What type of TIF compression should I be using??

I always save my files as 8 bit TIF's after converting the RAW in ACR. Is it better to save my images with No compression or LZW compression, Is there any real world differnce I will notice, or is file size the only difference. What is everyone else out there using??

As always, I appreciate everyones feedback

Well, tiff compression is "lossless" so in that sense it helps with disk space.

But the question then is whether a compressed tiff is compatible with other software that you might use it on? For example, DPP has a hard time handling tiffs from Photoshop. I don't know how that applies to other apps, but it might be useful to find out!

On another note, are you saying you convert every shot from Raw to a tiff? Do you need to do this? I don't do it unless I need to go into a photo editor such as Photoshop for "special" work that I can't do in my Raw processor.

To each his/her own, just curious as to your workflow and what would work best for you!

I work for a pre-press shop and we always use LZW compression, I just carried this into my photography as it had become a habit.

Agree that saving as TIFF is only necessary for images getting significant work. I use PSD, it has compression that's standard.

If you're only working in Photoshop use whatever you like, only difference is file size. For compatibility with other software use no compression.

No I do not convert every RAW file to a TIF, just like you, only if it needs work in PS I will. But when I do, I wanted to know if it mattered if I compressed it with LZW what actually is going on...............so it doesn't effect quality? Only file size? With the down side possibly being incompatability with another program or piece of software down the road?

Thank you all again for your help!!

Dustman wrote in post #14396078
No I do not convert every RAW file to a TIF, just like you, only if it needs work in PS I will. But when I do, I wanted to know if it mattered if I compressed it with LZW what actually is going on...............so it doesn't effect quality? Only file size? With the down side possibly being incompatability with another program or piece of software down the road?

Thank you all again for your help!!

That's my understanding! The other decision for tiffs is whether to convert them to 16 bits or 8 bits. That makes a difference in that 16 bits contains most of the original Raw data, whereas 8 bits has discarded what was not part of the rendered image. The good news is that if you maximize your Raw processing efforts, what we often might use Photoshop for won't really benefit from the 16 bit file. And, an 8 bit tiff takes up a lot less disk space!

For 8bpc TIF files, use LZW. For 16bpc choose "None".