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CVHManchester
Inspiring
November 3, 2016
Question

Rotate 48 bit TIFF files*

  • November 3, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 4489 views

I am scanning a collection of ca 1500 prints using TIFF at 48 bit depth, each file being ca 819 MB. The scanner imports the the images as portrait, but most need to be rotated to landscape.

When trying to rotate these images using Organiser, this gives an error and says that the images will be reduced to 8 bit.

I am using Adobe Photoshop Elements Version: 14.1 (20151206.m.83730)  x64, Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit, 10 GB free memory.

Can I do a simple rotate in Photoshop without any modification of the internal content. just a transformation of the pixel coordinates?

Thank you

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    1 reply

    Jeff Arola
    Community Expert
    Jeff ArolaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 3, 2016

    It seems silly to me that the organizer insists on converting the perfectly good 16 bits/channel (48 bit) tifs to 8 bits/channel just to rotate an image 90 degrees left or right, but unfortunately that's the way it is.

    Anyway, you can open the tifs in the pse 14 editor and rotate them by going to Image>Rotate>90° right or 90° left, then File>Save and overwright the existing tiff file.

    C
    CVHManchesterAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 3, 2016

    Thank you for the prompt confirmation of what I did not want to hear.

    When I tried your method using process multiple files, it opens each file taking about 90 seconds each.  I started with a sample directory of 20 of my files and gave up waiting.  I did not get as far as rotating, then saving them.

    Do you know of any image manipulation software that can do what I need in an economical manner?

    C
    CVHManchesterAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 4, 2016

    You can try using Irfanview to resave the tif files without any compression or try Zip compression which should provide smaller file sizes than the original.

    You could experiment with one file in the pse 14 editor and resave the tif with zip compression to see.

    File>Save As>TIFF

    The problem with photoshop elements is while one can batch process the resaving of the scans (tifs), one can't specify any options like compression, so that's why Irfanview would be the one to try and besides it would take a very long time with such large file sizes for photoshop elements to complete the process.


    Thank you.

    I am surprised given the vastly increased resolution/depth of cameras and scanners, speed of CPUs, memory resources, and quality of monitors, that the software is not keeping up with the increasing requirements of users to manipulate 48 bit files.

    I discovered over 20 years ago that 24 bit files did not provide a good image of reality. I was trying to scan radiographs then.  I have only one opportunity to scan these objects, so I want to preserve the best quality image I can capture as an archive.  I have seen too many instances where a poor quality scan was taken and preserved for short term cash reasons, then rapidly overtaken by technology and the needs of users.  Digital "preservation" of historic newspapers is an historic failure.

    IrfanView 64: Irfan Skiljan has been very prompt in replying to my questions. His program saves everything as 24 bit files, and he sees no case for rewriting the program to manipulate 48 bit files.  I think he is wrong - but then I do not have to do the extensive rewriting.

    FireStone Image Viewer: This has similar properties to IrfanView.

    XnView: This changes the file to 8 bit depth.

    Photoshop: As I found when attempting the task, it took ages to load each file, and I gave up before even getting to the rotation then save stages. Why Photoshop thinks it necessary to load the files to rotate them, I do not know.  It should be easier to make Organiser compatible with Photoshop's ability to manipulate 48 bit files.

    File Explorer: I am now exploring if File Explorer rotation settings can be modified to eliminate the LZW compression stage. LZW notoriously increases the size of 48 bit TIFF files. Windows Photo Viewer does the same, but more slowly.

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