Re: [Leica] Digital Image File Formats

[Henry Ambrose <henryambrose@home.com>]

>GIF, JPG, TIFF, BMP, etc 
Of these 4 only TIFF is lossless. I would not use any of the others which 
all have problems such as reduced color gamut (range of colors they can 
contain) or other losses. I'm using native Photoshop format (.psd) RGB 
for photos in color or greyscale except for 4 color separations for 
printing then I use TIFF because it can be imported directly into page 
layout programs. Most of my digital camera stuff is this way (CMYK TIFF) 
then archived that way after the job is done.

There is also the issue of color spaces within Photoshop (assuming thats 
what you use) and the tagging of that space into image files. The biggest 
gamut color space is best for photos.

Some people even save their 12 or 16 bit scans since this gives more to 
work with later if needed.  I consider my 8 bit files to be final 
finished work, so thats what I archive. Either way is good.

And if we shot on film we can keep that saved as well!

Anyway you can't go wrong with TIFF and a big color space.

Henry Ambrose

>The current thread concerning the archival storge of digital images brings
>up another question:
>
>Which of the file formats currently available for the hobbyist (GIF, JPG,
>TIFF, BMP, etc) offers the greatest image quality and color rendition with
>the least loss of information?  I am making an assumption that stored file
>size isn't an issue, at least in regard to the answer to this question.
>
>For instance, I have been told that JPEG images, if uncompressed for
>editing and then recompressed, will lose information, but I've also heard
>that there is such a thing as a JPEG algorithm that doesn't lose
>information when uncompressed/recompressed.
>
>I know practically nothing about this as you can probably guess, so any
>information the members can provide will be helpful.  Also, if anyone can
>direct me to one or more web sites or documents that can provide me with
>enlightenment I will be grateful.
>
>TIA
>
>Dave Richards
>Littleton, Colorado, USA
>dprichards@qwest.net