TIFF vs. JPG

[under water]

Not too sure if mult-gig cards are really needed for point and shoot subcompacts.... using my Canon I can easily go a whole weeks diving and still have plenty of room left (just using a 1 gig card).

If you have a Canon that does 'decent' video (640*480 * 30fps), you will use that 1 GB many times over and wish you had at least a 2GB card in it. Although it isn't HD Video, it's nice to take some U/W video every now and again.

 

[BurBunny]

You are still not getting it all. Yes, the original will not be affected, but by imediately saving it as a new file, you have imediately re-compressed it and thus imediately degraded the file you intend to work on.

Actually, when working on a .jpg, I recommend opening the original file, and doing an immediate save as a .psd or .tif file. THEN do your edits on the .psd or .tif. That way, there's no chance you'll make any destructive edits to your original file, and you can edit the .psd multiple times. When you're ready for final output, be it to put on the web, email or print, you convert the .psd (or .tif) to .jpg. That way, you've only compressed once after the camera. It's the way to best preserve your data.

 

[Charlie99]

Actually, when working on a .jpg, I recommend opening the original file, and doing an immediate save as a .psd or .tif file. THEN do your edits on the .psd or .tif. That way, there's no chance you'll make any destructive edits to your original file, and you can edit the .psd multiple times.

Of course, if one were serious about backups, the easiest, most reliable thing to do is to save the original images to a read-only media (CDR or DVD) or to an external USB HDD immediately after downloading them from the camera.

From the standpoint of operator error, making an immediate archival copy before deleting from the camera can be an easily remembered automatic routine; while remembering to do a "save as" when editing a file for the first time is a lot easier to forget.

I'm not that paranoid about my photos, so I don't bother with archival backups. While not as secure, what works for me is the "version set" function of the Photoshop Elements Organizer. My camera has a distinctive file naming sequence and I simply never save anything using that type of file name. The edited jpgs are obvious because PSE assigns the suffix "edited-1" after the base name.

The trick is to find a procedure that works for you, and to always follow it.

 

[Fastmarc]

Or if using PS3, do a lot of the adjustment using 'Camera Raw' (which in PS3 does other formats apart from raw). These adjustments do not trouble the original file and are saved seperately. Then you can send it over to PS for the final adjustments (sizing, etc.) and as long as you do a 'save as', the original file will be as it came out of the camera.