| JPEG,
TIFF, or RAW ... Which should I Use?
by Darrell Young
username: darrellyoung
Nikonian in Tennessee, USA
tell
a friend about this article
|
INTRODUCTION
I just bought
a new digital camera!
I see that my new digital delight can take images in
several different formats. There’s JPEG mode, TIFF mode, or
even a mode called RAW.
Is one better than the other?
What differences will I see in the final images between
the three formats? Which will it be, JPEG, TIFF, or RAW?
|
|
|
Nikon
D1X, D1H, D100, D2Hs and D70s DSLRs |
The type of photography
YOU do weighs heavily on which mode you use. And, you may
want to use ALL the formats at one time or another.
Since your camera is flexible enough to shoot in multiple
formats, you shouldn’t be afraid to test them all. There are
pros and cons for each of them, and we’ll consider each below:
JPEG FORMAT
The
great majority of photographers use the JPEG image as their
primary image capture mode. This is mainly for the following
reasons:
- Maximum
number of images on camera and computer hard drive storage.
- Fastest
writes from camera memory buffer to memory card storage.
- Absolute
compatibility with everything and everybody in imaging.
- High-quality
first use images.
- No
special software needed to use the image right out of the
camera. (No post-processing)
- Immediate
use on websites with minimal processing.
- Easy
transfer across Internet, and as e-mail attachments.
If
you use JPEG as your primary image format, just be aware of
these facts.
- JPEG
is a "lossy" format, which means that it permanently
throws away image data from compression algorithm losses
as you select higher levels of compression.
- You
cannot use JPEG to manipulate an image more than once or
twice before it degrades to an unusable state.
- Every
time you modify and resave a JPEG image, it loses more data.
- May
not be as sharp out of the camera as TIFF or RAW modes,
due to initial camera compression.
| JPEG
image is capable of making marvelous images. The initial
image out of the camera is considerably smaller in file
size, and yet still yields an excellent image for web
use or printing. You simply cannot modify the image multiple
times without the image becoming unusable. Many photographers
work within this knowledge, and shoot exclusively JPEG
images. |
.. |
 |
|
