JPEGS, Cameras, Ringing woes
by Onna_no_hito
on
Apr 3, 2007 at 10:08:21 am
Hallo All,
I just recently realized that our digital camera doesn't output RAW files but rather JPEGs. Lately I have been taking photos to use as textures or using them for pulling mattes in Shake. Outside of buying a new camera, is it best to just use these JPEGs or to convert them to some other format before importing them?
I assume converting them first means an additional loss of data. I'm concerned because looking back at work I did recently, I decided to use a different background image but noticed that I had lost some important information while trying to compensate for the abundant ringing that was occuring (typical of .jpgs from what I understand). It wasn't overly apparent with the original background, but now I realize I will have to go back and readjust some parameters and I would like to try and avoid this from happening in the future if possible. Is there hope for my present JPEG ringing woes? Thanks in advance!
Re: JPEGS, Cameras, Ringing woes by Nick Jushchyshyn on Apr 3, 2007 at 12:42:35 pm
You won't "lose" any information converting a JPG to something like TIFF or TGA .... but you won't really gain anything either. If detail has been lost to the JPG compression within your camera it's very difficult to restore ... if it's even possible. I've heard the NASA has software to help bring extra detail out of compressed images (especially if you have multiple images of the same subject) but I don't think they offer a Shake plugin. :p (would be cool though .. wouldn't it !?!?!?! )
Check your camera's jpg quality settings. At the highest quality setting, most cameras show very little artifacting.
Also, look for any "sharpening" or perhaps "sharpness" settings. If there is a setting like this available, its generally best to have it switched off, ("off" might be a zero or negative value.) In-camera sharpening is often results with the ringing around details that you describe.
Re: JPEGS, Cameras, Ringing woes by Onna_no_hito on Apr 3, 2007 at 8:23:46 pm
Hi Nick,
Thanks alot. I didn't think it made much sense, but my husband said "Wer nicht fragt, bleibt dumm" (Who doesn't ask, remains dumb) this morning as I was contemplating posting that question so there you have it! Someone should tell NASA they could make a lot of money making their technology available to the world, then they'll output that plugin in no time!
Re: JPEGS, Cameras, Ringing woes by Andrew Shanks on Apr 5, 2007 at 8:08:41 pm
No Shake Plugins that I know of, but there are plenty of de-artifacting / de-noising apps for getting rid of artifacts from jpegs (and a lot of them can be used on image sequences, ...i.e. motion video/film clips, ...although only to 16bit). Noise Ninja and Neat Image (Neat Video) are a couple that spring to mind, ....google them to see some of their online examples (some of those apps do an amazing job) and download a demo or two to see how you go. Some of them have the ability to move colour channels if you are getting colour ghosting, etc.
I often used jpeg (set to super-fine) from my canon camera in matte paintings used in film/tv, ....at the end of the day if you have a half decent camera (even a $250, 5MP, point and shoot), chances are it'll have results that are perfectly usable. I echo thoughts about sharpening though, ...if your camera has this setting, turn it off (or dial it down low) as it will produce almost an ugly embossing effects if left on (if you key against it, you'll get strange white and black halos).
