Raw + ? (TIFF or JPEG)

[JustJazzie]

I've been thinking about starting to shoot raw+JPEG so I can keep the raw files I need, but just the jpegs of everything else.

My camera gives me the option of raw+JPEG or Raw+tiff but I guess I don't really understand the difference.

Anyone willing to enlighten me?

 

[pixmedic]

Image Types: JPEG & TIFF File Formats

 

[JustJazzie]

Image Types: JPEG & TIFF File Formats

Thanks Pix, I'll go read it now.

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

The main difference is compression. The jpg format is compressed for a much smaller file size but you also lose image quality. The higher the compression the greater the iq loss.

Even the highest quality jpg is still about a quarter the size of the tiff files. I prefer the jpg for this reason.

A question though, why are you saving both? I did it for a brief time but never did anything with the extra files. My thinking was that it would make it easier to upload to Facebook and such but it didn't. I still needed to resize and crop so there was no advantage.

 

[JustJazzie]

The main difference is compression. The jpg format is compressed for a much smaller file size but you also lose image quality. The higher the compression the greater the iq loss.

Even the highest quality jpg is still about a quarter the size of the tiff files. I prefer the jpg for this reason.

A question though, why are you saving both? I did it for a brief time but never did anything with the extra files. My thinking was that it would make it easier to upload to Facebook and such but it didn't. I still needed to resize and crop so there was no advantage.

Thanks! I'll do jpeg then. I'm doing it for image backup. I'll save the raws that I want to manipulate, but keep the jpegs of snapshots and everything else. I also really like the jpg conversion my Nikon does, and I haven't been able to replicate it. When I switch to LR I think I can download a preset but not with aperture.that's the thought process anyways. Who knows if it will work for me or not!

 

[Didereaux]

Might I suggest a really, really nifty little app called 'JpegMini' drag and drop a jpg, or a whole folder into it and it shrinks the size at least 50% and NO detectable degradation(does NOT affect any other file type). So good I actually bought it ~$10 or so. I saw it mentioned on the forum a few months back. It is truly a great little product. Saves tons of HD space and makes uploads ot WEB much easier. And as I said there is NO noticable degradation to the image quality!!!!!

Just do a GOOGLE on JpegMini.

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

A high quality jpg is almost the same size as my raw files.

 

[JustJazzie]

Might I suggest a really, really nifty little app called 'JpegMini' drag and drop a jpg, or a whole folder into it and it shrinks the size at least 50% and NO detectable degradation(does NOT affect any other file type). So good I actually bought it ~$10 or so. I saw it mentioned on the forum a few months back. It is truly a great little product. Saves tons of HD space and makes uploads ot WEB much easier. And as I said there is NO noticable degradation to the image quality!!!!!

Just do a GOOGLE on JpegMini.

I'll look into it, thanks!

A high quality jpg is almost the same size as my raw files.

hmmm. I'll have to go look at file sizes now!

 

[Didereaux]

A high quality jpg is almost the same size as my raw files.

Best quality jpeg will be about 14-15mb from a 24mb RAW. This from a 20megpixel sensor. Jpegs ultimate size is determined by the number of same pixels that are contiguous. Example a shot of a clear blue sky will be much smaller than one of a busy street scene.



btw a TIFF will be almost identical in size to a RAW.

 

[KmH]

The size of any digital photo file type will vary with image content, not just JPEG.

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

A high quality jpg is almost the same size as my raw files.

Best quality jpeg will be about 14-15mb from a 24mb RAW. This from a 20megpixel sensor. Jpegs ultimate size is determined by the number of same pixels that are contiguous. Example a shot of a clear blue sky will be much smaller than one of a busy street scene.



btw a TIFF will be almost identical in size to a RAW.

Hmm. I just did a test on the below image because that's not what I've experienced in the past. I took the raw file from my NEX-7 which is a 23.9 MB file and saved it as a jpg at level 12 (highest quality) and it is 21.1 MB. Then I saved the same raw file as a tiff and it is 68.6 MB.

 

[Alexr25]

The size of any digital photo file type will vary with image content, not just JPEG.

Only if the file format uses some form of compression. The size of an uncompressed TIF file will only depend on the number of pixels and the pixel bit depth, plus a few bytes for the file header.

 

[Didereaux]

The size of any digital photo file type will vary with image content, not just JPEG.

That is just categorically wrong.

there are literally dozens, and dozens of technical articles explaining this. No, I will not...do your own search.

 

[480sparky]

That is just categorically wrong.

there are literally dozens, and dozens of technical articles explaining this. No, I will not...do your own search.

So all my NEFs should be the same size? Nope, they're not.

 

[Alexr25]

That's very observant of you. NEF files, and for that matter most raw format files are compressed so their size will vary with content. With NEF you can choose to have lossless compression or lossy compression but you can't choose to have the files uncompressed.