Help please! DNG and TIFF file size.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. There's been some really useful information to consider.

I've got to stick with my workflow as LR won't do everything I need. I'll continue in using external hard drives.

One other option would be to do all I can in LR, export the high res jpg, open and retouch that jpg in PS and save at maximum quality. This results in a filesize of around 40MB (I shoot with a Nikon D850). However, I'm not sure what effect this has on quality. There doesn't seem to be any lack of quality to the naked eye. The workflow isn't as smooth though.

Have a great day everyone and thanks for you advice.

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@garys37512407 wrote:

The size of the TIFFS is absolutly killing my storage space and I was wondering if their is a more efficient method....I've been working this way for years!

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Even though many of us have done it the same way for years, changes around the workflow have increased the file sizes anyway.

10 years ago, a pro camera might capture for example 18 megapixels at 14 bits per pixel, so the raw file coming out of that would be around 24MB. Today, a pro camera might capture 45 megapixels at 14 bits per pixel for a raw file size of about 50MB. That increase has serious implications when converted to TIFF.

10 years ago, someone might convert the 18 megapixel/24MB raw file to uncompressed TIFF and get a file of about 50MB, as a 3-channel (RGB) file at 8 bits per pixel. Today, it’s more common to convert it at 16 bits per pixel, and that results in a TIFF file of over 100MB. So working at 16bpc in Photoshop instead of 8bpc is one reason today’s TIFF sizes are bigger.

Now if you do that with a 45 megapixel/50MB raw file from a current camera, converting at 16 bits per pixel, the 3-channel RGB file size, as uncompressed TIFF, is 260MB! Because two things have been compounded over the last 10 years: double the bits per RGB pixel, and 2x to 3x the typical number of megapixels per frame.

When you edit in Photoshop, you introduce the potential for bigger files beyond the above. Did you add a layer? Double (or more) the file size again, because each layer is like storing another image in the file. Add to that the Preserve Compatibility layer (flattened composite) which is required to see layered Photoshop files in other applications such as Lightroom, and the file size goes up some more. And file sizes go up faster at 16bpc than at 8bpc.

What can you do? Consider some tradeoffs, whichever are acceptable for your work:

• Use a camera that captures just enough pixels for your uses, not more than you need. Or set the camera to capture fewer pixels (e.g. mRaw, sRaw) when you don’t need them all. 
• Only go to Photoshop when you need to do something Lightroom can’t do. 
• Add only necessary layers in Photoshop, not an excessive number of them. 
• Set the TIFF file for pixel dimensions and bit depth no higher than required to produce the quality you need for final delivery.
• Use the LZW or ZIP compression option for TIFF. 
• Buy more storage. 

My solution was to buy bigger hard drives. But that is a problem now because the price of storage and other upgrades have gone up a lot recently, due to component shortages and other factors.

Hi Gary,

My workflow is very much like yours with one big exception: I have all of my images stored on an external drive. A 4 TB drive to be exact. A long time ago I realized I had more images than what was good to be on an internal HD so I opted for two things: one is to place all of my images on an external drive and (2), to back up that drive to a 2nd external drive. You do not say what your OS is but if it's a Mac, I strongly encourage you to check out Chronosync, it is the best backup software available for the Mac. If you're on a PC, I'm sure there will someone around to advise for that. [In addition I also use a cloud backup service incase "the house burns down" kind of thing.]

And as far as DNG goes, I've been doing that since, well, forever. I do not need to sell you on the value of that, nor do I feel it's necessary to say it's not necessary. Just enjoy what you're doing.

One thing that DS256 said that is worthy of note but needed to expand upon is bit-depth. A 24 bit image (color) is 3 times larger than a 8 bit image (grayscale) but a 16 bit image (grayscale) is 256 TIMES larger than an 8 bit image. And I'll let you do the math to figure out how much larger a 48 bit image (16 bit for each color) is over an 24 bit image (8 bits for each color). So yeah, your image size is just fine.

I would NOT go the JPG route (only 8/24 bit possible). Hard drives are cheap, your images are priceless.

Good luck!

I have learned to do nearly all of my editing in LrC, turning to Photoshop on rare occasions anymore. The Lightroom set of tools has improved dramatically to the point that, for me, Photoshop is rarely needed anymore for editing. I also use Nikon cameras. I experience very little space savings by converting to DNG and prefer to stay with the native NEF files. Storage space isn't all that expensive. I have two additional internal hard drives and two external hard drives connected to my computer, so I always have plenty of hard drive space to store my images.

Bottom line is. Try to do everything in Lightroom. As soon as you go into ANY external editor your filesize balloons because of the reasons @richardplondon lists. This is definitely possible for almost all images. Except if you do many really complex manipulations (i.e actually replacing image elements) you really don't need Photoshop even if you think you do.

There is no way round it, a TIFF is expected to save larger than a Raw file regardless whether that is still in the camera proprietary format, or in a DNG converted format. Even when no additional layers or layer masks are included in the TIFF, and even when not made as a smart object (which adds considerable file size penalty).

The Raw data - except in the case of some more unusual cameras - consists of a single number of say 14 binary bits, for each "pixel" location in the eventual image. That reports either a red-filtered, or a green-filtered, or a blue-filtered value.

Then after conversion / rendering to an RGB viewable image format such as TIFF, at minimum a separate red value and a green value and a blue value must be stored to describe this same "pixel". If editing to 8-bit format then this in crude terms totals 24 bits per pixel instead of the Raw file's 14 bits. If editing to 16-bit format then this in crude terms totals 48 bits per pixel instead of the Raw file's 14 bits.

Then additional pixel layers consume file size at the same rate. More so once layer masks / transparency are considered.

Selecting a lossless compressed format for saving the TIFF will certainly help. But there is no way IMO that anything can ever match the efficiency of (for those images where it is feasible) completing postprocessing within Lightroom Classic alone. The Raw file / DNG file is being stored in any case. Only once, no matter how many virtual-copy versions you may generate in LrC.

And LrC can go straight through to export / print just applying those parametric adjustments on the fly. An intermediate TIFF is only essential for editing tasks with no practical equivalent available inside LrC. This is an important difference from the more traditional workflow via ACR, whereby every image must go into PS before controllable output from that really becomes possible.

You may want to try playing around with a few things:

• Review the size of your DNG after import to the original RAW file. Personally, I just leave my photos in their native RAW. When I do convert a NEF to DNG, they are about the same size. I've never seen any advantage of converting to DNG.
• I just had a quick look, and  a 21 MB, 6000x4000 Nikon file (NEF), going through PS created a 291MB TIF file. My LrC Preferences for PS are
  • File Formar = TIFF
  • Color Space = ProPhoto RGB
  • Bit Depth = 16 bits
  • Compression = None
• If you are concerned about disk space, look at using Compression. Personally, disk space is cheap so I don't worry but then I don't do much in PS.
• Others can comment on if there are advantages/disadvantages of using PSD rather than TIF

So, I don't think your sizes are abnormal.