How to live with .tif?

[571514m3]

I have a problem:

My SSD hard disk is not that large and I try to avoid exiling my digital files to an ext drive. That said I would have enough space if it was not for the ridiculous size of .tiff files. They come about because I start with a 24MP .dng and then I use LR6 on my Macbook with NikCollection Color Efex or Silver Efex to create a frame that (kind of) looks like the black line when using my darkroom enlarger. I like that and have not found a better way to get that edge. You'll probably see some of them on my website.

I neither know why they become .tif and certainly not why they have to grow from ~30MB to be 150-250MB just because of that black frame. My question to those who know more than I:

Is there a simple way to turn such a .tif to be a .dng of the usual ~30MB size again? Does that degrade the image for when I print it?

PS:
I like the stand alone LR6 and NIK, it works fine, I do not want to subscribe to LR and there is no need to upgrade my 2015 MacBook (yet). Even the 500GB drive is ok was it not for the .tif files. I have been thinking of installing/upgrading to a OWC 1 or 2TB SSD drive - maybe that is the easier option in the long run?

 

[santino]

A dng is a raw file, tif is not (except for cameras like the EOS 1Ds that uses tif as extension for its raw files). I think you can‘t make dngs. You could convert your tifs to jpgs or try to compress the tifs with something like zip.

 

[Tom R]

Is is desirable or feasible for you to consider high-quality, dependable external storage? I have a Mac desktop with a small (1TB) SSD drive on which I keep "essential" files. That said, I mirror everything on external storage devices (yes, multiple devices).

Don't know about "simple ways" to reduce the size of TIFF files without compression--which would require an additional expansion step in order to use them. Of course this might be workable if you have software that creates lightweight proxies for viewing. But even if this were the case, what you would see would not be an accurate representation of how that same image would appear once restored to its original format.

I don't know if DxO software is the only way to create frame lines; perhaps others on this forum have ways to do this without such a large footprint.

 

[Whitten]

The first thing I do is drag my DNG files from the SD card to my SSD drive. After that everything I do is non destructive.
I keep a stack of very cheap 'My Passport' drives which hold my DNG's, maybe duplicated on to two drives. You'll never get the DMGs back if you lose them or delete them.
The only files that stay on my current work drive (SSD) are the most recent ones.

 

[robert blu]

Like Tom all my tiff files (and sometimes jpg) are on an external drive (and relative back up drives) and I have on the SSD only the essential to work files and SW

 

[tbhv55]

If you have finished the editing (and you're keeping the DNGs), just export them as Jpegs, rather than Tiffs. You'd save a lot of space.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Have you tried to locate tiff files via LR6 and export them as DNG?

 

[justins7]

Two pro tips:

• If you use Photoshop you can compress Tiffs so they get much smaller. Save As —> Tiff —> TIFF Options and then check LZW Image Compression.
"Byte Order" choose Macintosh (if that's what computer you are using). The file should get down to about 30-50% smaller.
• There's also Bit Depth. I always scale my digital files down to 8 bits/channel from the 16 bits that come out of my Leica M9. I do not need that 16 bits and this reduces the file size as well. In Photoshop, Image —> Mode

 

[Dogman]

I neither know why they become .tif and certainly not why they have to grow from ~30MB to be 150-250MB just because of that black frame. My question to those who know more than I:

To address this question, when you work in Silver Efex Pro the program converts the DNG (or JPEG as well) to a TIFF. This probably happens with other DXO software as well but I've only used Silver Efex so far--I'm pretty much all B&W. The software also gives the option to make an even larger TIFF for non destructive editing. These files run into the 120 MB range using original 12mp camera files--really big. You can work with these huge files and then convert them to JPEG afterwards and delete the TIFF to save space. If you wish to retain the TIFF files, you will need more storage space. Personally, I shoot JPEG these days, work with the Silver Efex TIFFs and then dispose of them saving another JPEG with the edits along with the original JPEG.

 

[JoeV]

I have a problem:

My SSD hard disk is not that large and I try to avoid exiling my digital files to an ext drive. That said I would have enough space if it was not for the ridiculous size of .tiff files.

I’ve found with both PCs and Macs that it is best for the long term health of the computer to NEVER store your documents on the same hard drive where your operating system resides! Always store them to an external drive. Filling up the OS hard drive results in significant slowdown of the OS. This is especially important with devices like laptops where it’s often difficult or impractical to upgrade the HD size if the machine is still in warranty.

 

[Whitten]

Personally, I shoot JPEG these days, work with the Silver Efex TIFFs and then dispose of them saving another JPEG with the edits along with the original JPEG.

I always keep my DNGs. External drives are so cheap these days, under $100 for a terabyte or two.
I have raw files from 15 years ago I still go back to. Processing software like DXO, C1 and Lightroom keep improving and I can now get better results with my old 5-10mp images.