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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> Should I shoot TIFF instead of JPEG?
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 04/25/2006 06:56:21 PM · #1
I have a 3MP camera which can capture images in JPEG and TIFF modes. I usually shoot JPEG because I can get 150 shots on one memory card. But since registering here at DPC and reading about editing, etc... I am wondering if I should shoot in TIFF format to improve image quality? At least when I'm considering editing the photo and entering a DPC challenge? is the captured TIFF image higher quality than a captured JPEG image?

Any advice is most appreciated.
 04/25/2006 06:59:22 PM · #2
If you are going to edit the pics than yes... definitely shoot in TIFF. There is no compression with TIFF files and the quality does not degrade as you re-save the image.
 04/25/2006 07:03:18 PM · #3
There can often be tradeoffs when shooting TIFF with some cameras. For example my Olympus won't do burst mode or bracketing mode when set to record as TIFFs.
 04/25/2006 07:09:35 PM · #4

While it is true that a tiff is a lossless file type, it doesn't always mean it's going to have better quality than a jpeg. There are other factors that come into play.

If your exposure and color balance are close to perfect and if the image you shot is within the lattitude of the sensor, a jpeg can give every bit as good a quality as a tiff (or raw file for those of us that shoot raw) can. The thing to do when up download your jpeg file into your computer and open it up in Photoshop (or what ever editor you use)is to save it as a tiff file. You won't get any loss the first time you do this and you won't get any loss each time you open and save while it's a tiff. Actually, you can open and save a jpeg file a bunch of times before any type of degradation starts to appear and maybe affects your image. So a jpeg isn't as fragil as some people think.

With exposure, color balance and lattitude all equal, shooting in jpeg will give you a smaller file, which means you can clear your buffer in the camera faster, download to your computer faster and take up less disk space on your computer. So there are advantage to shooting in jpeg.

I shoot almost 100% in raw and convert to 16 bit tiff. So my 6 to 8 meg raw file can end up being a 32 meg or bigger file after I convert it. Sometimes I take 1000 to 1500 images a day at events. I use up a lot of disk space. But I need the flexibility raw gives me to over come some of my exposure and lattitude problems I run into.

A lot just depends on how and what you shoot.

Mike
 04/25/2006 07:09:51 PM · #5
Originally posted by JayWalk:
If you are going to edit the pics than yes... definitely shoot in TIFF. There is no compression with TIFF files and the quality does not degrade as you re-save the image.


...as long as you continue to save the file as TIFF.
 04/25/2006 07:12:01 PM · #6
There are both compressed and uncompressed versions of the TIFF format. The compression for TIFF files is always lossless, so image quality does not degrade upon repeated open/edit/save/close cycles, as it does with JPEG. If you use the highest JPEG quality and don't repeatedly open/edit/save/close, you will likely see VERY little difference between a TIFF and JPEG workflow. You will, however, incur a very significant storage penalty. Most cameras that write TIFF files write uncompressed TIFFs, meaning that the file uses a full three bytes for each pixel. A 3.0Mpx camera will write a TIFF file that's 9 megabytes, compared to large/high-quality JPEGs which should be under 2 megabytes.
If the much larger files are not a problem for you, then there's little downside to TIFF, but there's also relatively little upside unless you repeatedly edit.
 04/25/2006 07:21:40 PM · #7
Originally posted by EarlBaker:
Any advice is most appreciated.

My camera can record either .jpg or .tiff formats. In addition to taking up a lot more disk space it take a huge amount of time to record and save the image. I closely compared the output and, though there is a VERY slight improvement in quality, virtually all differences are completely overwhelmed during post processing. So I stay with .jpg.

Message edited by author 2006-04-25 19:22:01.
 04/25/2006 07:25:57 PM · #8
With the Panasonic DMC-FZ3 you can't machine gun it (take a lot of pictures quickly) in TIFF mode. I usually have it set on jpeg. As it can easily fit inside my jacket pocket and I could just pull it out and shoot quickly.

The only time I would use TIFF is when I take a picture of friends, or something that I have time to set up a tripod for. Usually something that I would print. Otherwise I normally leave it on jpeg.
 04/25/2006 07:27:08 PM · #9
Thank you all for the very quick replies. It seems that the key may be saving the files in psd (or other lossless) format after I get them on my computer and editing from psd rather than jpeg? It sounds like that is a bigger issue than the format I shoot the original in.
 04/25/2006 07:30:37 PM · #10
Originally posted by faidoi:
With the Panasonic DMC-FZ3 you can't machine gun it (take a lot of pictures quickly) in TIFF mode. I usually have it set on jpeg. As it can easily fit inside my jacket pocket and I could just pull it out and shoot quickly.


I love some features of my camera. The machine gunning is great, as is the small size and light weight. The zoom lens is amazing. I do admit to wishing for more MP at times, and the lack of a manual focus is a problem in some situations. But overall it has been a great first digital camera to learn with.
 04/25/2006 07:44:08 PM · #11
I tried the TIFF thing with my camera (FZ4) and to me, it makes little to no difference from JPEG that I can tell at least. Like kirbic said, you can't repeatedly edit the files or else the image will degrade. I usually only open and edit the picture once and get it to the point I want it to be at that time. I just leave mine set on the largest picture size and the highest quality and just shoot JPEG. That way, you can get the most pictures with very little difference in image quality.
 04/25/2006 08:58:17 PM · #12
Originally posted by faidoi:
With the Panasonic DMC-FZ3 you can't machine gun it...


AKA Burst mode. ;)
 04/25/2006 09:19:10 PM · #13
As many have pointed out, you loose a little quality each time you re-save in JPEG mode. But you loose the most on the first few saves. So if you always use the highest-quality JPEG mode (both in-camera and during editing) and your image looks fine after three or four recompressions, it won't look that different after 100. This has to do with how JPEG works. It tries to get rid of redundant information and after each compression there's simple less information to get rid of, and therefore less quality to loose.
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