The "RIGHT" Format!!

[Frank Zwolinski]

Hi folks,

Much has been written about digital formats and while helpful, it is, quite frankly, rather confusing. I wonder if there is a format "Expert" out there who might simplify for me these specific issues.

For some time I have been saving all my multimedia (pictures, downloaded census records & newspaper articles, as well as original items I have scanned) by downloading as a PDF, then adjusting in PhotoShop and saving as a .jpg and placing in my "Reunion Pictures" file for access by Reunion. This file is also my "master file" of these items for which I do not have a hard copy original. If I have a "hard copy" original, it is filed elsewhere, and scanned for Reunion.

My question is this: Is it better to save just the photos as a .tif? If so, should all the above be saved as a .tif in this manner also or is it possible to save hard drive space by continuing to use the .jpg format for the census pages and newspaper articles.

I DO understand that disk space is cheaper today but these files are growing larger every day.

Everyone seems to have an opinion, so I just wonder if we have an "expert" available here? I did find the following link from Case Western Reserve University, but do not know them and so I am still unsure as to what I should do. If it is suggested to use another format, I sure do not want to go back and recreate ALL that I have previously done.

http://www.case.edu/its/archives/Records/digipres.htm#S2

Thank you for any guidance you might be able to offer. Please feel free to answer off-line if you like at: fzwolinski@santarosa.edu

Frank

[donworth]

Re: The "RIGHT" Format!!

Most experts would say you should use TIFF because it is lossless and JPG isn't. I can only speak from my experience, but I have found that scanning at 600dpi and saving the result as a medium compression JPG file takes only a few megabytes of file space. Doing one at that resolution as a TIFF would be 100MB or more. At 600dpi, I can't see the compression artifacting in the JPG file until I have magnified it 200% above actual size. At that point, at 600dpi, you're looking at the individual silver nitrate crystals in the original photo! At any reasonable sized reproduction of the photo (or cropping) you just aren't going to notice the impact of compression (in my opinion). And scanning at, say, 300dpi as a TIFF, I get a file that isn't as clear as the 600dpi JPG and is much bigger. Try it yourself and see what you think.

For anything other than photographs I scan at 200dpi color JPG. It's plenty good enough for making out the handwriting on a census or a will and only takes a megabyte or so. Unless I'm scanning an original, very old document (don't have too many of those!) in which case I treat it as a photograph and scan it at 600dpi.

I think TIFF makes the most sense for modern digital photographs since a digital camera's sensor can pick up a lot more detail than "wet photography" of the olden days (which, at best, is good up to about 300dpi). Even then, if you don't plan to enlarge/crop the photo or have it printed in a high-quality book or magazine, storing it in TIFF is probably overkill.

I have several thousand images in my collection and if I had scanned them all as 300 dpi TIFFs I would have needed several terabyte drives - I don't think it's worth the cost and backups would be much more difficult. And I have been burning data DVDs with them and sending them to as many of my relatives as I can. If I had been scanning into TIFFs that would have been impossible (or, at least, an extra step to make them fit on a handful of DVDs).

[Bob White]

Re: The "RIGHT" Format!!

Well said! I would add one minor point for Frank. That is that older Windows systems (98, etc.) do not recognize the TIFF format. But this is only a concern if you plan to share photos with a relative who has an old never updated PC.

[bbousquet]

Re: The "RIGHT" Format!!

Unless I'm handed a JPG, I usually pick a lossless compressed format like PNG. When dealing with multipage documents I use the PDF format.

[Allsop]

Re: The "RIGHT" Format!!

I went into this quite deeply not just for images but for any type of record that I wanted to preserve for as far into the future as possible. The problem as I saw it was that the only really long-term answer for archiving was and is paper but digital has many advantages especially in the field of analysing and using the papaer data

[donworth]

Re: The "RIGHT" Format!!

It's interesting that it's still possible to find a transfer service that will get data off of floppy disks (for a price). I used to write books and software for the Apple II in the 70s, and I just sent my floppies to some collectors who are busy transferring the source code off my disks for their group. Same with Betamax tapes, 8-track tapes, reel-to-reel mainframe tapes, and even 1920s nitrate movie film (although the media may have degraded considerably by now). With the proliferation of JPG, TIFF, and such - I suspect it will be just as easy (or hard) to get data off of those file types far into the future as PDF or any other currently extant formats. There will always be someone with his hand out willing to convert them. LOL

I'd say that destruction or degradation of the media is a bigger challenge in the long run. There don't seem to be to many good solutions for that other than to carry your files forward to new media from time-to-time and have lots of off-site backups.

[Nick]

Re: The "RIGHT" Format!!

I think Donworth is right: as long as you're around, just ensure that your data is saved on to the current format, whatever that might be in the future.

As for the CD's/DVD's that will be left after your demise (or buried with your ashes), well, highly successful transfers have recently been made of C19 wax cylinder recordings, and I'm sure that future technology will be able to cope. I do question however the reading of Reunion files centuries after Leister's existence (of course I hope that our favourite product will survive for a long long time). For this reason I always make a backup in gedcom format as well.

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: The "RIGHT" Format!!

It's ... still possible to find a transfer service that will get data off of floppy disks (for a price). I used to write books and software for the Apple II in the 70s

As in Beneath Apple DOS? No wonder your name looked familiar!
Ah, floppy disk nostalgia....

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: The "RIGHT" Format!!

Thanks to all for your advice.
I think I am on the right track now.

Frank

[donworth]

Re: The "RIGHT" Format!!

Dennis

Guilty as charged! :-)

Don

[Susan Freas Rogers]

Re: The "RIGHT" Format!!

Donworth, thanks very much for sharing what works for you. The details you gave will be very helpful as I go forward.
Susan Rogers