converting raw photos

david156 · #1 (**permalink**) 23-11-2009, 07:43 PM

Hi all wab photo tec heads.

As i'm new to this photography game i need a little information. I shoot my pictures in raw which I edit on canon DPP. I then convert and save to jpeg. I also resize and then convert and save the smaller image if the picture is used on this site or emailed anywhere. I have notice when i convert and save that i have a choice of saving as jpeg, tiff 8bit or tiff 16bit.
Whats the differance and which would produce the best pictures if they are printed?
Any information would be greatly recieved by this novice.

David

glsammy · #2 (**permalink**) 23-11-2009, 10:24 PM

Tiff is the uncompressed format, which means no loss when saved. It's usually best to first save your RAW file as Tiffs, and from there save further copies as JPEG for whatever purpose you want. The problem with Jpegs is that every time you save or alter the file the quality will drop, having your Tiff file means you can always get back to the shot with all the detail available. What you will notice is that the Tiff file will be huge, bigger than the original RAW file.
Personally I hardly ever shoot with RAW as I don't do anything other than post a JPeg file onto a few web sites and I rarely print.

Trik · #3 (**permalink**) 23-11-2009, 11:02 PM

.tiffs can be compressed (but not in DPP) and, even then, are lossless. When compressed, the files are still larger than .jpg though. I always save as 8bit .tiffs.

david156 · #4 (**permalink**) 24-11-2009, 06:02 AM

HI thanks for info.
Is it best to print from jpeg or tiff, or won't there be any noticable differance?

David

JeffH · #5 (**permalink**) 24-11-2009, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by david156

HI thanks for info.
Is it best to print from jpeg or tiff, or won't there be any noticable differance?
David

I always print from tiffs but, depending on the amount of fine detail in the photo, you probably won't notice any discernible difference between prints from tiffs and jpegs in sizes up to A4. At A3 the differences become more obvious and at A2 and larger it really has to be tiffs

Jeff

Trik · #6 (**permalink**) 24-11-2009, 02:58 PM

I thought that it would depend on what dpi you convert at from RAW, but as I only ever use jpegs for online and never print from them because of the possibility of jpeg artifacts showing up, I cannot speak from experience.

Geoff F · #7 (**permalink**) 24-11-2009, 08:00 PM

As others have already remarked, if you have sufficient space on your hard drive, save as a 16 bit Tiff so there is no chance of any details being lost. Then resize and save as a Jpeg with suitable compression for internet use, but keep the original as a Tiff. And print from that after doing any required resizing on a copy; never resize the original.

Canon DPP is OK for basic editing but if you have a more complete editing programme just do any basic corrections like WB corrections then convert to Tiff and continue editing elsewhere.

I did find DPP a bit complicated to set up the Batch Conversion and save to my specified file but I got the hang of things eventually.

Now I've got a better editing programme which converts individual Raw files to Tiff then automatically switches to full editing mode which saves a bit of time.

acherontia · #8 (**permalink**) 27-11-2009, 06:05 PM

External hard drives have gone down in price from a few years ago. You can get 500 gig for a reasonable amount - extra space + backup. that way you can save a good variety - if you want to.

Acher

dunlin · #9 (**permalink**) 27-11-2009, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by david156

Hi all wab photo tec heads.

As i'm new to this photography game i need a little information. I shoot my pictures in raw which I edit on canon DPP. I then convert and save to jpeg. I also resize and then convert and save the smaller image if the picture is used on this site or emailed anywhere. I have notice when i convert and save that i have a choice of saving as jpeg, tiff 8bit or tiff 16bit.
Whats the differance and which would produce the best pictures if they are printed?
Any information would be greatly recieved by this novice.

David

I dont know which program you save the tiffs to. I use photoshop and if i save the pictures as 16bit files a lot of the editing tools wont work so i save them as 8 bit tiff files and print pictures from them.
regards mark.........

dunlin · #10 (**permalink**) 27-11-2009, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acherontia

External hard drives have gone down in price from a few years ago. You can get 500 gig for a reasonable amount - extra space + backup. that way you can save a good variety - if you want to.

Acher

I picked a 1tb hard drive up from maplins pretty cheap. I think its called a seagate or something like that, i was told it was a good one.
I cant see me filling it up if i live to be a 100 but since i got it and loaded everything on my computers speed has improved.
cheers mark........