Sorry if this is an oldie , but I havent seen a full explanation (and maybe things have changed). Some years ago I converted my raw files to DNG (and didnt keep the raws , from 1DsMk1, G10 etc) and imported to LR. Later using CO (vers 6,7 and now 
I cant seem to get the same functionality as if they were native files esp lens corrections etc.
Hi Brandon,
Sad to hear that you tossed the camera original Raws (which usually is a TIFF type of format) after conversion to DNG. The DNG specs have changed over the years, and earlier versions didn't record all data that the Raws had available. More recent versions seem to be more complete, but you can never tell if everything that may prove to be beneficial later, was carried over. The only way to do that is by embedding the entire original Raw in the DNG, but that only increases file size for little benefit. If you had done that, then at least you'd be able and restore the original Raw.
In the case of Capture One, it possibly is another reason. C1 supports the original camera Raws of a huge number of cameras. They invested time and money to decode the files and maybe even figured out some of the secret stuff that's hidden in the file, to allow even better quality conversions. The support for DNGs, is not as extensive, and may yield lower quality conversion. There is little incentive for Phase One to recode the work they did years ago, and run the risk of screwing something up in the conversion process.
They also would have to redo some of that (like adding code to initialize the new fields, or changing the way the Raw conversion uses that data) if the DNG standard is changed in the future even though the original camera Raws didn't change since they were recorded. Since the DNG can also be created by others than the Camera maker (e.g. LR/ACR panoramas, or HDRs, or other sources), they cannot be certain either that the converter gets fed valid Raw data that can be used by Capture One (encoding errors or abnormal sizes), so they are suddenly forced to add validations to the converter code to avoid problems for which they would also need to ramp up support.
So it adds (future) cost to redo past work and to support a standard they do not own, and thus cannot plan resources for. And there is no real benefit for them to fully support DNG, because they still need to create camera profiles or specific decoding (e.g. Fuji X-trans) for new cameras that require support, and in addition supporting DNGs will only lower the threshold for users that for some specific feature want to switch to Adobe products (who try to lock in customers from switching back) and drop future C1 upgrades at any time they choose.
So there is more of a benefit for Adobe than for Phase One in fully supporting DNGs.
Proponents of DNG seem to say it contains the raw file data in a different container, and is open spec and therefore should be able to be used by all software manufacturers etc. Im not interested in the "politics" of it all, just what way I can utilise all the original file information within CO8 in developing these images. Do I need to "reconstruct" the original raw formats? if so how? can CO8 now do this? Thanks in advance for advice.
Only if you created DNGs that embedded the entire original Raws. Otherwise you got screwed by the propaganda, and
you have to suffer the consequences, not the propagandists. Lesson for the future,
never toss originals, ever.
Cheers,
Bart
