How Do You Save Your File

[Guy]

I've run into a problem because the software I use doesn't support Canons 40D RAW format. I have no idea when they will and because of that I'm forced to use Canons " Digital Photo Professional " to convert my files to either jpg or tiff. The problem I have is that the software converts them to such a small physical size. For example if I convert ( @ 600dpi ) one to jpg it's default size is 6.480" X 4.32" with a pixel size is 3888 x 2592 according to Corel PSPX2. I know I can convert them to whatever size I want but that's the stumbling block.

Here's a few questions maybe someone can assist with.....

- What size in inches & / or pixels is ideal to convert them to tiff's or jpg's if I intend to keep 'em?
- What do you do with your files assuming you use Canons " Digital Photo Professional " to convert them.

[Paul S]

DPI is irrelevant until you print. Convert to the camera's native resolution (3888x2592) any any DPI you like. If you want to up/down sample, do it in Photoshop.

A 3888x2592 image is (as you say) 6.48"x4.32" at 600 dpi. If you change the dpi to 100, it's now 38.88"x25.92", but--and here's the important part--the image data is exactly the same. The only thing that changed was a metadata tag. And that tag is easily changed in Photoshop.

The only time I ever even care what the DPI setting is for an image is when I am printing. On my Epson, I like to use 288 or 360 (both evenly divide into the printer's native 1440) Some printers prefer 300. But to get an 8x12 image at 288 dpi, the resolution needs to be 3456x2304, which is not exactly the same as the camera's resolution. This is when resampling comes into play. I think PS will do a better job of this then DPP, or at least it gives me more control over it. I do all my editing at the camera's native resolution and resample only for producing output. A web image needs to be downsized a lot, of course. Note that for web display, some people say to use 72 dpi, but the truth is that DPI is not used by any web browser--they simply display the image at whatever resolution it has (1 pixel in the image equates to 1 pixel on the screen).

On your second point, I used DPP for all my conversions until I got CS3, and now I use ACR. (I used to do my image editing in PS Elements.) There's nothing wrong with DPP and the newest version has some neat features that include very specific distortion corrections for certain Canon lens/camera combinations. If you use a 16 bit workflow, set the output format to 16 bit TIF; otherwise set it to 8 bit TIF. (I forget-DPP might use the names 48 bit/24 bit instead--16 bits per channel is 48 bits overall.) Don't output to JPEG if you're going to do any editing on it at all.

-Paul

[Guy]

Hi Paul....
I appreciate your reply. It's given me some info I wasn't aware of and I'm digging a bit deeper into it. Google is my friend...


Don't output to JPEG if you're going to do any editing on it at all.
-Paul

I don't want to take up a pile of your time but it would be great if you could expand on your point a bit. Specifically.. What do you consider the best file type to save in and a very short comment as to why. To help a bit I should advise that I have broken down and purchased Adobe Photoshop Elements 6. I liked my Corel software because I've been using their stuff for years and became very familiar and comfortable with it. The switch was made because Adobe's products seem to be the standard and it's a lot easier to get info on. It isn't nearly as user friendly and I know I'll have to give it time but considering the weather I seem to have lots of it.

Once again.. Thanks.
Guy

[Rudi]

I'm not Paul, but for archival purposes I only save my RAW files (converted to DNG), otherwise TIF or PSD (since you can save the layers, and both can be saved in non-destructive ways, with or without compression).

[Roger]

Photo shop and save for web after I have edited it.

Or, use something like IrfanView to convert your files to Jpeg.

[gene_mtl]

Guy - I use PaintShop Pro (PSP) v9 as my image editor. It knows nothing about RAW files. From what I've been told by other PSP users even the later versions are next to worthless handling RAW images.

I was lucky enough to have been able to download the free Raw Shooter Essentials (RSE) when it was available. So when I got my Canon 5D earlier this year I played with it and DPP. FWIW I liked RSE better than DPP but both did about the same.

After making the tweaks to White Balance & Exposure, I'd export as a TIFF. It was the TIFF I brought into PSP for final editing. (Histogram, clarify to improve local colour, saturation tweaks, Noise reduction if required, and finally sharpening (USM))

Because I would use layers for some of the processes, I save my modified files as pspimage files. After all was done, I'd convert to JPEG for my website (smugmug) and for sharing in newsgroups & forums.

I retain the original RAW (my negative). I retain the edited PSPimage (my slide). I have a JPEG version (my print) on my website. Probably overkill, but so far it works for me. <smile>

I recently purchased Adobe Lightroom**. I really like the work flow. And the power! I am slowly discovering what it can truly do.

[** I was able to do so as my wife, working at a local university, was eligible for the academic version which was a third the retail price. Otherwise, I'd still be using RSE & DPP. <smile>]



Re: "Do not output to JPEG if you're going to do any editing" JPEG is a lossey file format; repeatedly save a jpeg without doing anything to it and you should see the image degrade after several saves. TIFF is a lossless file format. You can edit, save, re-edit, re-save several times with no loss to image quality. (FWIW, the PSP file format is also lossless)

Hope all this babbling helped in some way.

[Paul S]

Okay, I didn't check back in a while, but...

The reason I said not to use JPEG if you're going to edit the file is that JPEG is a lossy compression algorithm. If you want to shoot JPEG and you use the highest quality setting, you'll get a decent file (if all your camera settings are correct--this is once place where RAW is so much better, since a lot of the settings can be changed after the fact). But if you take that file, edit it and resave it, you reduce the quality. Every time you resave a JPEG file, the quality goes down as it recompresses the data. If you want to shoot JPEG (and I don't recommend it), but also want to edit your files, make all future saves in a lossless format (TIFF or PSD). Then when you want to make a final web image, you can go back to JPEG (but don't overwrite your original).

-Paul