We asked camera companies why their RAW formats are all different and confusing

[StarGeek]

From TheVerge.com

[greybeard]

From TheVerge.com

They could also have asked why the metadata aren't documented

[FrankB]

Interesting stuff. 2 remarks.

1) Being a Pentax user I too have adopted the DNG format. Good to know that DNG has some flavor's. To be sure I always run the DNG's from the camera thru 'Adobe DNG Converter' to be sure they are the same version.
2) Once you have made a choice for a particular format, it's not likely you will switch to another format. What will you do with your 'old' RAW's? So think twice (at least) before you decide.

Frank

[wywh]

A few years ago older macOS versions had frequent separate "Camera RAW" updates. But Apple no longer does that and in Mac communities people are often upset when Photos.app freebie does not support their brand new $$ camera's raw images and they are more upset when advised to use Adobe DNG Converter or even cough up more $$ for 3rd party apps like Lightroom etc. macOS support might then come after a few months if ever in the next macOS update/upgrade.

How well does Adobe DNG Converter preserve metadata from various camera vendors? Is there any important metadata it might lose? Would you recommend archiving the original raw instead converted .dng?

[StarGeek]

Would you recommend archiving the original raw instead converted .dng?

I believe there's an option to save the original RAW image inside the DNG. Obviously doubles the size, but it allows you to revert if you need to.

[Phil Harvey]

My big problem is that I can't buy a new camera without buying a new computer because new versions of the Adobe DNG Converter won't run on MacOS 10.14. 

For a guy who really advocates backward compatibility, running MacOS isn't the best choice.

- Phil