Aperture 3 will not read LX3 .dng files

Question

I was a Lightroom user for the past several years, but have decided to give Aperture a try. I converted files from my Panasonic Lumix LX-3, Canon 5D Mark II, and Canon s90IS to .dng when they were imported into Lightroom. I no longer have the original RAW files.
I have imported these .dng files into Aperture 3. The two sets of Canon files import properly and our easily edited. The .dng files from the Panasonic Lumix LX3 do not import properly. I get the "unsupported image format" message on the thumbnail.
I have installed the latest Apple update that allows for support of the LX3.
This has happened on both my Mac Pro and Macbook Pro.
Is anyone else experiencing a similar issue?
Thanks,
Fred
Message was edited by: Fred Campagna

Answer 1

Hi Fred. Saw your post about this on dpreview, too. I'll repost my response here for other Apple folk.
I'm seeing this with DNGs from my G1, too. The problem seems to be that Aperture 3 lacks support for lens corrections in DNG.
It is probably not a problem with Linear DNGs -- though you'd have to check yours. Adobe forced Linear DNGs on G1 and LX3 users for only one version of DNG converter (5.4, if I remember right). After that, they figured out how to do lens correction inside regular raw DNGs -- the kind that Aperture supports.
Except that the lens correction in those DNGs seems to confuse Aperture 3. It's odd because for the G1 and LX-3, Aperture supports those same corrections in the native RW2 format. Let's hope it's a bug that the same corrections don't work in DNG.
In the meantime, there are a couple of options:
1. Wait for RW2 support. For the GF1, this is your best choice. And save those RW2 files! Extract your original RW2 files from the DNGs or pull them from a backup (you did embed the the RW2, right?). If you've shot with Panasonic micro 4/3 lenses, this is your best option.
2. If your DNGs were shot with legacy lenses, there is a good work-around. Only native Panasonic (and maybe Olympus) micro 4/3 lenses add the lens metadata. If you don't have that, the only thing keeping Aperture from recognizing your photos is the camera model name embedded in the DNGs. You can use something like exiftool to change it to one that doesn't do lens correction. Here's what I use to get my G1's legacy lens DNGs to work in Aperture 3. (This is not terribly dangerous, as exiftool can just as easily undo this change.)
exiftool -Model=DMC-L10 blah.dng
3. If your DNGs do have lens correction (as they must with the LX3) you could use a tool like DNGSanitize http://punainenkala.livejournal.com/588.html, which purports to strip the lens correction from the DNGs. This is a last-resort sort of thing to do, you will lose that lens correction data. You would probably also have to change the camera model name, as in option 2 (try DMC-FZ50 for the LX3). Keep backups. And, really, don't do this -- wait until the next release of Aperture when we'll find out if Apple intends to fix DNG support.
Whatever you do, test this with your DNGs -- especially if you're trying option 2 or (especially) 3. Just because option 2 works for me, that doesn't mean it will for you. And I've not had to try option 3. And pray you don't have linear DNGs, as only Adobe can help you then.
I can't believe that Apple would mess up DNG support this badly on purpose. In the meantime, please file a bug report to let Apple know that losing DNG support for these cameras is a big deal. You can do this from inside Aperture itself. Choose Aperture > Provide Aperture Feedback from the menu.
Here are the gory details, with links to helpful resources -- http://elstudio.us/notes-on-aperture-3-and-panasonic-gf1-rw2-and
Good luck! And let us know how it works out.