Maybe I am a bit slow? but if the RAW / NEF Compression mode is lossless as claimed then why would you turn it off ? which is the default value on D200 - or is this mode (compression off) intended for NC camera control studio work? Just want to make sure I that by turning it on I am getting more shots per card without losing anything in terms of quality.
This topic has been bandied about for some time, but, for all intents and purposes, you can't tell the difference between a compressed raw vs uncompressed. I shoot compressed raw exclusively with my D2X.
I can't speak to the terms of buffer speed on the D200, but the D100 is so slow I leave the camera in the non-compressed mode. Once you fill the buffer (four shots, I believe) you have to wait for the camera to take another shot.
I know that the D200 has a much better buffer, so it probably isn't an issue for most people.
Compression requires more CPU time in camera before the image can be saved. If your CF card is really fast you may notice the extra delay when shooting, otherwise the the throughput will be limited by the CF write time. Hopefully the CPU is fast enough that the time taken to do the compression is fully compensated for by reduced file size on a reasonably fast card (Ultra-II Sandisk).
camey wrote:
Compression requires more CPU time in camera before the image can be saved. If your CF card is really fast you may notice the extra delay when shooting, otherwise the the throughput will be limited by the CF write time. Hopefully the CPU is fast enough that the time taken to do the compression is fully compensated for by reduced file size on a reasonably fast card (Ultra-II Sandisk).
to add to the comment further , it is actually Faster now since the DSP is optimized to process Compressed faster than non compressed
am i missing something? on page 31 of the manual, it says that compressed NEFs are not lossless: "NEF images are compressed by about 40–50 % with little drop in quality. Recording time is reduced."
21farms wrote:
am i missing something? on page 31 of the manual, it says that compressed NEFs are not lossless: "NEF images are compressed by about 40–50 % with little drop in quality. Recording time is reduced."
Oh... that's just Nikon being their conservative self.
As mentioned before, this topic has been covered, and to date (as far as I know) no one has shown any visible differences in the two modes.
Nobody is claiming that the differences aren't there... just that nobody has actually been able to SEE the differences.
I think it was Thom Hogan who claimed there is a slight loss of DR recovery capabilities with compressed NEFs?
Personally, I don`t pixel peep or print billboards so I really don`t care one iota (whatever that means) even if it can be seen at 100%.
John
With the D2x, (I am sorry by using another camera as an example by the way), the buffer is large enough to not slow down the process.
The only difference I can find is some lack of detail in the highlights and a slight red tinge over the image. Similar to jpeg!
I compensate for this by adjusting the hue.
Hope it helps.
Cheers,
Jasin.
By the way from the images I have seen from the d200, I think the colour looks better.
Oops sorry 21 farms, in mitigation I had only just got the camera on Saturday afternoon and admit I had not read the small print on page 31, but had to shoot at a friends wedding the next day (yeah new years day! mad or what!) so wanted to get the basic set-up sorted out and was basing the lossless thing on review pages such as Ken Rockwell's D200 performance page where the phrase lossless is employed.
I was also concerned about card space having limited card capacity 2x256 + 1x 1G. After reading the advice here I am not worried - I don't think the buffering timing will be an issue for me generally.
Would have used the D70 for the wedding with the compression on as usual but it got the flashing green light problem on thursday night and was not behaving itself, I handed back to Nikon today to get sorted. Was amazingly lucky to get a call from the camera shop on the Saturday morning to say they had snagged a D200 body for me at long last.
Thanks for all the detailled and informed input and I hope you all have a good New Year!
