D60- Files sizes, color space

[kcpopps]

I have found a printer that makes these really awesome albums - that aren't really albums, but are more like high quality photo books.

In asking what they require for digital files, they state that digital files need to be 18 mb jpgs.

My D60 does not come close to producing 18 mb jpgs. Shooting in jpg large fine mode gives me a file size usually just over 2 mb.

They said there is probably a setting in the camera where I can assign color space RGB functions - I have scanned through my D60 manual and see no reference to anything like that. Even if I did, would it add 16 mb to my file sizes?

I have noticed that when converting a RAW file to tiff, they are 18 mb but this printer says they need 18 mb jpgs.

Should I be shooting a different way to produce larger file sizes? Can I assign different color profiles to the D60? Does even a 1D or other higher end cameras produce files that large?

Can anyone give me some helpful input on this?

[SteveCliff]

Wanting an 18Mb JPG sounds odd! The whole purpose of JPG is to get the file sizes down, not up ;-)

What's the software called ?

[kcpopps]

Thanks Steve. Seems odd to me too.

Here is what the instructions from the printer say about digital file sizes:

SENDING DIGITAL FILES
If you are using a digital camera, make sure it is at least 3 megapixel and set at the best quality, if you are using a scanner set it to obtain a file of around 18 MB. In general remember this regarding the size of an opened file:
- Good file: 18 MB.
- Acceptable file: 10 MB shot with a good digital camera. The book will not have the best quality it could have, but
is acceptable.
- Not acceptable file: less than 6 MB.
- To know the real size of a file you have to open it. When it is closed the dimension could be smaller because of the compression rate usually applied by the application.
- Save the file in RGB mode, using jpeg format and set the compression rate at best quality (highest number or pull the bar totally to the right). Doing this your file becomes lighter when closed, but without any loss of information or quality. Remember to register the images with the profile incorporated.

My D60 files import at 3072x2048 - 180 ppi. That is usually about a +- 2 mb file and I have been having up to 8x10 prints made from those - that I thought looked pretty good. This book that I am looking at is 12x16 inches.

In photoshop, I find that I can increase the ppi to 300 or higher and get into the 18 mb range. I just wonder if this is what I need to do or if there is something wrong with doing that.

I'll discuss this more with the printer and probably get my answer - but I would welcome any input from the forum members here too!

[daveh]

Some of the most bizarre advice about file sizes, DPI etc. come from printers and publishers :)

For what it's worth a 3 megapixel scan at 16bits per pixel would produce an 18MB uncompressed tiff file. Perhaps that's where the 18MB number came from.

It's really goofy though because there are several forms of non-lossy compression that you can use on a TIFF file which will drop its size considerably with no effect on quality - yet they use file size as a quality measurement.

The terminology in your quote is rather strange: ie compression doesn't affect dimensions and files don't generally become "lighter". Perhaps there are some English translation difficulties here? (ie file size -> dimension, smaller -> lighter?)

(After a second read) Oh I think I get it now - 18MB is the in-memory/uncompressed size that they're looking for. In which case, your images qualify. (3K * 2K * 3) It's just a strange way of saying it.

[SteveCliff]

Yep, I would agree with kcpopps on the file size - it sounds like they are after the uncompressed size (I.E. the amount of space the image takes up in memory *after* it has been loaded).

I would say that the images from your D60 would be fine for this app ..... although a different author for the manual wouldn't go amiss! :-)

As far as DPI goes, don't worry about it - your 180dpi should work fine. You only have a finite number of pixesl to work with in your digital file, so changing this in Photoshop to 300dpi (and keeping the same image dimensions) is only going to give you a larger file size and a potential drop in quality of the final image due to interpolation errors when photoshop "makes up" the missing bits for you.
(Hope this makes sense!)

Good luck!

[Kevin Connery]

They told you what they needed, but in such a way as to make it very hard to follow.

They want at least 3 megapixels--that's their very first statement.

They then give some bad information, and include the good advice of "To know the real size of a file you have to open it. ", followed by more misinformation "When it is closed the dimension could be smaller because of the compression rate usually applied by the application." They must mean "...file size could be smaller...", not dimensions.

What they appear to want is a file with 18 megabytes worth of data in its UNcompressed form. That's a 6 megapixel color image, JPEG, TIFF, or whatever, and should be more than sufficient for a published book.

Your D60 files are 'native' at 2048x3072 pixels. At 300 lines/inch--a fairly high resolution glossy book level--that's about 13" by 20" for the usual recommended DPI-to-LPI conversion (2:1 is the most commonly recommended).

[kcpopps]

Thanks everyone. The issue has had me quite confused (and still does somewhat!) but you all have made me more confident that my D60 files are sufficient for this printing.

After asking the same questions of the printer, they have asked me for some files to test with their process. I expect now that they will be fine as you guys have said - so I'll send them some and find out! I'll try to remember to post a follow up here after I get feedback from them.

[kcpopps]

Reporting back after hearing from the printer - they said the test files I sent them were fine for size (however they commented that some of my whites were burned)

One of you said something about a translation problem. The printer is in Italy, so combining that with printer tech lingo probably helped create the confusion.

Thanks to everyone for the help!