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Author Topic: Dumb questions - TIFF files  (Read 4396 times)

joneil

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Dumb questions - TIFF files
« on: July 20, 2008, 01:10:43 pm »

Dunno where this belongs, but here goes.  

  More and more I am running into different organizations & businesses (including newspapers & some commercial web sites) that cannot open, handle or manage TIF files sent to them, be it as an attachment on e-mail or on DVD or CD or whatever medium used.

    Often I hear or am told directly that these companies can only handle GIF or JPEG, and that's it.

  Okay, so what's going on out there?    Back in the good old days of Dos & Windows 3.1 I had software that could easily convert a TIF into a GIF file, nada a problem.  I coudl do it on my old 386/DX40 with a stunning 2 meg of ram even!  (Boy, am I dating myself or what?    )

 So how come more and more places, businesses,  cannot or will not take TIF files?  Or is it just me, I'm the only one going crazy?  (Which I admit, is entirely possible    ).
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Brad Proctor

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Dumb questions - TIFF files
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2008, 01:28:04 pm »

I think JPG is fine for the final image.  It is much smaller and easier to handle and as long it's at compression level 10 or so there is no visible difference.  So I can see why companies would want stuff in JPG.  GIF however is definitely not suitable for photographic work.

But with increased bandwidth and larger storage mediums, I would have thought that the number of places excepting TIF would go up not down.
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Brad Proctor

David Sutton

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Dumb questions - TIFF files
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2008, 04:32:16 pm »

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But with increased bandwidth and larger storage mediums, I would have thought that the number of places excepting TIF would go up not down.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=209581\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
My guess is that there is an inverse relationship between bandwidth and larger storage on the one hand, and human intelligence and patience on the other.  
David
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JDClements

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Dumb questions - TIFF files
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2008, 07:17:53 pm »

TIF files can come in many flavours, but I am pretty sure a jpg is a jpg is a jpg.
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Panopeeper

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Dumb questions - TIFF files
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2008, 07:37:34 pm »

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TIF files can come in many flavours, but I am pretty sure a jpg is a jpg is a jpg.
Well, I suggest you not to bet on this. There are several flavours of JPEG as well (basic, progressive, hierarchic; arythmetic encoding; 8bit, 12bit; lossy, lossless - the latter in two totally different versions). However, popular products support all the customary versions.
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Gabor

JDClements

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Dumb questions - TIFF files
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2008, 09:14:48 pm »

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Well, I suggest you not to bet on this. There are several flavours of JPEG as well (basic, progressive, hierarchic; arythmetic encoding; 8bit, 12bit; lossy, lossless - the latter in two totally different versions). However, popular products support all the customary versions.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=209639\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Could be, but that all sounds like settings within the same file format. I believe what makes tiff files so different is completely different compression algorithms.
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Panopeeper

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Dumb questions - TIFF files
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2008, 10:03:37 pm »

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Could be ... I believe
At least that's right.
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Gabor

David Sutton

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Dumb questions - TIFF files
« Reply #7 on: July 20, 2008, 11:17:01 pm »

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  Okay, so what's going on out there?    Back in the good old days of Dos & Windows 3.1 I had software that could easily convert a TIF into a GIF file, nada a problem.  I coudl do it on my old 386/DX40 with a stunning 2 meg of ram even!  (Boy, am I dating myself or what?   
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=209573\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
All this took a little patience. To enlarge on my previous post, my guess is that people won't accept Tifs because they can't be bothered or haven't the time.
People are living at a faster pace because it gives them the impression they are doing more in their existence here. In fact the are living ersatz lives, opting for a higher standard of living rather than a higher quality of life. No time for walking slowly, fountain pens, home grown food or being observant (to name a few   ). I had to explain to a visitor here the other day (again) that no, it's not a cultural thing that the coffee shops close at 4pm, it's just that they have been working since 7am and that's enough: it's time to go home.
One thing I really like about photography outdoors is that I have to stop and wait for the picture to reveal itself. Boy, has that taught me a thing or two.
Cheers, David
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dilip

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Dumb questions - TIFF files
« Reply #8 on: July 20, 2008, 11:37:28 pm »

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So how come more and more places, businesses,  cannot or will not take TIF files?  Or is it just me, I'm the only one going crazy?  (Which I admit, is entirely possible    ).
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=209573\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

The issue, as others have stated, is largely laziness on the receiving end.  But having said that, the customer (in this case the receiving end) is always right.

When submitting photos online, there are a number of things to remember that may serve to explain what's going on. The following are presented in no specific order (not actually true, they are presented in the order in which they popped into my feeble little mind).

1. Sites (and embedded systems) are designed for ease of design and administration, not ease of submission.  If a site is going to display crops of images, offer multiple resolution versions etc. then they would rather have a single JPG specific tool than have to look at the input format, do a conversion etc.  

2. Bandwidth concerns. JPG are typically smaller because of the compression applied, so the bandwidth costs are minimized.

3. Storage concerns. If everyone sends in TIFF files you're looking at needing a large storage array, whereas for most uses a JPG, at a much smaller size, is just as suitable.

As for what you can do... if you really don't want to deal with JPG compression, set it to the highest quality, full resolution, and you'll essentially have the same file. I figure it's just not worth the effort tilting at those windmills.

--dilip
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joneil

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Dumb questions - TIFF files
« Reply #9 on: July 21, 2008, 06:35:25 pm »

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No time for walking slowly, fountain pens, home grown food or being observant (to name a few   ).

-snip-

   Ah, that explains my personal form of dementia in this case - I still use a fountian pen myself.

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