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melvinf-Camera
melvinf-Camera
Participating Frequently
March 10, 2021
Question

RAW files (NEF) reduced in size when opened in Photoshop file is

  • March 10, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 2421 views

After working in Photoshop RAW using Nikon's NEF format the file opens in Photoshop 22.3.0 is automatically significantly reduced in size. Not compacted, but a 24 mbit file is spontaneosly reduced to 1.90m. This is a recent bug which has not appeared before. I need to have the file full size.

What is the solution for the strange sudden behavior?

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1 reply

D Fosse
Community Expert
D FosseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 10, 2021

There's no bug.

 

What is the size in pixels? That's what matters. The rest is file format, bit depth, encoding and compression.

 

This is the very same original file, at 7952 x 5304 pixels:

 

A raw file is a single channel at 12 or 14 bit depth. An uncompressed PSD is three channels, so that alone triples the file size, and in addition higher bit depth. Jpeg uses very aggressive data compression to reduce file size on disk, which can shrink to 2-5% of the PSD size.

 

There is a very fundamental difference between a raw file and a rendered RGB file.

 

Compression of RGB files affects packaged size on disk. When the file is opened, it is decompressed and returns to full native size. A file format is a storage package, when open it doesn't have a file format.

 

 

 

melvinf-Camera
melvinf-CameraAuthor
Participating Frequently
March 10, 2021

Thank you for your response.
Something has happened when opening my NEF (RAW) files for the RAW program into Photoshop

Here are the statistics:

Original NEF file:
32.1 mb - 6,016 x 4016 px
When opened in Photoshop
1.90m – 1,000 x 64 px

This happened suddenly only last week.

When tested in Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Cloud the transfer from RAW (NEF) format into lightroom retains the pixel count.

 

This is not a JPG issue, As soon as the file is placed into Photoshop from Camera RAW 13.2 the pixel count is suddenly reduced even if it is a PSD, TIFF or RAW (NEF) format. 

I do not think this is a bug, but some conversion switch is reducing the pixel count. The file is not compressed, the pixel count is reduced.

Mel-Camera
Per Berntsen
Community Expert
Per BerntsenCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 10, 2021

In the Camera Raw preferences > Workflow settings, make sure that Image sizing is not checked.

 

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