Getting to know file types intimately…

Here at Photokonnexion we try to provide genuinely useful tips, tricks and tutorials, as well as background information and technical supplements. We are gradually building up a small glossary of articles on photography. It is not our intention to do in-depth technical descriptions and detailed technical analysis. We want you to enjoy what you learn and share it with others. So our definitions are aimed to learning rounded facts and interesting background. We hope this helps your understanding of our shared passion without drowning you in techno-info.

In the last two days I published two articles on file types. Knowing your files helps you know your photography! These introduce you to the two classes of files that digital photography uses in general…
Important File formats – JPG
Important File Formats – RAW

Today I have published a more in-depth introduction to RAW files intended as a background reference…
Definition: RAW; RAW format files; TIFF; DNG; NEF; CR2; CRW. There is more to the RAW file than meets the eye!

File types like JPEG (*.jpg) and RAW are distinguished by the techniques used at their creation…

• RAW files are raw data collected directly from the digital image sensor. The unprocessed file provides a very flexible data-set allowing a wide scope for interpretation of your image.
• Ready-to-use files like *.jpg are pre-processed. You get an idealized picture produced how the camera manufacturer thinks it should be processed. Any data that does not contribute to that is discarded with little scope for change.

Raw files can be very large. The file integrity relies on all the data from your exposure being available. So to make the file smaller any file compression must not discard data. We have published a reference on ‘Lossless file compression’ so you have a little background on how RAW files might be made more compact. Read…
Definition: Lossless compression; Lossless format

On the other hand *.jpg files are compressed by dumping image data from the file. This ‘Lossy compression’ discards vast amounts of data in order to make the files smaller. Read…
Definition: Lossy compression; lossy format; lossy

Enjoy! Please leave comments and other information below. We would love to hear what you think about these new resources.

By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photog and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photographers.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.

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