Someone posted this saying it would be a good comparison to a d700 image quality and will help save space. How do you do this? Is it done pre or post processing? I didnt know you can 'downsize' the megapixel of a RAW image. Someone please explain in layman's terms.

It's done in post processing. If you have a program that lets you change the image size and then save the changed image, that's downsizing. It will not only save space but it will improve the noise.

In Adobe photoshop this is the screen I use to downsize an image. I mostly use it to prepare photos for posting on the forums as there are size constraints when posting.



Len

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Attachment #1, (jpg file)

ah cool..ok thanks for that!..makes sense now.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you now have to delete the original files which were the large ones. And, if that is the case, then you might have 500 huge files that have to be deleted after you have downsized those huge files to small files. Maybe it would just be easier to buy a 3T drive. What do you think?

jP

You don't have to delete it but it will be written over if you save it with the original file name. However I don't touch the original file but just change the downsized file name to something else. I end up with two files now. The original is left intact.

edit: My reason for downsizing files is not to save disk space. Storage is cheap now. I remember many years ago spending $1000 for a 200 meg drive. In those days I only used SCSI drives as they were more reliable then IDE.
Len

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Len

I edited my post while you were posting. What do you think?

jP

I edited mine too. Funny.

Len

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So, if you Len and I are on the same page, you are not going to save disk space by downsizing your file in post. Instead, you are going to have one large file and one downsized file. So, once again, if I am correct, and I don't know that I am, you should just get a 3T or larger hard drive and don't worry about it.

jP

jP, I don't downsize many files, mostly only for posting. After posting I'll delete the file. I do my sorting and deleting on the camera disk while in the card reader and then make a directory on one of my external drives and copy everything over. I have 4 external drives on my Mac G5 tower and 1 on my Macbook Pro. I'm looking at a 2T firewire 800 drive. My external drives are all Firewire 800. What I like about Firewire is I can run a whole bunch of drives in series using only one port. It's time to upgrade my G5 to a new Intel Mac since all the new software only runs on Intel machines. That's why I picked up a fast Intel based Macbook. My D3X raw files will only run on Adobe CS5 and CS5 will only run on an Intel machine. I can still use NX2 on the G5 but the Macbook loads files about 3 to 4 times faster. At this point I probably won't be getting a D800. My D3X gives me everything I want plus some. I don't do video and I don't need ISO's above 6400. I don't need any higher resolution then what the D3X gives me.

Len

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