How do I export the MAX size TIFFs?

[kilad14]

I am using Lightroom 2.' on a Windows XP on a PC desktop. I'm shooting with a Nikon DSLR D8' in NEF (Nikon's RAW format). Each RAW files is about 7-9 megabytes. The D8' is 1' Megapixels.

When I import files and then save them as TIFFs, even if there has been no cropping and almost no color adjustments, the file is saved as 55 megabytes. In fact, even if there is cropping, Lightroom will export the TIFF at 55 megabytes.

I would like to save them as large as possible in order to print large files at high resolution.
Is there something I need to do with my import/export settings? If so, what should I do?

Basically my goal is to have largest possible file to work with and then to save as TIFF to get the most out my prints.

Thanks!!
Allen

 

[dj_paige]

Unless you have done some cropping ... Lightroom handles all of the pixels that came out of your camera. So when you export as a TIFF using default setting, you get all of those pixels.

If you print from within Lightroom, you also get a print using all of the pixels.

The 55 megabytes that a TIFF files contains does not represent the quality of your image, nor does it represent directly the number of pixels you have. Consider the 55 megabytes a meaningless number as far as photography is concerned.

 

[Mark Sirota]

If you choose TIFF and don't check the "Resize to fit" checkbox in the Image Sizing panel, you're getting the full size TIFF.

 

[Halfje-Bruin]

Select the proper color space for printing and 8-bit is probably enough also. That would save some space.

 

[Denis Pagé]

Image quality have no relation with file size! Only the number of pixels available count and we can call this resolution. Exception: Highly compressed JPEGs with same pixel count will loose quality.

But as Paige mentioned, by printing within Lightroom, there is no need to make a TIFF unless you want to soft proof in Photoshop for example...

 

[Replytoken]

I am using Lightroom 2.' on a Windows XP on a PC desktop. I'm shooting with a Nikon DSLR D8' in NEF (Nikon's RAW format). Each RAW files is about 7-9 megabytes. The D8' is 1' Megapixels.

When I import files and then save them as TIFFs, even if there has been no cropping and almost no color adjustments, the file is saved as 55 megabytes.

Allen,

Why are you importing and saving them as TIFF files? Import them as NEF or DNG files. Work on them in LR and then export into the format that is needed for the situation. I am not sure what you are gaining in the TIFF format unless you are sending them to a program like Photoshop.

--Ken

 

[Ruahrc]

When you want a MAX size TIFF, and say that it is 55MB, is this not satisfactory? Too high? Too low? FWIW I have a D8' too and exporting an uncropped NEF as a 16-bit TIFF does result in a filesize of like 57MB. It doesn't get any higher than that, unless you are stitching multiple frames together (which is what I was doing with my TIFFs). With an uncompressed format like TIFF, the picture dimensions will dictate the filesize, not the content. So your photograph at 3872x2592 will be (3872x2592)x(16 bits per channel x 3 channels) = 481,738,752 bits and 8 bits = 1 byte so 481,738,752/8=6',217,344 bytes which when computed in base-2 numbers is basically 57megabytes (similar to how a 3''GB hard disk is not actually 3''GiB of storage... base-1' vs base-2 issues). A similar TIFF of the same dimensions but only containing nothing but a white background would be the same filesize.

I print to an online print service, and pretty much all online print services only accept JPEG because sending back and forth 57MB TIFF files to print would drive bandwidth costs way too high. The point is though that a JPEG saved at maximum quality is nearly indistinguishable from an uncompressed TIFF, and what differences there are would only be a few pixels difference and will not be visible to the unaided eye in a print, especially considering that a print should be around 3'' pixels per inch. That is why using TIFF to print is not really worth it.

There might be something to be said about printing using a 16-bit source file (vs an 8-bit JPEG) but again the color gamut of printers is not as large as your monitor so even a 16-bit source file would be largely wasted anyways, provided you properly downsampled the 16-bit image into an 8-bit colorspace. I typically use AdobeRGB for mine and have never had a problem.

 

[dj_paige]

When you want a MAX size TIFF, and say that it is 55MB, is this not satisfactory? Too high? Too low? FWIW I have a D8' too and exporting an uncropped NEF as a 16-bit TIFF does result in a filesize of like 57MB. It doesn't get any higher than that

From the point of view of photographic quality, the file size is meaningless. You can't look at the number 55MB and say that's good or that's bad. You can only say the number 55mb is totally meaningless in determining the quality of your photo.

The quality of the photo depends on the number of pixels, and how good your capture was, and how it was edited and saved. You cannot determine the quality of the photo from the file size.

You can turn a .tif into a high-quality .jpg and print it and I agree that you cannot see the difference unless you are printing at very large sizes.

 

[Ruahrc]

Yeah I agree that a larger filesize does not necessarily mean a better picture, but I was pointing out that his 57mb tiffs from his d8' raw files is as large as they will get without upsampling.

Ruahrc