Converting From RAW

[Statto]

Hello All


I hope you all had a very merry Christmas



Just a few of questions about RAW


Im using PSE7 to convert from RAW




My first question is this
When I convert a 10MP RAW file (Clicking on the 'open Image' button), It creates a file of about 55MP, wowser, what a size! Is this correct or am I doing something wrong?
Secondly....
If I resize the image in PSE7 so its A4 size (296mmx210mm), this only reduces the file size down to approx 33MP, this still seems massive to me
And thirdly......
Is there anyway to 'batch' convert more than one RAW at a time?

Cheers
Statto

Happy New Year

[dcclark]

Are you perhaps confusing megaPIXELS (MP) with megaBYTES (MB)?

MegaPIXELS measure the number of pixels in an image. A 10 MP file is a 10 MP file, whether it's a RAW file, a JPEG, or anything else. There are 10,000,000 pixels represented in that image.

MegaBYTES refers to the amount of disk space needed to save a file. It is related to -- but not the same as -- the number of megaPIXELS. More pixels require more bytes of disk space, but compression (for example, from saving as a jpeg) may make the file size vary a bit, depending on what's in the image.

Another possibility is that you're attempting to "resize" the image by setting the DPI/PPI to something high (such as 300 DPI), and then making photoshop resize the image. If you do this with the "resample" box checked, photoshop actually makes the image much larger (in number of pixels), but it has to invent new data to take up the space. This is pointless. Images do not have an inherent print size (8x10, etc.) -- they only have an number of pixels. Don't try to set the image's dimensions (8x10, 300 DPI, etc.) when converting, because that has nothing to do with the image itself.

[Statto]

Hi DCClark

Thanks for your reply

Yeah sorry when I said MP I did, as you rightly figured out, was refering to MB

Im still unsure how a 10MB RAW file, when opened in PSE7 jumps up to 55MB, where does the extra file size come from and what information do these extra bytes contain?

Cheers
Statto

[BabetteKD]

Here is a bach aw converter:
Mac and Windows version. Free from Adobe.

[teaking]

Im going to say with out actually knowing so its a guess here... that your extra file sizes are coming from compression the file is more than likely compressed lossless though being RAW. And when opened the data is loaded into memory and uncompressed when worked on.

When your saying the file when resized is still huge are you meaning the actual file once saved? as unless you are saving it to another file type it shouldn't be larger. Maybe you may want to think about changing the file size settings in camera, or even changing to JPEG if file size is an issue.

[WVCoalMiner]

Uhhhh if you are doing a batch convert from RAW to JPEG why not just shoot in JPEG if you are not going to PP the RAW files???

[dharmit]

Does the RAW file directly gets converted to TIFF instead of JPEG?

Normally TIFF files are heavier than RAW files and JPEGs are lighter (in terms of MB).

Hope this helps

[Statto]

Hello all,

Well on the face of it, it would seem that no one can answer my conundrum

Heres the exact work flow that I am going through

1) Take a Raw picture with a 10MB camera (sensor) (Sony A200)
2) This file is 10MB (as this is the size of the sensor) and is uncompressed at this time (as this is what I would belive from the info I have picked up from books/web)
3) Open Photo Shop Elements 7
4) Within PSE7 Editor select FILE -> OPEN and then double click on said raw file (Which is actually an .ARW file (this is Sonys RAW file extension))
5) This opens a secondary window (popup) which is PSE7's RAW editor
6) Without any modifications, click on the 'open image' button
7) This then opens the image in PSE7 editor and can now be saved as various compressed or non compressed files (JPEG2000, PNG, TIFF, BMP etc)
BUT
8) Without touching the image or saving the image, just going to IMAGE -> RESIZE -> IMAGE SIZE it tells me that the image is now either 28MB (if opened as 8 bit colour) or 54MB (if opened as 16 bit colour) (The bits per colour channel are selected in a drop down in the RAW editor window which popped open in number 5 above)

So there is my question, where do these extra bytes come from (From a 10MP raw file, without any modifications, to a 28MB file) and are they actually containing any usefull information?

There are lots of people on this site whom say the best results are gained from using RAW files, therefore someone must be able to follow my work flow and either answer my question or tell me what Im doing wrong.

Cheers
Statto

[Statto]

Originally Posted by WVCoalMiner

Uhhhh if you are doing a batch convert from RAW to JPEG why not just shoot in JPEG if you are not going to PP the RAW files???

Indeed, but what if I have 200 Raw files that need to be put straight onto DVD for imeadiate veiwing but can be 'tweaked' at a later date?

Have a look at my new reply in the thread, the one where I talk about my work flow and let me know where I am going wrong

Cheers
Statto

[Statto]

Originally Posted by dharmit

Does the RAW file directly gets converted to TIFF instead of JPEG?

Normally TIFF files are heavier than RAW files and JPEGs are lighter (in terms of MB).

Hope this helps

Hey,
Thanks for your reply but my answer to your question is, unfortunately no,

Ive posted my work flow, and as you will see, there isnt actually any saving of the file going on at the stage where the file size triples

Have you any other ideas

Cheers
Statto