8 or 16 Bits....

[almo]

Which should I save my converted RAW files to? I have been saving as 8 bit TIFF files, but I noticed that I can save at 16 too. Would I get any real benefit from 16 bits or should I stick with the smaller 8bit files, which would be better for me storage wise?

TIA

[Peter_AUS]

Almo save the file as 16 bit tiff as you will get more information in the file to work with.

[Franglais]

Which should I save my converted RAW files to? I have been saving as 8 bit TIFF files, but I noticed that I can save at 16 too. Would I get any real benefit from 16 bits or should I stick with the smaller 8bit files, which would be better for me storage wise?

TIA

OK maybe this is just me being dumb but I don't have TIFF anywhere in my Workflow. What are you doing with the TIFF files?

Charles

[dmm96452]

OK maybe this is just me being dumb but I don't have TIFF anywhere in my Workflow. What are you doing with the TIFF files?...

What do you convert from RAW to? TIFFs are not compressed and so there is no loss of info on the shot when compared to saving as a JPEG.

I use the TIFFs for prints. I had prints made of the same shot at 8x10 as a TIFF and JPEG for comparison and the TIFF was definitly sharper.

[Franglais]

What do you convert from RAW to? TIFFs are not compressed and so there is no loss of info on the shot when compared to saving as a JPEG.

I use the TIFFs for prints. I had prints made of the same shot at 8x10 as a TIFF and JPEG for comparison and the TIFF was definitly sharper.

JPG is compressed but there are different degrees of compression from 1 (highly compressed = maximum data loss) to 10 (minimum loss). I only use compression 8-10 and I have never been able to see any difference between a JPG and a TIFF.

Consider the file sizes (example from my D70):

Original 12-bit NEF (RAW): 5.5MB
8-bit TIFF: 17.7MB
16-bit TIFF: 35.3 MB
JPG fine: 1.5MB

Going from the original 12-bit NEF to an 8-bit TIFF you lose data but you multiply the file size by more than 3. My question is - why do this?

Charles

[dmm96452]

...I only use compression 8-10 and I have never been able to see any difference between a JPG and a TIFF. ...

Interesting..I used the least compression for the JPEG in my little test and saw a noticable difference...

...Going from the original 12-bit NEF to an 8-bit TIFF you lose data but you multiply the file size by more than 3. My question is - why do this?...

I wouldn't. I save them all as 16-bit TIFF.

After you have compressed a file (even with minimal compression) there is no getting the lost data back. I'd rather have the highest possible file size available and break it down for posting or email or whatever then have to go back to the original RAW if I need a high res or bit level output for some reason.

[drg]

almo,

Save the RAW, and if you want to save what you've done in post processing, save the PSD format from your flavor of Photoshop (Elements, 7, C2, etc.). The PSD is lossless and retains the steps you applied to get the final image. Or if you don't want to save those or are not using an editor that retains incremental information, you can save as a TIFF the final result of your edit (from cropping to layers etc.) and then use a lossless file compressor to archive the information. RAW files are already lossless and have a compression scheme as part of their format.

TIFF's in 16 bit can be huge! They do have significantly more color information at times. If you are already saving RAW, unless there is an edited version you want to retain as perfectly as possible, there's no real reason to save the TIFF files. You may want to use them as an intermediate step during the adjustment process.

The one advantage you may find to TIFF in one step of a process would be if you have an application that needs the most data possible to work properly. This might be a standalone noise reduction or resizing program. Again, this is if it isn't integrated into something like an Adobe Photoshop program.

[SmartWombat]

TIFF is preferred over JPEG, because of its lossless compression.
After you've converted form RAW and then edited a few times, saving as JPEG will result in a loss of qualityeach time you open/edit/save the file.
JPEG is fine for web pages, desktops and so on.
It's even OK for prints at 18"x12".
But you will get better quality form a lossless TIF file.

Which is why the agency I'm going to join want TIF files.
Particularly for printed publication, often 45MB is the minimum size.