Re: raw files are HUGE

In article <i2nq13dd1t0lncp8kj6r7cvh5g8g6fnqbc@xxxxxxx>, John Bean
<waterfoot@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:38:08 -0400, ASAAR <caught@xxxxxx>
wrote:

On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 13:55:34 -0700, Ken Lucke wrote:

It's just not worth it - IMO, if you're going to be shooting (AND
keeping, including /keeping/ /track/ /of/) that many files, the slight
savings in disk space is not really *even* going to be a factor.

Besides, if they're compressed, you're not going to have a thumbnail
preview available to quickly look at them in the Finder or the Windows
browser (all you're going to have is the icon for whatever file type
they are), so you're going to have to decommpress them /just/ to see
what they are when trying to find one, if you don't use management
tools like Aperture or Lightroom - and you /can't/ use them if you are
using compressed files.

You may be right, but couldn't thumbnails be available in
uncompressed form even though the main image has been compressed?

The thumnail (and bigger preview) in most raw files is a
JPEG anyhow, so it's even more compressed than the raw data
;-)

Many raw files are a variant of TIFF, so the compression of
the image data is independent of the thumbnail(s) stored
elsewhere in the file. That's why a simple registry patch
for Windows to tell it that a NEF or a DNG is just a TIFF in
disguise results in Explorer showing thumbs for those files
despite having no idea what the raw data inside the file
actually represents, compressed or not.

I don't think you understand. If you compress ANY file into a .zip,
..sit, .rar, .sitx, or whatever, the file then becomes that file type,
until uncompressed again. Any emmbedded preview, thumbail, or other
data is all compressed right along with the rest of the data, and thus
is not accessible to the OS to display. Unless you specifically
generate (taking the extra time, CPU cycles, and knowledge to do so) a
custom icon/thumbnail for each and every file, it shows up in the
operating system as the generic icon for that type of compressed file.

--
You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a
reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating
the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for
independence.
-- Charles A. Beard
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Leica M8 review on Luminous-Landscape
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    (rec.photo.digital)
  • Re: Sonys new DSLR RAW files small
    ... have it set for uncompressed RAW files, you have the option to compress ... For reason or reasons unknown Nikon chose to implement a lossy compression ...
    (rec.photo.digital.slr-systems)
  • Re: Sonys new DSLR RAW files small
    ... have it set for uncompressed RAW files, you have the option to compress ... What would be the point of lossy RAW file? ... For reason or reasons unknown Nikon chose to implement a lossy compression ...
    (rec.photo.digital.slr-systems)
  • Re: Leica M8 review on Luminous-Landscape
    ... compression of raw data before storage. ... was apparently to achieve smaller raw files. ... It enables the raw file for a 10 MP camera to be 10 MB ... Have you seen examples comparing lossy with lossless raw format on a camera that has both options? ...
    (rec.photo.digital)
  • Re: Sonys new DSLR RAW files small
    ... Maybe among the things it can do is fast lossless ... This has allowed Sony to apply a lossless compression very efficiently, but my contacts working on raw files comment that this format is very prone to data corruption. ...
    (rec.photo.digital.slr-systems)