Hi All, I’m looking for some advice/expertise on sending to & return from Nik collections for file sizes. I shoot raw and when using my Fujifilm X-T5, this creates a 40MB file. Following DxO’s settings recommendation of 16 bit TIFF when sending from PhotoLab 9 to Nik Collection, this ends up returning .tif files in the region of 477MB, give or take.
When I look at that longer term, I can see my hard drive filling rapidly at roughly 2 photos p/GB. Using an 8 bit export seems to halve the returned .tif file size. I’ve sent a couple of photos to Silver Efex using both export sizes and I’m having troubles seeing any real difference. Theoretically, I just doubled my hard drive capacity…
However, does anyone know if I’m missing anything “under the hood” that may cause me some grief down the road for printing or if something like Analog or Colour Efex benefits more from the 16bit export?
I’ve printed in both 16-bit and 8-bit, in color and black and white, up to A2 size and store a separate print version with custom layout.
For optimal quality, 16-bit color depth is recommended for color printing, while it’s less critical for black and white. Of course, it depends on the specific image.
Try it out yourself and watch for banding. However, you should always use 16-bit color depth while editing the image!
Historically, the Nik collection has “always” been useful for image editors, and in PS you can use it in conjunction with so-called Smart Objects, which makes it possible to “review” your editing in Nik.
If you use it, e.g. from PL you can get “some kind of a similar solution”. In the Nik modules you have an option to save the *.tif file as “Non-destructive edits (larger files)”.
an example:
image taken with a Nikon D750 (24 MPix) → 34 MB
*.tif direct export from PL in 8 bit → 72 MB
or in 16 bit → 145 MB (= same file size with export to Nik)
and the 16 bit file in Nik saved as “Non-destructive” → 290 MB
When I started editing photos, I didn’t own a digital camera, but a used film scanner. Fearful of large file sizes (storage space was expensive), I deleted the original file, regardless of the format, and only kept the final result … far from ideal.
Over time and with some progress, I kept the originals, my edits in Photoshop, which then could easily reach over 150 MB …
.
These days I try to keep the file size under 500 MB, unless it’s a panorama, by limiting the number of layers to the essentials. A separate print version, adapted to the intended paper and specially sharpened, then receives the individual layout.
While I use PL as my raw editor with all its features, I only further edit selected images in a pixel editor for printing ( and file size is less important than the final result ).
