Tiff compatibility
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:20 am
As a 'possible new user' of XnView I must say that to me it looks like a great program. Fast, clear and easy to understand, in fact with an almost human interface <big>.
But what struck me is the lack of the possibility to edit IPTC information for the Tiff format.
I already have heard all of the arguments to 'forget about Tiff', wich varies from "it is very difficult to implement it" on to "why store them in tiffs, I allways strongly advise to archive files in Jpegs because they are much smaller" . Especially the last one is absolutely don't make sense to me.
The important files you store are are 'motherfiles'. You store the original file because of the possibility to make some different corrections in the future. It can be RAW and/or Jpeg, some camera's can't deliver other formats. Or it can be Tiff.
A Tiff file can be processed in 16-bit modus. A Jpeg is an 8-bit file. So, why buy a camera with RAW (wich can be converted in 16-bit Tiff) and use only the 8-bit option for processing ( convert to Jpeg) wich is limiting the quality of the corrections? A general advise is to do the job in 16 bits and after that convert to 8-bits for the final product. Wich can be, of course, Jpeg. Wich is, for example, in 95% of the cases sufficient.
Of course it is wise to store you metadata in the motherfile, otherwise you have to enter the IPTC information each time you make a new output file. Someone told me about the possibility to create templates. Yes, have a look at your archive and imagine that you have to store about 10.000 templates or so somewhere. Nice database you have... ;-)
Jumping to the conclusion, in my opinion it is the best solution to store at least a good Tiff file 'with everything in it' (I usually don't keep my RAW files). And, at the end of this very long story, it seems to me that it would be a good thing to implement the possibility to add, edit or replace IPTC metadata in Tiff files.
Guess what would make me real happy..?
Besides, XnView is still a great program.
Big grin,
Jur
But what struck me is the lack of the possibility to edit IPTC information for the Tiff format.
I already have heard all of the arguments to 'forget about Tiff', wich varies from "it is very difficult to implement it" on to "why store them in tiffs, I allways strongly advise to archive files in Jpegs because they are much smaller" . Especially the last one is absolutely don't make sense to me.
The important files you store are are 'motherfiles'. You store the original file because of the possibility to make some different corrections in the future. It can be RAW and/or Jpeg, some camera's can't deliver other formats. Or it can be Tiff.
A Tiff file can be processed in 16-bit modus. A Jpeg is an 8-bit file. So, why buy a camera with RAW (wich can be converted in 16-bit Tiff) and use only the 8-bit option for processing ( convert to Jpeg) wich is limiting the quality of the corrections? A general advise is to do the job in 16 bits and after that convert to 8-bits for the final product. Wich can be, of course, Jpeg. Wich is, for example, in 95% of the cases sufficient.
Of course it is wise to store you metadata in the motherfile, otherwise you have to enter the IPTC information each time you make a new output file. Someone told me about the possibility to create templates. Yes, have a look at your archive and imagine that you have to store about 10.000 templates or so somewhere. Nice database you have... ;-)
Jumping to the conclusion, in my opinion it is the best solution to store at least a good Tiff file 'with everything in it' (I usually don't keep my RAW files). And, at the end of this very long story, it seems to me that it would be a good thing to implement the possibility to add, edit or replace IPTC metadata in Tiff files.
Guess what would make me real happy..?
Besides, XnView is still a great program.
Big grin,
Jur
I guess you suggest to import an IPTC-core scheme XMP file?