DNGLab - A camera RAW to DNG file format converter

Command line tool to convert camera RAW files to Digital Negative Format (DNG).

It is currently in alpha state, so don't expect a polished and bugfree application. Please report bugs in our issue tracker.

Rawler crate is now published to crates.io, but please notice that the API is not yet stable and thus rawler is not following SemVer.

Installation

There are pre-built binary packages for each release which can be downloaded from the asset section under latest release. The .deb packages are for Debian based systems (amd64 and arm64), which can be installed with dpkg -i dnglab_x.x.x_amd64.deb. For non-Debian systems, you can use the single-binary file, for example ./dnglab_linux_x64 convert IMG_1234.CR2 IMG_1234.dng.

Windows is not officially supported, but the release assets contains a dnglab-win-x64_vx.x.x.zip file with pre-built Windows binary. Please be aware that this build is untested.

Build from source

Dnglab is written in Rust, so you can compile it by your own on your target machine. You need the Rust toolchain installed on your machine, see https://rustup.rs/ for that. Once the toolchain is installed, you can simply compile Dnglab with:

git clone https://github.com/dnglab/dnglab.git
cd dnglab
cargo build --release

The dnglab binary is found at ./target/release/dnglab.

Examples

Convert a single file:

dnglab convert IMG_1234.CR3 IMG_1234.DNG

Convert whole directory:

dnglab convert ~/DCIM/100EOS ~/filmrolls/photos-france

Supported cameras and file formats

For a list of supported cameras please see SUPPORTED_CAMERAS.md.

Supported raw file formats

Manufacturer	Format	Supported	Remarks
ARRI	ARI	✅ Yes
Canon	CR3	✅ Yes	CR3_STATE.md
Canon	CR2	✅ Yes
Canon	CRW	✅ Yes
Epson	ERF	✅ Yes
Fujifilm	RAF	✅ Yes
Hasselblad	3FR	✅ Yes
Kodak	KDC	✅ Yes
Kodak	DCS	✅ Yes
Kodak	DCR	✅ Yes
Leaf	IIQ	✅ Yes
Leaf	MOS	✅ Yes
Mamiya	MEF	✅ Yes
Minolta	MRW	✅ Yes
Nikon	NEF	✅ Yes
Nikon	NRW	✅ Yes
Olympus	ORF	✅ Yes
Panasonic/Leica	RW2	✅ Yes
Pentax/Ricoh	PEF	✅ Yes
Phase One	IIQ	✅ Yes
Samsung	SRW	✅ Yes
Sony	ARW	✅ Yes
Sony	SRF	✅ Yes
Sony	SR2	✅ Yes

Supported DNG features

• DNG lossless compression (LJPEG-92)

Command line help

convert subcommand

dnglab-convert
Convert raw image(s) into dng format

USAGE:
    dnglab convert [OPTIONS] <INPUT> <OUTPUT>

ARGS:
    <INPUT>     Input file or directory
    <OUTPUT>    Output file or existing directory

OPTIONS:
        --artist <artist>
            Set the artist tag

    -c, --compression <compression>
            Compression for raw image [default: lossless] [possible values: lossless, none]

        --crop <crop>
            DNG default crop [default: best] [possible values: best, activearea, none]

    -d
            turns on debugging mode

        --dng-preview <preview>
            DNG include preview image [default: true]

        --dng-thumbnail <thumbnail>
            DNG include thumbnail image [default: true]

        --embed-raw <embedded>
            Embed the raw file into DNG [default: true]

    -f, --override
            Override existing files

    -h, --help
            Print help information

        --image-index <index>
            Select a specific image index (or 'all') if file is a image container [default: 0]

        --ljpeg92-predictor <predictor>
            LJPEG-92 predictor [default: 1] [possible values: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

    -r, --recursive
            Process input directory recursive

    -v
            Print more messages

analyze subcommand

dnglab-analyze
Analyze raw image

USAGE:
    dnglab analyze [OPTIONS] <FILE>

ARGS:
    <FILE>    Input file

OPTIONS:
    -d                          turns on debugging mode
        --full-pixel            Write uncompressed full pixel data to STDOUT
    -h, --help                  Print help information
        --json                  Format metadata as JSON
        --meta                  Write metadata to STDOUT
        --preview-checksum      Write MD5 checksum of preview pixels to STDOUT
        --preview-pixel         Write uncompressed preview pixel data to STDOUT
        --raw-checksum          Write MD5 checksum of raw pixels to STDOUT
        --raw-pixel
        --srgb                  Write sRGB 16-bit TIFF to STDOUT
        --structure             Write file structure to STDOUT
        --summary               Write summary information for file to STDOUT
        --thumbnail-checksum    Write MD5 checksum of thumbnail pixels to STDOUT
        --thumbnail-pixel       Write uncompressed preview pixel data to STDOUT
    -v                          Print more messages
        --yaml                  Format metadata as YAML

With analyze, you can get a full dump of the internal file structure as YAML or JSON. With JSON output, it's possible to filter and transform the data with jq. For example, to get the cfa_layout from the CMP1 box for CR3 files, you can write:

find /cr3samples/ -type f -name "*.CR3" -exec dnglab analyze --structure '{}' --json \; | \
  jq ". | { file: .file.fileName, cfa_layout: .format.cr3.moov.trak[1].mdia.minf.stbl.stsd.craw.cmp1.cfa_layout}"

The output is:

{
  "file": "Canon EOS 90D_CRAW_ISO_250_nocrop_nodual.CR3",
  "cfa_layout": 1
}
{
  "file": "Canon EOS 90D_CRAW_ISO_100_nocrop_nodual.CR3",
  "cfa_layout": 1
}

extract subcommand

dnglab-extract
Extract embedded original Raw from DNG

USAGE:
    dnglab extract [OPTIONS] <FILE> <INPUT> <OUTPUT>

ARGS:
    <FILE>      Input file
    <INPUT>     Input file or directory
    <OUTPUT>    Output file or existing directory

OPTIONS:
    -d                  turns on debugging mode
    -f, --override      Override existing files
    -h, --help          Print help information
    -r, --recursive     Process input directory recursive
        --skipchecks    Skip integrity checks
    -v                  Print more messages

makedng subcommand

Lowlevel command to make a DNG file

Usage: dnglab makedng [OPTIONS] --input <INPUT>...

Options:
  -d...
          turns on debugging mode

  -o, --output <OUTPUT>
          Output DNG file path

  -i, --input <INPUT>...
          Input files to merge into a single DNG file. Usually only a single input file is used.
          If multiple input files are given, --map should be used to specifiy how to interpret each intput file.

  -v
          Print more messages

      --map <map>...
          When multiple input files given, each input file should be mapped to a specific type of data.
          First input file starts with index 0. Possible types are 'raw', 'preview', 'thumbnail', 'exif', 'xmp'.
          Input files which are not mapped are ignored.

          [default: 0:raw 0:preview 0:thumbnail 0:exif 0:xmp]

      --dng-backward-version <version>
          DNG specification version

          [default: 1.4]
          [possible values: 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6]

      --colorimetric-reference <reference>
          Reference for XYZ values

          [default: scene]
          [possible values: scene, output]

      --unique-camera-model <id>
          Unique camera model

      --artist <artist>
          Set the Artist tag

      --make <make>
          Set the Make tag

      --model <model>
          Set the Model tag

      --matrix1 <MATRIX>
          Matrix 1

          [possible values: XYZ_sRGB_D50, XYZ_sRGB_D65, XYZ_AdobeRGB_D50, XYZ_AdobeRGB_D65, "custom 3x3 matrix (comma seperated)"]

      --matrix2 <MATRIX>
          Matrix 2

          [possible values: XYZ_sRGB_D50, XYZ_sRGB_D65, XYZ_AdobeRGB_D50, XYZ_AdobeRGB_D65, "custom 3x3 matrix (comma seperated)"]

      --matrix3 <MATRIX>
          Matrix 3

          [possible values: XYZ_sRGB_D50, XYZ_sRGB_D65, XYZ_AdobeRGB_D50, XYZ_AdobeRGB_D65, "custom 3x3 matrix (comma seperated)"]

      --illuminant1 <ILLUMINANT>
          Illuminant 1

          [possible values: Unknown, A, B, C, D50, D55, D65, D75]

      --illuminant2 <ILLUMINANT>
          Illuminant 2

          [possible values: Unknown, A, B, C, D50, D55, D65, D75]

      --illuminant3 <ILLUMINANT>
          Illuminant 3

          [possible values: Unknown, A, B, C, D50, D55, D65, D75]

      --linearization <TABLE>
          Linearization table

          [possible values: 8bit_sRGB, 8bit_sRGB_invert, 16bit_sRGB, 16bit_sRGB_invert, 8bit_gamma1.8, 8bit_gamma1.8_invert, 8bit_gamma2.0, 8bit_gamma2.0_invert, 8bit_gamma2.2, 8bit_gamma2.2_invert, 8bit_gamma2.4, 8bit_gamma2.4_invert, 16bit_gamma1.8, 16bit_gamma1.8_invert, 16bit_gamma2.0, 16bit_gamma2.0_invert, 16bit_gamma2.2, 16bit_gamma2.2_invert, 16bit_gamma2.4, 16bit_gamma2.4_invert, "custom table (comma seperated)"]

      --wb <R,G,B>
          Whitebalance as-shot

      --white-xy <x,y>
          Whitebalance as-shot encoded as xy chromaticity coordinates

          [possible values: D50, D65, "custom x,y value (comma seperated)"]

  -f, --override
          Override existing files

  -h, --help
          Print help (see a summary with '-h')

Contribute samples

Please see our guide: CONTRIBUTE_SAMPLES.md.

FAQ

Why a DNG tool if there is already something from Adobe?

The DNG converter from Adobe is free (at cost), but not free in terms of free software. Nobody can add or fix camera support except of Adobe. And it has no support for Linux. That's why I've started writing my own little DNG swiss army knife.

Why should I use DNG instead of RAW?

Never ask. If you need DNG you will know.

Will camera/format (...) be added?

Well, depends on developer resources.

Is a GUI in planning?

Yes, DNGLab should get a GUI in near future.

How can I donate to this project?

I don't have any sponsoring or donation account like Patreon or Paypal. If you want to surprise me, please have a look at my Amazon wish list.

Credits

Special thanks goes to:

• Darktable developer team www.darktable.org
• Laurent Clévy CR3 documentation
• Kostya Shishkov
• Hubert Kowalski
• Rawloader development team rawloader
• All volunteers who have contributed samples.

Without the support and engagement from these people the development of dnglab would not have been possible.