Digital Cameras And JPEG Files

While it is true that most consumer digital cameras save images as JPEG by default, it is usually not your only option. Todays cameras are much more sophisticated and memory is cheap.

Digital camera users should click through all of their camera's settings. Most will find that their camera has the ability to save pictures as "RAW", "TIFF", and possibly "BMP" or "PICT". Unless your camera is more than 5 years old, you should have at least one of these options.

I have listed the possible format options in order of picture quality. Typically, the higher the quality of the image, the larger the file size. You will see a sgnificant decrease in the number of images you will be able to store on your camera's memory card based on which format option you choose.

While the RAW format gives the best quality, not all computer programs are able to read them. They are not compressed at all, and the file size is very large. This may not be your best option, unless you intend to use sophisticated software to manipulate the image and save in another file format later.

I submit that it is best to save images taken with your camera, or even scanned imges, as TIFF files. This file format can be read by nearly every graphics, word processing, and layout program. The file size is smaller than that of the RAW file, while providing professional quality.

This file type can also provide compression without losing any data. Unlike the JPEG format, which is the least desirable, unless the pictures taken will only be used on the web, and it doesn't matter if some of the quality is lost.


-- Andy

When To Use The JPEG Format

The .jpg or .jpeg, pronounced jay-peg, is the most commonly used file type extension for images on, and off, the web. But, the .jpg format was not meant for everything, and originally was to be used for web only photographs.

Digital camera companies first used this format for saving camera images, because, if you couldn't have saved but a few images to your storage card, you probably would not have bought the camera.

The format JPEG, Joint Photographic Experts Group, was introduced to the world in 1992 for use on the web to compress files for transfer, and can compress files as much as 10:1. This compression does not come without a price. Images saved as jpeg lose part of the detail each time they are resaved. This may not matter for images that are only viewed on the web, but is very important for images intended for print.

Photographs for web benifit the most from jpeg compression, allowing them to be downloaded much more quickly. While photos meant for print, should be saved primarily as RAW or TIFF. They may also be saved as PNG, PICT or BMP. Vector images, like line drawings or illustrations, do not take advantage of jpeg compression and should be saved as GIF files.

I have worked in higher education and graphic design for over 15 years. It is frustrating when a student returns from a once in a lifetime trip abroad to find that their photographs do not have the resolution to be printed at the size they wish. Since storage media has become so cheap, it is wise to only use the JPEG format for files to be used only on the web.


Subscribe to RSS Feed