file extension used

[snapper27]

Hi all, I wondered what format most of you keep your photos stored in.

Mine download from the camera as a JPg, and are large. Then I noticed that after I used photoshop elements, I could save it as a PSP file and it became very small. Should I convert all of them to this format? Is there an easier way than one at a time?
Anyway, what do most of you do?

thanks, eric

[tim]

If the file gets smaller, you're losing information. I shoot as RAW and keep everything in that format. Any images I modify I save as Photoshop documents, which are 40+MB each.

There've been big threads about this, a quick search threw up this (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=73792) and this (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=75809). Some people archive as RAW, some as DNG, some as TIFF, on a variety of media (hard disk, dvd, raid etc).

[Jim_T]

If you have to shoot JPEG, keep the JPEG's as original.. If you edit them, save them as something else using the [save as] option.. Don't overwrite the originals that you downloaded from the camera.. These are the "negatives" and that's what you want to archive.. If you're getting smaller files using another format then you are definitly losing something.. (Are you saving for web or messing with the PPI) ?

Of course as tim points out.. RAW is the best format for archiving your images.. This is exactly what was generated by the camera sensor... This allows you the most flexibility when it comes to editing because unlike any other image format, with RAW you can change the white balance, contrast, sharpness just as you would have had you set the menu of your camera..