Please explain;::::::::::

[IanB]

..........in simple terms; why a 28 MB raw image turns into 120 MB file when converted in Lightroom to PSD. No corrections have been done to the image before converting to PSD

[Calxoddity]

Ian,
It doesn't have to be a raw file for this to happen - if you save a jpeg as a psd it also blows out big time. With jpeg > psd it's understandable, as jpeg is compressed. I suspect psd is not a lossy format and also doesn't compress, so with raw it's taking a lot of data to describe the raw sensor data in a form that's reusable and consistent.

It's a pain though - i created a nice panorama last night from 8 x 5MB NEFs and the resulting psd file is 241MB!! I wondered why it was slow to open until I saw the filesize.

Regards,
Calx

[arthurking83]

PSD must have some similarities with TIFF.

I edited a 19Meg NEF the other night and made a few edits.. basic edits like WB and some contrast adjusments, protected highlights.. and not really all that much else.. but the temporary TIFF file(using CaptureNX) blew out to over 240Mb.
Capture edits the NEF by using TIFF format as the image represented on screen(after all, the RAW file is not an image, but an amalgamation of digital data trying to describe an image.

You were lucky to only get it to blow out to a 120Mb file!

That's normal.
PSD and TIFF are terrible formats to save too as they are so large.(I assume PSD's are slightly less so than TIFF's and should really only be used for printing purposes.
Your RAW images shoudl be saved as RAW images for the sake of space conservation(and converted to high quality raster images for printing only)


those file sizes are a good reason to why it can make a difference to have a separate scratch disk (NX would be unusable if I didn't have a separate disk for the cache files)

Now, imagine how those 50Meg Nikon D3x NEF's must blow out too!

[ricktas]

I have recently swapped from saving as TIFF's to saving as PSD files on occasion. Especially when I have several layers and want to retain those for future adjustments. If you save a file that has layers as a PSD, it will be BIG, cause PSD saves all the layer data as well. So make sure you flatten layers before saving if you are using PSD (and don't have a need to revisit those layers in future).

[Jcas]

So make sure you flatten layers before saving if you are using PSD (and don't have a need to revisit those layers in future)

Rick am i right from your statement in assuming that once you flatten layers you can't rework them? Still trying to get my head around layers ..

[iamalwaysyours]

Rick am i right from your statement in assuming that once you flatten layers you can't rework them? Still trying to get my head around layers ..

If you flatten them and still save as PSD, you can still rework, I believe so.