I don't know what to think anymore. All I know is that when I import my images into Aperture regardless of DNG converter settings, I get an unsupported image file notices. I may be buying a newer iMac soon and am tempted to try the newest version of Aperture to see if this behaviour persists. OTOH, since Apple is abandoning Aperture in the long run, I may not bother, not sure how much satisfying my curiosity matters. That is, I am presuming that this is an Aperture issue. Too bad, I liked it.
I'll try looking around the micro 4/3 site forums to see what they contain on the subject. I don't normally frequent them, but someone must have traveled down this path before me.
However, the whole thing strikes as something that should not be so obscure. I find it bizarre that we have to rely on folklore and word-of-mouth to find this information. These are well-known products and I would have thought that it would be easy to find info on whether/why what I am trying to do works or doesn't work.
I think it's a bit of cautionary tale about DNG though. Generally, DNG is thought of as a non-proprietary way to store raw data. I kind of like that idea a lot. But if we have to worry about exceptions, both with current and future software releases, it leaves me uneasy, in the sense that if I chose to convert my workflow to DNG, I would still be forced to store all my out-of-camera orf files somewhere jic of future compatibility problems with the DNG files.
I’m an amateur, nobody is paying me to maintain all this knowledge or all these backups. I want these products/services to be appliances, but they aren't , and I am sick and tired of it. This is not a fun part of the photography hobby. The state of the current art forces each of us to be systems engineers. I hope that DNG or something like it really does emerge as an industry standard, the way C-41 did.
