Image File Formats in Digital Cameras
May 2, 2009
A digital camera in fact consists of a mini computer system that stores all the photos in the form of images files or a set of bits. The photos are encoded into a certain type of file before being stored. Before storing the photographs on the memory card, the photo is compressed and is stored in compressed format. This is done to make room for more photos on the memory cards. The compression definitely affects your image to a certain extent, however if you do not want to take large prints then the effects are not visible. Basically, there are three major file formats used by digital cameras to store photos. They are TIFF, JPEG and RAW. The RAW format does not apply any compression to the photos. In this format, the image possesses all the necessary information that is caught by the camera's sensor. However the most commonly and frequently used file format is JPEG. Sometimes this is the only available file format in the digital cameras. Usually entry level cameras come only with this format. Some professional digital SLR cameras come with RAW shooting mode. Some high end cameras include all the three types of image file formats.
JPEG is acronym for “Joint Photographic Expert Group”. This was the name of the group that developed this file format. JPEG is a compression technique that trims down the photograph's size and some of the tone effects. These days almost all digital cameras comes with numerous quality settings and compression levels to choose from. As and when required, users can use these settings in their photos. Although, some level of compression is provided to the images, JPEGs store the information about the camera's scene and other settings. It is due to this fact that this image file format is widely popular and accepted.
Another image file format is TIFF. TIFF is short for “Tagged Image File Format”. In case of TIFF, the image information is not lost during the compression process. However it occupies more space as compared to JPEG images. As it contains more image information, it takes longer time for retrieval of the file. It is believed to reduce the image to one-third of its original size. The next type of file format is RAW. All the necessary image information are stored in this format, thus it is also referred as the digital negative of the image. Most of the professional cameras include RAW shooting mode. there is absolutely no changes made to the original image. This provides the photographer more control at the time of processing the image. However the image processing time is longer compared to the other two types. But the fact is that RAW file has a smaller size when compared with the TIFF format.
Each of the file formats have their own advantages and disadvantages. Each is unique and important in one or the other application. Thus depending on what types of formats you prefer, you can lookout for a camera of the particular type.
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