JPG / TIF

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Richard Oliver - 24 Apr 2006 07:11 GMT

Would someone please explain to me what the difference is between JPG
and TIF formats.
I notice on comparing the same picture saved in each of the two formats
that they seem to be equal in all aspects except the size of the
file,the JPG file being much smaller, and when comparing the two
pictures I cannot see any real difference in quality.
I assume that it is just a matter of compression.
Which format would give the better print quality or other result?
Eager to learn ---and thanks,Richard

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Robbie Wright - 24 Apr 2006 08:15 GMT

I am not exactly sure, but I believe I was told one time that is was
that the TIF file preserved the original colors (maybe) better -
probably better for printing.

My uncle only saves his scanned images as TIF files - I generally stick
to JPG to save space.

Now again, I am not 100% sure, and would actually like to have it
explained myself - unless I am right.

Hope this helps.

Robbie
---
http://www.myspace.com/waltermallard
http://www.myspace.com/rwrightmusic
http://www.myspace.com/brianmallard
http://www.myspace.com/luminousstudio

> Would someone please explain to me what the difference is between JPG
> and TIF formats.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> Which format would give the better print quality or other result?
> Eager to learn ---and thanks,Richard

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dj_nme - 24 Apr 2006 09:20 GMT

>>Would someone please explain to me what the difference is between JPG
>>and TIF formats.
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> Hope this helps.

Essentialy the difference is in the colour depth.
Jpeg images are limited to 24 bit/8 bits per channel of colour
information, where Tiff images can be saved in 48 bit/16 bits per
channel of colour information.
Printing the straight image with no editing, there will be little to no
difference between a tif or jpg of the same scene.
The real difference will be if go "pixel peeping" at 100% viewing size,
a 48 bit tif will look a bit smoother because of the greater number of
colours that it can show, although this is also limited by the ablity of
your monitor to display all of the colours accurately.

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cat - 24 Apr 2006 09:36 GMT

Also, JPEG uses lossy compression, which means you lose some of the
data each time you save, it is discarded in favour of smaller file
sizes. If you just save once and keep the image quality high (max. 12)
you will likely see little or no difference to a TIFF file, which saves
in lossless format - meaning none of the information is discarded, thus
resulting in higher file sizes.

As far as I know, TIFF is the prefered file type for printing since any
degradation of an image would be more noticable in a print. But if
saving simply for the web I see no problems with JPEG at all.

In an ideal world we would all have large enough hard drives to be able
to save a high quality TIFF copy and a high quality JPEG copy of each
image (I tried doing so myself for a while) but at 35mb a shot minimum
if space is at a premium it becomes unrealistic very quickly.

I think if you ever want to make a proper go of selling prints
professionally then you will want to invest in some serious storage to
have TIFF files of all your images, but otherwise don't worry.

Of course, this brings up the problem of what if you have already
converted all your files to JPEG? You can't then go back and make a
high quality TIFF file from them because information has already been
discarded and it will never be as good as it would have been had your
first ever save been a TIFF save. If you shoot RAW and know how to
replicate your final JPEG image then hold on to all the RAW files so
you can create a TIFF file when needed, but then they are pretty hefty
in size sometimes too, so why not just save a TIFF file at the
beginning? Gah! There are no easy answers - you have to do what is
right for you.

Cat
--------
http://snaps.catbc.com

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Stan Beck - 24 Apr 2006 13:11 GMT

What cat said is correct. jpg images makes the files smaller by throwing
away picture information. The more compression, the more information is
lost. Converting it back to tif will not restore the lost information.

Most cameras allow you to save in jpg or RAW. Older cameras allowed for
saving in tif. RAW and tif make bigger files. The best option I see, based
upon your concerns, is to save the original on a CD or DVD, untouched, as an
archive. Save a copy of that file as a tif, if you want to make edits,
because you can save a tif as often as you want without losing information.
You can always crop, edit and save in jpg format if you need to email it or
such.

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Stan Beck
From New Orleans to Brandon MS

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> >>Would someone please explain to me what the difference is between JPG
> >>and TIF formats.
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
> colours that it can show, although this is also limited by the ablity of
> your monitor to display all of the colours accurately.

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Richard Oliver - 24 Apr 2006 14:37 GMT

As always a wonderful response with all the info,Thank you all for the
effort!! Much appreciated,Richard

>Would someone please explain to me what the difference is between JPG
>and TIF formats.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>Which format would give the better print quality or other result?
>Eager to learn ---and thanks,Richard

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Eatmorepies - 24 Apr 2006 22:51 GMT

JPG is 8 bit and RAW to TIFF gives you 12 bit data.

Pull out the tonal range on an 8 bit file and you will find gaps in the
histogram. The 12 bit file is able to fill the gaps and give smoother
changes in tone.

For standard photos I use JPG but when the lighting is difficult or I feel a
competition print coming on I slip into RAW and convert to TIFF before post
processing.

John

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Stan Beck - 24 Apr 2006 23:33 GMT

Yep, but when you convert to tif, you might have a 12 bit format, but the
information is just 8 bit in a 12 bit format. However, converting the jpg
to tif for editing will produce a quite nice image if there was only minimum
compression to start with. You will likely not see a noticeable difference
in print quality in most cases.

Signature

Stan Beck
From New Orleans to Brandon MS

To reply, remove 101 from address.
***

>> Would someone please explain to me what the difference is between JPG
>> and TIF formats.
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> John

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philo - 24 Apr 2006 23:17 GMT

here is an important difference:
you may not notice any difference when viewing a .jpg or a .tif
but if you are editing...do *not* use the .jpg

you will loose quality by editing a .jpg
but you will not loose any quality of you just view if...
so always convert the .jpg to some other non-compressed format...such as
.tif if you do any editing.

but the .jpg is great for sending by email as it's a smaller file.
you can save your .tif as a .jpg if you are done editing

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Stan Beck - 24 Apr 2006 23:37 GMT

As far as I know, the jpg format is only in saved images and during the
saving process. If I'm not mistaken, the image is in memory and is not
affected during editing, but only experiences jpg compression and resulting
artifacts during the save process. I don't think editing a jpg file will
cause problems unless you save frequently while editing.

The safest thing would be to convert to tif before editing.

Signature

Stan Beck
From New Orleans to Brandon MS

To reply, remove 101 from address.
***

>> Would someone please explain to me what the difference is between JPG
>> and TIF formats.
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> but the .jpg is great for sending by email as it's a smaller file.
> you can save your .tif as a .jpg if you are done editing

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philo - 27 Apr 2006 00:56 GMT

> As far as I know, the jpg format is only in saved images and during the
> saving process. If I'm not mistaken, the image is in memory and is not
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> The safest thing would be to convert to tif before editing.

Yes, when you edit and save...the image is degraded...
convert to tif or other lossless format when editing

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