JPEG
From Nikonians Wiki
Acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group that describes a digital image file format standard in which the size of the file is reduced by compression. A JPEG image file name typically carries the extension "jpg" or "jpeg". The JPEG compression is "lossy", meaning the resulting image looses some image information as opposed to other formats like TIFF, which is a "lossless format". A "high quality" JPEG file looses less than a "low quality" JPEG file.
As a Nikon photographer, you normally would shoot Raw and only use JPEG for quick viewing. There are times though when using JPEG is of advantage, such as for photojournalists or sports photographers working against the time, where images are edited in-camera and then sent on the fly to the new organization. Shooting JPEG means more images fit in the cameras buffer for a larger number of consecutive shots and often the framerate i.e. the number of shots the camera is capable of doing per second (fps) goes up as well.
JPEG images have the advantage of being usable immediately and the file size is smaller than NEF, even if you are storing NEF compressed, resulting in a larger number of images fitting on to the memory card or hard disk. But, remember: For nearly all use-cases NEF is the better choice, allowing you to edit the image to your hearts content with non-destructive editing once you are back from the shoot.
JPEG in detail
Your Nikon camera is capable of storing JPEG images (prefixed with 'DSC_') at different qualities, at least at three different levels:
- Fine - resulting in a relatively large file size with a compression ratio of 1:4 - the file is 4 times smaller than without compression
- Normal - resulting in a smaller file size with a compression ratio of 1:8
- Basic - resulting in a very small file size with a high compression ratio of 1:16
Obviously, the higher the ratio, the smaller the file size and the lossier the output with more artifacts introduced.
Modern Nikon cameras offer two types of JPEG compression for each of the Fine/Normal/Basic settings: One has a star in its name, indicating the the camera will use an adaptive compression algorithm to optimize the output for quality rather than to be consistent in file size between various motives using the same setting. Or, saying it another way: The "starred" settings are generating file sizes that vary depending on the amount of information kept in the motive captured whereas the non-starred settings result in all resulting files will be at approx the same file size, corresponding to the table above (1:4, 1:8 and 1:16 compression ratio).
Your camera allows tfor creating both a NEF and a JPEG copy of each image you take. The JPEG will then be used for playback on the camera leading to better quality for viewing in-camera. It is though often a nuisance for your workflow to have two images for each capture. Enabling the JPEGs for reach RAW: It really comes down to how your workflow looks like.
- This page was last modified on 22 January 2021, at 13:14.
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