Uncompressed Raw or Lossless compressed on a D850

[Gene Stinson]

I have been shooting with lossless compressed since buying my D850 in 2018. I think I remember that Steve thought, at the time. that this was best considering file size to be stored etc. I have recently read that denoise software works better on the uncompressed file. Just wondered what you guys think.

 

[bleirer]

I guess I'd ask where you heard it and why they think so, and what denoise? DXO for example, if they have a profile for that file type, and I'm sure they do, and I can't think of a reason it would matter, as long as it is lossless compressed.

 

[Gene Stinson]

All I have is Topaz denoise ai, I have just read internet postings about it and the my conclusion was not clear. I am leaning toward losselss compressed but would try the full file if that is what most of you think is best now. The reason for doing it is that denoise would have more information to work with.

 

[bleirer]

All I have is Topaz denoise ai, I have just read internet postings about it and the my conclusion was not clear. I am leaning toward losselss compressed but would try the full file if that is what most of you think is best now.

You might test it with your own eyes. Take identical test shots with each and run it through the topaz. Does the internet say why it might be different? Does the topaz run directly on the raw, or does it need a tiff?

 

[ButlerKid]

I use lossless compressed - even when using Topaz DeNoise AI. I see no reason to change...especially based on random, unverified internet postings.

 

[Gene Stinson]

You might test it with your own eyes. Take identical test shots with each and run it through the topaz. Does the internet say why it might be different? Does the topaz run directly on the raw, or does it need a tiff?

Thanks , I will do a little testing, Topaz Denoise Ai will uses the unedited lossless raw file and return it as a "DenoiseAi-raw.dng" into the hard drive. It just said that Denoise would have more information to work with. I am thinking that if it recognizes the lossless raw as a raw file that everything is good.
I would add that if you use a uncompressed raw file Topax denoise ai returns it to your hard drive as a "DenoiseAi-raw.dng", same size as the lossless file.

 

[Gene Stinson]

I use lossless compressed - even when using Topaz DeNoise AI. I see no reason to change...especially based on random, unverified internet postings.

Thanks for your answer, I tend to agree.

 

[Strodav]

From Grok:
"Nikon's lossless compressed mode is truly lossless in the sense that no information is lost during the compression process. This means that the compressed image file retains all the original data from the uncompressed image, allowing for the highest possible image quality.

However, it's worth noting that Nikon's lossless compressed mode does not compress the image as much as the lossy compression mode. As a result, the file size of a lossless compressed image will be larger than that of a lossy compressed image, but smaller than an uncompressed image.

So, to answer your question: Yes, Nikon's lossless compressed mode is truly lossless, but it strikes a balance between file size and image quality."

I've used lossless compressed with my D850 for several years now and haven't seen any compression artifacts. This is from an Electrical Engineer who got my masters in image processing.

 

[Gene Stinson]

From Grok:
"Nikon's lossless compressed mode is truly lossless in the sense that no information is lost during the compression process. This means that the compressed image file retains all the original data from the uncompressed image, allowing for the highest possible image quality.

However, it's worth noting that Nikon's lossless compressed mode does not compress the image as much as the lossy compression mode. As a result, the file size of a lossless compressed image will be larger than that of a lossy compressed image, but smaller than an uncompressed image.

So, to answer your question: Yes, Nikon's lossless compressed mode is truly lossless, but it strikes a balance between file size and image quality."

I've used lossless compressed with my D850 for several years now and haven't seen any compression artifacts. This is from an Electrical Engineer who got my masters in image processing.

Thanks for your answer, If there is no information lost during the compression, that's all I need to know. I like the smaller file size too!