded and dng files don't play well with some non-adobe software. There's also an argument that dng files are more future proof, but since old dng files are different to new dng files, I don't buy that argument; I'm sure I'll still be able to access/convert cr2 files in 20 years if it becomes and issue.

Basically if you never intend to move outside of Adobe's ecosystem then it's a nice choice for saving some hard drive space. With modern hardware the speed advantage will be minimal for most people, and there's the risk if you move to capture one or dxo (say) in the future, you'll have issues with camera profiles and lens correction not working accurately (despite the format being semi-supported).


----------



## vscd (Jan 2, 2017)

Canon should be proud of such an active community around the Canon-DSLRs... it's one of the reasons why I buy them. Sadly the new firmware of the 5DM3 destroys a lot of those capabilites ;(


----------



## SkynetTX (Jan 2, 2017)

The sample images are not the best as they do not help to decide if it worths to shoot in DNG instead of CR2. I suppose the white balance was not set correctly on the cat's picture as it seems it was taken with automatic wb instead of tungsten. The second one is too dark for me. My second problem is that important information is missing from the exif: there's no aperture, no ISO speed and no shutter speed so I don't know what ISO speed was the photo taken with and if it has been denoised or not.


----------



## 3kramd5 (Jan 2, 2017)

SkynetTX said:


> The sample images are not the best as they do not help to decide if it worths to shoot in DNG instead of CR2.



They aren't intended to - it's a proof of concept.

In any case, the decision to shoot DNG in favor of CR2 shouldn't hinge on sample images.


----------



## CADuke (Jan 3, 2017)

This would be awesome, as I don't use lightroom it takes several steps for me to to use Colorchecker Passport. First CR2 to DNG, second Use Colorchecker software to create DNP. Third convert DNP to ICC.


----------



## Talley (Jan 3, 2017)

Would this mean 20%more buffer on high speed shooting? ;D


----------



## tpatana (Jan 3, 2017)

Hmm, interesting, if it just helps somehow 

I hope they crack 5D4 soon


----------



## jeffa4444 (Jan 3, 2017)

I always back my raw files up to a NAS two bay drive mirrored. Separately I store my Adobe edited photos on a drive that's also backed-up to the cloud. The originals are simple RAW whereas my edited shots are either DNG. or JPegs (for camera club comps). 
Its dangerous to have everything in DNG. and limit yourself for the future. Nokia was king of the castle, so was Kodak that maybe Adobe in the future.


----------



## tron (Jan 3, 2017)

vscd said:


> Canon should be proud of such an active community around the Canon-DSLRs... it's one of the reasons why I buy them. Sadly the new firmware of the 5DM3 destroys a lot of those capabilites ;(


The latest firmware of 5D3 is useless. I have stayed with 1.2.3 and I enjoy Magic Lantern's functionality. To downgrade from 1.3.3 or 1.3.4 you have to use EOS utility though.


----------



## mihazero (Jan 3, 2017)

I don't know about you guys but my experiences with DNG are actually quite bad. Slow to decode and load. Took me forever to edit that one catalog I have converted to DNG. I have proper desktop i7 (not those mutilated mobile ones) with 32gb ram SSD and all that but still it was painfully slow. For comparison CR2 files are not like editing JPGs but its 3-4 fold faster then editing DNGs.

I congratulate team ML on new break thru and welcome any advancement they make.


----------



## LDS (Jan 3, 2017)

IglooEater said:


> I'll be showing my ignorance here, but is there some hard advantage of DNG over CR2?



You don't need to upgrade PS/LR to read files from a new camera <G> Just, you'd need Magic Lantern to add it to new cameras, not older ones...


----------



## LDS (Jan 3, 2017)

Talley said:


> Would this mean 20%more buffer on high speed shooting? ;D



Maybe, but if the DNG compression algorithm requires more processor power and/or memory, it could slow down things as well. Only tests could tell. Sometimes larger is better, sometimes it is not.


----------



## infared (Jan 3, 2017)

This is a very interesting conversation and interesting information....hmmmmmm.....
So ....what ....there will be an update to Magic Lantern some time in the near future?


----------



## Don Haines (Jan 3, 2017)

LDS said:


> IglooEater said:
> 
> 
> > I'll be showing my ignorance here, but is there some hard advantage of DNG over CR2?
> ...


correct me if I am wrong but isn't the development sequence something like this:
Canon develops new camera, has new feature in RAW that requires different encoding.....
Before camera is released, info on decoding is given to software companies like Adobe.....
Around the time camera is released, a new version of DPR is released.....
Around the time camera is released, a new version of Adobe XXXXX is released.....
Magic Lantern developers START working on decoding new RAW format....

Magic Lantern will always be after Adobe unlocking new RAW files because they don't get to start until the others are finished...


----------



## LDS (Jan 4, 2017)

Don Haines said:


> Magic Lantern will always be after Adobe unlocking new RAW files because they don't get to start until the others are finished...



Of course. Mine was "tongue in cheek". IMHO, I can't see big advantages in outputting DNGs instead of CR2s (unless you have already a DNG based workflow for any reason), but being able to open them in application that don't support yet the latest CR2s.


----------

