DNG image quality in iPhoto

I have recently acquired a Zeiss Photoscope (in effect, a spotting scope with an integrated camera) which records raw images as either JPG or DNG files or both. (I'm a birdwatcher who likes to take photos of them, not a photographer first and foremost). When I view the images in iPhoto 9.2, the highest quality JPG files are far superior to the DNG files, even though the JPGs are about 2 MB while the DNGs are 14 MB. The DNGs are obviously pixellated even at low ISO settings (50 or 100), while the JPG images appear sharp and show pixellation only when blown up digitally in iPhoto.
In some cases, I see evidence of chromatic aberration in the DNG images that is less evident in the JPG files, too.
Is there something about the way DNG files work with iPhoto that causes this? Is there recommended software for looking at DNG files that might eliminate the problem? Any other ideas about how to resolve this?

Even as an ardent Mac fanatic since 1984, I have to tell you that iPhoto is an unmitigated piece of cr@p when it comes to image quality, though it has certain hand-holding features that make it very attractive to photo amateurs.
The raw conversion, whether from a straight raw file or from a raw DNG file, will be far superior if you view them after converting/rendering them in Adobe software, either Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw. The latter, a free plug-in, can be hosted either by the (very expensive) full version of Photoshop, or by the relatively inexpensive ($99.99) Photoshop Elements, although when hosted by Photoshop Elements it only offers a subset of the controls, adjustments and functionality of the very same plug-in when hosted by the full version of Photoshop.
https://store1.adobe.com/cfusion/store/html/index.cfm?event=displayProduct&categoryOID=746 5793&store=OLS-US

Similar Messages

Raw vs. DNG image quality

Operating system is XP
I have a Canon 40D with CR2 files that need to be read. I do not YET have Photoshop CS3. Still on CS2. The advice here has been to download the DNG converter that comes with the camera raw version for CS3.
I downloaded and used the CS3 DNG converter which creates files that you can open in CS2 that are supposed to have all of the information / quality of your original CR2 RAW file.
From what I can see, this is not the case. Converting the CR2 RAW files with the DNG converter appears to to discard color information and introduce artifacts. Here is one example showing the unconverted CR2 RAW image on the left (opened in Windows Live Photo Gallery) and the image after DNG conversion on the right (opened in Photoshop CS2). The color loss is obvious. The artifacts are most evident on the whiskers. I did a screenprint and saved the RAW & DNG together as a JPEG, but you can still see the difference:
http://www.k9tag.com/rawvsdng.html
Is it just me, or am I losing information with the DNG conversion? Would I lose this same information when opening 40D files with CS3 Camera RAW? Is there another utility that I should be using to open / convert my 40D files that will not lose information? I want my digital files to be all that they can be.
-Mark

> if I had CS3 and opened the file in camera raw instead of converting to a DNG, would I see these same artifacts?
Mark, pls make a clear distinction between varying the programs and varying the file format.
ACR in CS3 is not the same as ACR in CS2. See some threads below about the integrated, non-negotiable noise reduction in ACR 4. I have not used ACR 3, but I heard that there are many other differences. So, the result between files created by ACR in CS2 will be different from that created by ACR in CS3.
However, if you process a CR2 file with ACR 4 and a DNG file converted from that raw with the same ACR, the results will be identical.
You are barking up the wrong tree with DNG. ACR delivers different result from DPP, no matter if ACR 3 or ACR 4.
Plus, you are comparing the ACR result with a JPEG created by the camera firmware. The latter has been created by applying the in-camera settings sharpening, contrast, saturation, color tone, and of course white balance. DPP would create almost identical result, because it applies the same settings (they are recorded in the raw file). ACR does not apply these settings, so you need to make the necessary adjustments.
You have to decide, which one you like more (or dislike less): DPP or ACR, but this should be a well-informed decision, based on experience. For example I find DPP's colors better, but ACR's adjustments are superior, and ACR's colors can be enhanced somewhat. Plus DPP has a browse function as well, ACR can't compete with that.
Finally, please note that there is no "correct" rendering of a raw file. There are many *different* renderings. The JPEG straight out of your camera is not the measure of rendering, it is one of them.

IPhoto 5 has better quality that iPhoto 6 when emailing photos?

How can I set up iPhoto 6 to use the same image quality as iPhoto 5 when emailing photos?
I have two iMacs, side by side, one is G5 with iPhoto 5, and another is Intel with iPhoto 6. When I use iPhoto 5 to email a photo, medium quality 640x480, it looks beautiful. It looks like a perfect replica of a high-res photo, just smaller, but very clear. But when I do the same with iPhoto 6, again medium quality, the photo looks terrible, the image is very poor, it is jagged around people's faces with apparent artifacts of higher jpeg compression -- whereas none of these artifacts are present when emailing from iPhoto 5.
The problem with iPhoto6 seems to be that it uses a higher jpg compression thus lowering the photo quality.
To illustrate, here is the photo emailed from iPhoto5:
http://www.cinemaclock.com/iPhoto5.jpg (100kB)
and here is the SAME photo emailed the same way from iPhoto 6:
http://www.cinemaclock.com/iPhoto6.jpg (36kB)
Interesting is that when I click to email from iPhoto6 it estimates the photo size to 122kB, the same estimation as in iPhoto5, but then iPhoto6 compresses it down to 36kB.
Question: How can I set up iPhoto 6 to email the same photo quality as iPhoto 5?
iMac G5 + iMac Intel Mac OS X (10.4.10) iPhoto 5 vs. 6

I have the SAME problem!! Apple, please help how to correct the poor image quality?

IPhoto vs Aperture uploaded image quality to Mobile Me

I realize this may have been discussed, but by my tests the exact same album loaded up to Mobile Me gallery via iPhoto looks better than Aperture...how can this be? I searched for topics about image quality and Mobile Me and found many complaints but little in the way of solutions. While, for me, this seems to be a solution, it is sad that my "pro" app is doing a worse job than a "consumer" app, not to mention the additional importing needed to use iPhoto. And this is v7.1.5 of iPhoto. Anyone have any other solutions for image quality involving Aperture and Mobile Me galleries? Thanks.

So the album finished uploading and the difference is amazing! I was very hesitant to send a link to my client after Aperture had uploaded the album...the images were that soft. But the iPhoto, while still a touch soft look 10X's better. Same album...just different programs used to upload to Mobile Me gallery. I'm not sure what is going on with Aperture, but Apple really needs to figure it out.

IPhoto is changing resolution and image quality

I am currently and for the first time using iPhoto 6 to produce a book - a feature within the application. I have edited my images in Photoshop, some have not needed to be so they have simply been saved as either high-res JPGS or TIFFS. On importing them into iPhoto selected images are downsizing and stating that they are not big enough to print - this I know is not true as they are adequatley large enough for printing to A0 minimum at 300 dpi. There are also a select few that are changing in image quality - the colours are looking either bleached out or over-exposed and they have lost their original quality. When opening the exact files in Photoshop they are correctly exposed, perfect colours, sizes etc. If I am to try and 'retouch' them within iPhoto I can resume some of their quality but it seems through the transition into importing inot the application they are being corrupted.
Can anyone assist me as its driving me mad!!!
Thanks

What is the color space of the photos in photoshop?
In iPhoto Preferences, Advanced, do you have it set to add ColorSync Profile?
BTW, the 72 ppi (pixels per inch) is irrelevant. iPhoto defaults to reporting 72 ppi because that is a typical screen resolution. What's important is the total pixel dimensions of the image, and whether that size gives you an adequate dpi (dots per inch) when printed at the designated print size. So, while the image looks great on-screen in photoshop, that doesn't mean that it will be adequate for printing in a book. But you are right - you shouldn't see a significant shift in color when importing into iPhoto.
Regards.

Iphoto 2 reduces image quality on iPad Air

I seems there is a significant reduction in image quality when editing images in iPhoto 2 (iOS7) on an iPad Air.
Not sure which component is the real problem ... and no, I'm not talking about file size (I know they are reduced) - I talk about dpi
So here's my old setup:
Nikon 5000 (image quality fine), iPad 3, Connection Kit for SD card, iPhoto on iOS 6
... with that setup I was able to save my edited pictures back to camera roll and the still had 300 dpi
My current setup:
Nikon 5000 (image quality fine), iPad Air, New Connection Kit for SD card (lightning), iPhoto 2.0 on iOS 7
... now my adited images only save back to the camera roll with 72 dpi!
As my DSLR and the SD cards are the same than before it seems that either
- Connection Kit
- iPhoto 2
- iOS7
- iPad Air
is the trouble maker!
While iPhoto seems the obvious source for the problem I had an experience that makes me think it could also be the iPad Air:
After creating a video with iVideo (with material from the iPhone 5) I saved this bakc to the camera roll and it was resized (resulting in cuts on the left and right edges) on the iPad.
Copying the same Video to iVideo via AirDrop on my iPhone 5 and savicg it to camera roll there resulted in a correct non-resized version.
So while I can easily live with that workaround for Video the reduction in images from 300 dpi to 72 dpi is signifikant and a real problem.
Anybody experiencing the same, any hints what I can do different to avoid thar reduction?

Just found an interesting article that may be the solution of my problem:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/icloud-photo-stream-and-image -quality/
As I brought together pictures from my DSLR and the iPhone I think I used the Shared PhotoStream folder for editing them in iPhoto 2. In the past I usually worked on the pictures separately (and directly form the Camera Roll) as I didn't mix so much DSLR and iPhone use.
That should explain it and I have to remember to edit directly in the camera roll and the next time.
So it's not a big deal ... I still have all the originals and will save them somewere in my Dropbox if I need them in higher resolution. At least I know I have to change my re-work behavior in the future.

Homepage and iPhoto upload image quality

When I use the 'homepage' option within iPhoto 5 to create an online gallery the images look brilliant using Safari on my iMac G5, however when viewed by PC users with IE6 the images seem to be quite dark.
Can I do anything with either of these applications to correct this, or do I have to manually adjust the Gamma in ImageReady for each individual photo?..
Any help greatly appreciated
Thanks in advance ..

Nick:
What are the sizes of the images you're starting with? If you're not adverse to manually uploading the image files in a folder into the Pictures folder on your iDisk and building the web page thru Safari you can fine tune your images like i do. I use the Share->Export->Web Page (actually I've added the BetterHTMLExport plugin to iPhoto for much better control over image quality) and then upload the folder of images that are created on your desktop. I give the containing folder a significant name so it's easy to find with Safari in the Homepage section.
With BetterHTMLExport there's an option to export the images only to a folder you create on the desktop. That speeds up the process a bit.
Hope this has been of some help. Good luck.
OT

Low File Size/Great Image Quality: H.264, AAC

1. I created a slideshow in iPhoto, exported it to a QT movie file. The properties of it is as follows:
Exibit A:
Dimensions: 720x480
Format: MPEG-4 Video, AAC, Stereo, 44.100kHz
FPS: 30
Data Rate: 7277.87 kbits/sec
Channel Count: 2
Duration: 02'46
Size: 143.58MB
2. I pulled a QT Movie file from the web with the following properties:
Exibit B:
Dimensions: 480x360
Format: AAC, H.264, Stereo (LR), 48.000kHz
FPS: 28.79
Channel Count: 2
Duration: 01'22
Data Rate: 868.14 kbits/sec
Size: 8.5MB
3. I tried to see if I could compress my movie and keep the quality as comparible to Exibit B. Here's what I ended up with:
Exibit C:
Dimensions: 720x480
Format: AAC, H.264, Stereo (LR), 44.100kHz
FPS: 30
Data Rate: 4826.73 kbits/sec
Channel Count: 2
Duration: 02'46
Size: 95.22MB
4. I tried again. This time creating the same dimension as Exibit B. Here what I got:
Exibit D:
Dimensions: 480x360
Format: AAC, H.264, Stereo (LR), 44.100 kHz
FPS: 30
Data Rate: 2577.17 kbits/sec
Channel Count: 2
Duration: 02'46
Size: 51MB
How can I create a very low size and image quality as Exibit B?
I have QTPro. Do I need something else?
Thanks.

Update:
Well playing all exibits on the Windows workstation worked just fine after the update. I now has QT7.
Next...I've exported Exibit A down to 8MB (Exitbit F)by recommendations from Capt. QTKirk. Here are the properties:
Exibit F:
Format: AAC, Stereo (LR), 32.000kHz, H.264, 720x480, Millions
FPS: 15
Data Size: 8.5MB
Data Rate: 429.79kbits/sec
Overall Quality:
Video: Fair at 720x480; much better at 486x324; overall choppy transitions as well
Audio: Fair -close to mono.
Anyone else have any suggestions?
How and what are others using to get the audio/video quality as crisp and sharp as what's shown in the QT Movie Trailer site?

MIssing image quality warning!? (yellow triangle !)

so in photo 10, when adding low quality / low resolution images to my books or calendars, i used to get a yellow triangle warning me that the quality is not good enough. i also got the warning when enlarging a photo beyond a certain point.
since upgrading to iphoto 11, i can NEVER get this warning to show up?
even when i place obviously low quality / low resolution images, and i enlarge them, I don't see that icon?! no matter what i do, the icon doesn't come up!
has Apple removed this warning? does everyone have it except me? is it an option to turn on and off? this is driving me crazy!

I just spent a week creating my annual family calendar in iPhoto '11, didn't see the yellow low-quality image warning triangles from past iPhoto versions and assumed all the photos were decent enough to publish. Boy was I wrong. When I went to order the calendars, during the assembly process I kept getting low-quality image messages, but it only gave the name of the photo file and stopped processing at that page. It didn't show me what photo it was, so I had to figure out which image it was by using "spotlight" and entering the file name. What a pain in the ***.
Once I fixed the offending image, I had to start the entire order process over again, reconfirm payment and shipment information, only to keep getting a low-quality image error message again, and again, and again. It couldn't have saved all the poor-quality images messages for 1 message, so I could fix all the problematic images at once and only have to resubmit the order once. No, it only told me image by image, page by page, if there was a problem, causing me to have to resubmit my order 7 times. It took me 45 minutes to finally order my calendar. I am not happy. I've been ordering my calendars through iPhoto since 2008 and have never had this much difficulty with image-quality messages and order processing.
The photos that caused the error messages were those that other people had sent me that weren't very good quality, and that I had edited once placed in the calendar. Once I deleted the edited version and replaced with the original version, I didn't get an error message. If the image was just too poor quality to begin with and I couldn't use the edited version, then I replaced it altogether.
I just don't know if anyone else has had this much trouble with uploading and ordering their calendars. I hope Apple reinstates the low-quality image warning system that tells us BEFORE we try to place an order which images may have problems. Or at least just give us ONE error message after assembling the calendar that includes ALL the offending images (including the thumbnails, not just the file names), so we don't have to go back over and over and over again and have the ordering process be so incredibly frustrating.

Image quality warning - can I shrink the photos

I have a 8x10 photo book that I'm trying to build using some old images of mine. The resolution on the old images is 1024 x 768 so iPhoto gives me the image quality resolution if I try to print 1 or 2 photos on a single page. Since I don't want fuzz images when I print the page I'd like to reduce the size of the images so they be okay when I print. iPhoto doesn't give you the option to reduce the size of the image. Can I through another application do some sort of workaround to get the images smaller with some sort of background to workaround this?
I wish iPhoto had a little more flexibility in this area.
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)

iPhoto "books" require you image be 300 DPI (dots per inch).
Your Mac display is 72 dpi so your 1024X768 image would need to be made 4 times smaller in size. But this will still not get you 300 dpi and iPhoto will still display a warning no matter what.
GraphicConverter ($35) can change the dot per inch (it says ppi pixels per inch) in your image. It will also reduce it is size by a factor of 4 (very small image).
If you have the original images it would be better to scan them again and set the file to become 300 dpi. More work but larger prints in your book.

Image quality bad in Web Gallery

I used the .Mac web gallery feature for the first time yesterday with images that I had edited in Lightroom and then exported to iPhoto for upload, I chose the jpeg compression at highest quality (they were RAW files taken with my Canon 40D) and saved as sRGB optimized for the web. The thumbnails look fine, but the images look absolutely horrible full screen...focus looks blurry and artifacts in some of the shots. Granted, I'm viewing on my 24" screen and it does look better on my other half's 13" MacBook, but still...the image quality should not suffer like this. I can't believe Apple would release a product the renders such poor quality photos.
Is there something that I'm missing here? Is anyone else noticing this with their web galleries?

Dave:
You can replace the 800 x 600 files with your full sized image files. But it would be a manual operation. Each photo in an web gallery has it's own folder with several versions of the file in it. They are located in the iDisk/Sites/Web/_gallery folder. The file titled web.jpg is used for the slideshow. If you replace it with the original file that's been renamed web.jpg, it will be the one used to display in the slideshow.
HOWEVER, the full sized image file takes a very long time to load when playing the slideshow. If you do that you should use an image resizing application like Resize! to reduce the file size by selecting a higher jpeg compression ( lower quality level) while keeping the pixel dimensions the same. With a 60% quality level and keeping the pixel dimensions the same I reduced a 2816 x 2112 pixel, 2.11 MB image file to 695 KB. The 2.1 MB file took 6 seconds to load, the 695 took 2 seconds and the iPhoto produced file were nearly instantaneous. Resizing down wot 1200 x 900 at 60% reduced the size down to 132 KB, much more manageable for loading and rendering online.
So you would have to test to see what pixel dimension and quality level would work best for you. But keep in mind that you'd have to manually change each file, rename it to web.jpg and copy up to the iDisk.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Image quality in iMovie

Hi guys,
I am trying to use iMovie to put together a slide show (I am a wildlife photographer) and it seems great for the job
There are a couple of bugs within iMovie itself but mostly no big deal, except for one that is bugging me.
The images I have generated are perfect quality when viewed in Adobe Lightroom, iPhoto or any other app, but in iMovie there appear to be far fewer colours so that (for example) the sky in an image is heavily pixelated. I can only guess there are fewer colours in the image.
I am confused because in one of the articles I read it claimed that iMovie was directly accessing the file on disk.
I simply dragged and dropped the hi-res images (they are all between 5 and 15 meg size) into iMovie.
Has anyone else come across this? How can I make the images in iMovie look proper so that I can export the

Are our events all co-mingled? Since ownership is ignored I assume we can see each other's video clips? This seems pretty messy to me and prevents any sort of privacy. In fact this basically breaks the whole user model.
Since still images are not stored as an event in iMovie '08, adding an image from iPhoto, your desktop, etc. adds a copy of the file to you project to serve as the "source" for later export of your project. In addition, since there is a maximum size associated with your project, this "stored" image may be scaled if the original height is greater than 1080 pixels. Therefore, my recommendation was to actually look at the "stored, scaled" file in your project so as to compare it with your original files to see there there was any loss in image quality. You can manually open the project "package" using the "contextual" menu option "Show Package Contents" at the Finder level.
I opened it in iMovie but can't see that option nor an option for setting colours to millions (which would probably solve my problem).
The ideal here is to open the file stored in your project and look at it in the QT Player for comparison with the original file. When I said "color depth should be millions," I was referring to the color depth you should find in the inspector window when you open the files in the QT player. Both should normally read "millions" unless you saved them otherwise.

Photo image quality in iMovie

Hi ... I am attempting to create an iMovie that will include photos and video footage.
I read that the best presentation quality for the photos would be achieved creating a slideshow in iPhoto and exporting the slideshow, and importing the resulting Quicktime movie into iMovie. This would bypass issues created during the iMovie image rendoring process.
I just did a brief test run using the above steps. The image quality in the Qtime video was not very good.
Am I missing a step in here someplace?
The final show will be played on a large screen, so I am very concerned about image sharpness.
Thank you in advance.
Message was edited by: David Ris

I'm not sure what you mean by media folder, a folder of JPEG files is a media folder as is a folder of audio files.
More Info:
When dragging any folder of high quality photos to iMove it has to change it from stills to video. Apples and oranges; a conversion takes place. I just experimented by exporting iPhoto file of high resolution photos to QuickTime changed the QuickTime resolution from 640 x 480 to 1280 x 800 then imported it into iMovie. Then I exported iPhoto full resolution pictures to my desktop and then dragged them to the time line. These photos have text in the pictures. The original photos are 2581 x 1836 when I played the slide show from iMovie I could not tell the difference from the QuickTime movie that I placed in the time line and the full quality photos exported to a folder on my desktop then dragged to the same timeline as I did the QuickTime movie. However the QuickTime movie played independently in QuickTime was far superior to the QuickTime Movie played in iMovie on my computer. My monitor is set at 1680 x 1050.
Text in iMove will show Jaggies when viewed at close working range as I mentioned in an earlier post you must view iMovie at the proper viewing distance because your slides have been converted to video. Drag one of your slides to the desktop you will see that it becomes; example > Still 10.dv > in QuickTime format, no longer a JPEG file. Once you export your slide show to QuickTime you don't have the editing ease of moving your pictures position, changing slide duration, music etc.
For others to view your movies you will eventually have to burn your slide show in iDVD unless you are using your computer and a projector. An hour long iMovie can become a very large file about 10 GB but will play very nicely from a computer. Burn that movie to iDVD it will become about 1GB.
Dick

I imported 635 images into an iPhoto album so that I can share them via a photo-stream. However, iPhoto says there are only 600. When I try to add the missing images it says they are already there. Why can i not see these images in iPhoto?

I imported 635 images into an iPhoto album so that I can share them via a photo-stream. However, iPhoto says there are only 600. When I try to add the missing images it says they are already there. Why can i not see these images in iPhoto?

Generally I would not use Facebook for sharing any photos, it compresses the photos substantially, and when you have shadows and dark colours you get visible "bands" where there should be subtle gradients, ie at sunsets and sunrises.
It sounds like you are using two methods to upload to Facebook:
1. Sharing from within Aperture, which basically syncs Facebook with your Aperture album, so any changes made at either end gets synced, hence the deletions from Albums, although the original file should still be in your library, just removed rom the album. It is like a playlist in iTunes.
2. Exporting pics and uploading to Facebook from the browser.
I am not sure how method 1 gets compressed, but I know that uploading hi-res jpegs to Facebook using method 2 results in poor quality images.
I wouldn't even bother comparing option 1 or 2, and they will both be poor images once you view them on Facebook, as opposed to viewing uploaded images on proper image sharing / hosting sites.
Your problem is not with Aperture, it is using Facebook for showing your work.
If you export pics form Aperture at high res jpegs or TIFFs your images will be fine.
If you insist to use Facebook as your way to share your work, then your workflow should be this:
1. Right click images you want to share.
2. Select Export version.
3. Export as 100% size and ensure the export settings are set at 100% quality.
4. Upload this pic into Facebook.
This will get you the best image size and resolution on Facebook.
See how you go.

How to improve image quality for book

I recently had a book printed from iPhoto 9 (large, hardcover) and the images in the book seem dull and dark compared to the actual images. For example, in one image of a church taken at dusk you can clearly see the outline of the church, including some details, and even people in front of it - but in the book, this area is completely black. I have had books printed before from iPhoto8 and had been happy with the past results.
Apple is refunding my purchase and letting me submit the book again, but told me if I don't edit the photos, I may have the same issue (though they also said it could have been a printer issue that day). Customer support did agree that the image quality itself is good. So, my question is, before I resubmit this book - in general, what attributes or combination of attributes are best to change to make the images more vibrant and not dark when printed for the book (ie. increase color saturation and exposure?)
Thank you.

Thanks. I did indeed preview the book before, and I have followed their tips. As, I said, I have purchased several books in the past and no issue. Apple even sent a couple pictures back to me as an attachment to show what they received, and they matched what I sent, but NOT what was printed. What printed is definitely much darker and in many cases you can't even make out the detail that you could in the images (including the ones they sent back to me for comparison). Maybe the printer really was off. I'll try a few enhancements and try again.

DNG image quality in iPhoto

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