Does anyone know when you convert your RAW files to DNG if the quality remains the same or not?

I've only done limited testing but I didn't see any change in quality. If you are worried, you can choose to include the original RAW file with your DNG. FWIW, I backup both my RAW and DNG files.

Converting proprietary raw files to DNG is just a conversion of the file formats; the actual contents are left alone. A DNG file is just as raw as the original raw file. All raw formats as well as DNG are just variants of the TIFF format anyway.

Many photographers convert to DNG without embedding the original raw, then archive the DNG and throw away the raw file. The only drawback of this approach: you cannot use the original manufacturer's raw converter anymore.

-- Olaf

I archive CR2s separately from DNG's. That way I can use DPP or DXo when I think there is an advantage over LR.

Mike

Depends on the options you select. The "normal" usage is converting the data format (like turning the fancy compressions in uncompressed or losslessly compressed format using the JPEG encoding) and some of the proprietory metadata in DNG tags.

However, you can have the raw data converted in de-mosaiced but still linear format as well; this includes some other actions as well.