 Robert F. Walker |
Digital File Formats When buying a digital camera, what should I look for as far as file formats are concerned? I am a "Digital Dummy" at this point and am trying to understand all the technical language, like RAW, TIFF, JEPG, resolution, megipixals, etc. I want to be able to take images and file them on a Web site and email, but also be able to make prints and enlarge ones I really enjoy. Can I get a good point-and-shoot digital, or should I go for a digital SLR for my first digital camera?
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Maverick Creatives |
Hello Robert - Simple version: RAW is normally used for images that will be enlarged. You will get the RAW file converter software with a digital camera that is capable of shooting in this mode. It is a very large file and takes up a lot of space on your card (fewer images). Professionals probably use RAW quite often, but I find it unnecessary. I can get good enlargements shooting at high resolution and converting files in a TIFF format ... TIFF is the second largest file size and is recommended for its color print matching capability. JEPG is the smallest (compressed) and is excellent for email and Web pages. You can get good enlargements with JEPG files also. If you are new to digital photography but have a good basic knowledge of film SLRs, then you will have no problem adapting. Light is light. However, if you are unfamiliar with photography, then prepare to spend some time learning (books, coursed, friends). there are many good fixed-lens cameras out there - too many, actually - and that is what makes it difficult to choose. Ask at your local camera store or search for information at this site.
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Scott Pedersen |
Id just keep it simple unless there is a specific reason you want to work with TIFF and RAW files. Get a nice 5mp camera and shoot in jpg. Head over to pentaximaging and check out their cameras. They have some new ones out. Bear in mind that those really high end consumer cameras are just a little under what you can buy a digital slr body for. At that point that is where I would go.
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Vince Warwick |
The first question which file format? RAW is classed as the digital negative on Digital cameras these as said above use a large amount of disk space BUT! they will never lose the quality of the image. TIFF will not lose its image quality but again as above the image can be large to load to a WEB site. JPG will lose its quality every time you make an adjustment to the image (Image-Loss) so if you keep modifying you images this will start to lose quality for your inlargments. Most software applications will convert JPG to TIFF or TIFF to jpg. Most good cameras will save as RAW which is the format that I shot in all the time and use the camera software for correction and enhancments. Second question Point-And-Shot or DSLR? If you can afford it buy a DSLR buy it, point and shot cameras are good BUT you wont get the lens selection as good as a DSLR. If you get into photography you'll kick yourself not buying a camera which will become frustrating when you what those certain images and buying an upgrade later on. It's all down personal preference and budget. Hope this helps. Vince
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Kevin Burns |
JPEG is the image compression method most widely used by digital cameras. JPEG stands for “Joint Photographic Experts Group”. The people who developed the original code. Because of its ability to reduce file size with a negligible degree of deterioration, JPEG has become the standard for saving and compressing digital images. JPEG is a very efficient method and preserves colors well. It accommodates both 8-bit and grayscale and 24-bit color images. JPEG rearranges or deletes pixels to reduce the size of digital images. The resulting compressed images take from 2% to 50% of the space they would have taken up if they where uncompressed. As you can see, compressing files to JPEG results in great savings of space on memory cards and hard drives. However, since JPEG is a lossy compression scheme, each time that an image is compressed using JPEG, there is a corresponding decrease in resolution. Every time a photographer “EDITS” or resaves a JPEG file, the quality of the image deteriorates. Because of the pixel elimination that happens during JPEG compression, The decompressed image is not going to be identical to the original. One great advantage of JPEG is you can control the degree of compression. For instance, with some image-editing software, such as photo Shop, you can compress JPEG files in a variety of preset levels, ranging from maximum to low, thereby altering the resulting quality of the image. You will be able to determine how you want to balance file size with image quality. Using low compression/high quality settings will give you bigger files but better images. High quality images look better, even at lower resolutions. And since you have more pixels to play with, they provide better results when used with an image editing program. TIFF When a JPEG is saved on the hard drive the image on the screen is a copy of the file and not the real image. When you “edit the image and resave the image” the original is overwritten or overburned resulting in the loss of image. This would take around 1000 opens to actually see a change. I have saved JPEG and edited them over and over and the loss is not seen at all. I have saved JPEG for years open and saving them tons of times.
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GARY FESPERMAN |
Hi Robert Some good advice from Kevin B. I shoot with Digital Slr's and ZLR's ( high end point and shoots ) I use Nikon cameras. example of ZLR would be Nikon 5700, 8700, 8800. All these cameras have the choice of shooting JPEG, TIFF, and RAW formatts. I find JPEG, and RAW to be the most usefull. Most Raw files are slightly smaller than TIFF files, as they contain no in camera processing of color, contrast ect. Use RAW for Your best photos or when you have time to make corrections after shooting. I shoot many of my photos in Fine JPEG, and save them as TIFF after they have been shot and before they are edited. This speeds up the shooting process, where time is important. As both RAW and TIFF take extra time in camera processing, and in the photo software process.Converting JPEGS to TIFF helps to preserve the resolution of your Images. As for shooting RAW you have many Great bennifits including the choice of saving as 8 bit TIFF, or 16 bit TIFF. Best of shooting*** Gary
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Kevin Burns |
I can not take credit for my post. Author- Elizabeth T. Scoch. Last paragraph laymans term.
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Nicky Trainor |
I'm really computer illiterate so please excuse me, but do you know how to make TIFF images smaller (if there's any way at all)? - I'm not able to upload them onto BP, only as JPEG which hasn't looked great. Thanks for any input. - Nicky
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Kevin Burns |
Turn it into a jpeg and resize then convert back to tiff. I upload jpegs and see no change at all I upload jpeg's at 206Dots Per Inch as a rule.
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Nicky Trainor |
How do I convert back to TIFF?? - Nicky
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Kevin Burns |
After you resize as a jpeg click, save as, then select tiff after the size change. tiff* will be in the drop down menue when you save as.
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Kevin Burns |
The Quary and Work Horse In my gallery is a jpeg. looks the same as a tiff. read discussion. A tiff should be saved and used when working on the image, and a jpeg used for the internet. I could care less what others say!! Work on images in tiff then use them as jpeg!!
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Kevin Burns |
I shoot fine jepg just like, GARY FESPERMAN with great results. I up-load in jpeg and have hi speed cable internet.
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Nicky Trainor |
OK, I re-saved the JPEG as TIFF. The JPEG did not resizing, and I WAS able to upload as TIFF, so I think it worked. The quality looks a little better (unless I'm just seeing things!) Thanks for the help. - Nicky
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Kevin Burns |
What ever The jpeg did not resize and the tiff looks better.
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