Hello Paul22,

Welcome to the PhotoDirector forum

I'm using the Windows version of PhD10, but I don't expect that should make a difference.

Are you exporting to .JPG, .PNG or .TIFF? That will make a significant difference to file size. It should NOT make any difference to the exported resolution!

Could you please have a look at this unlisted screen capture where I'm exporting a 6000x4000 .NEF file to .JPG format, with SIMILAR options checked that you've noted (quality is set to 100%).

The original .NEF is 24.5MB & the exported .JPG is 22.6MB



Perhaps that will be a step in isolating what the issue might be.

PIX PIX YouTube channel

Thanks for your reply PIX.

I am both importing and exporting to JPG.

Thanks for your screen capture. Yes, those are the same settings that I am using. I note that you highlighted the Dimensions of the exported photo. When I export, the Dimensions stay the same, but it is the Resolution that is being decreased considerably.

Perhaps it is a Mac issue? Can anyone help?


Thanks again,
Paul

Quote Hello Paul22,

Welcome to the PhotoDirector forum

I'm using the Windows version of PhD10, but I don't expect that should make a difference.

Are you exporting to .JPG, .PNG or .TIFF? That will make a significant difference to file size. It should NOT make any difference to the exported resolution!

Could you please have a look at this unlisted screen capture where I'm exporting a 6000x4000 .NEF file to .JPG format, with SIMILAR options checked that you've noted (quality is set to 100%).

The original .NEF is 24.5MB & the exported .JPG is 22.6MB



Perhaps that will be a step in isolating what the issue might be.

PIX

Hello again Paul,

Earlier, I didn't address the exported tags issue you mentioned. PhD10, here at least, exports added tags & IPTC data, shown in the attached screenshot.

Could you please download this .JPG file & (1) check whether the added tags/IPTC are viewable in Finder, & (2) import it into your PhD10 to see whether that is present in the Metadata tab.

So, the dimensions of the exported photo is not the issue? Earlier you said: "from 600 x 600 down to 240 x 240". Could you please clarify?

Would it be possible for you to creat a screen capture that illustrates the problem? I'm afraid Mac users of PhotoDirector seem to be in the minority, but I'm sure we can help resolve your issue.

PIX PIX YouTube channel

Hi Pix,

Thanks again for your help with my export issues, very much appreciated.

I imported your photo into PhD and the the added tags were present in the Metadata Tags. I went back to Finder and your tags were not listed under Tags, but when I clicked on More Info, I saw them under Keywords. I then checked my photos and my tags were present in Keywords, but not in Tags. I suppose that as long as I know the tags are being exported somehwere, all is good. So one issue down, thanks.

When I said photos were being reduced from 600 x 600 down to 240 x 240, I was referring to Resolution (not sure if that is DPI??). I am assuming that a much lower resolution will mean that the photos have been reduced in quality quite considerably. Please correct me if I am wrong on assuming that.

Your test photo that I imported is showing up as having a resolution of 300 x 300. I am assuming that is very low for a 24 MB photo? BTW, that resolution is before importing/exporting to PhD, so has nothing to do with PhD. What is the resolution of that photo on your computer? I can only see dimensions in your screenshot, not resolution.

Regards,
Paul

Quote Hello again Paul,

Earlier, I didn't address the exported tags issue you mentioned. PhD10, here at least, exports added tags & IPTC data, shown in the attached screenshot.

Could you please download this .JPG file & (1) check whether the added tags/IPTC are viewable in Finder, & (2) import it into your PhD10 to see whether that is present in the Metadata tab.

So, the dimensions of the exported photo is not the issue? Earlier you said: "from 600 x 600 down to 240 x 240". Could you please clarify?

Would it be possible for you to creat a screen capture that illustrates the problem? I'm afraid Mac users of PhotoDirector seem to be in the minority, but I'm sure we can help resolve your issue.

PIX

Hello again Paul,

I believe there is some confusion in terms here, partly as a result of how the Mac is interpreting photo data & partly because of a more general "misuse" of terms. Hopefully, my attempt at explanation will allay your concerns.

People (including me) commonly refer to a digital photo's "resolution" but they actually mean "image size". The JPG I posted is 6000x4000, the same size as the original .NEF file I imported. The photo's resolution is 24MP (megapixels), which is 6000x4000 = 24 000 000 pixels.

Photo analysis apps, like JPEGSnoop and EXIFTOOL report the X resolution as 300/1 & the Y resolution as 300/1 (which looks like DPI or PPI but it's not referring to a print). These pages contain some explanatory notes on terms & definitions.

According to JPEGSnoop, the original photo (from the camera) has X/Y resolution of 300/1, which is exactly the same as the exported version. i.e. PhotoDirector is NOT decreasing the resolution/pixels/quality of the photo on export, beyond the expected impact og JPG compression.

If you wish, you can use EXIFTOOL on your Mac to compare data from original & exported photos.

PIX PIX YouTube channel

Hi PIX,

Apologies for dlayed response, but after spending days going through your trouleshooting below, discussions with Cyberlink, Apple and Epson support and a great deal of experimenting, I have found that the problem has nothing to do with PhD. The problem is with the software which came with my Epson Printer. I imported and exported photos from my camera and another scanner to PhD and had no loss of resolution. Even using Apple's Image Capture on my Epson Scanner worked fine. So, apologies for wasting your time, although if anyone else has a problem of loss of resolution when exporting from PhD, you may want to point them to their scanner software.

Thanks again so much for your help,
regards,
Paul

Quote Hello again Paul,

I believe there is some confusion in terms here, partly as a result of how the Mac is interpreting photo data & partly because of a more general "misuse" of terms. Hopefully, my attempt at explanation will allay your concerns.

People (including me) commonly refer to a digital photo's "resolution" but they actually mean "image size". The JPG I posted is 6000x4000, the same size as the original .NEF file I imported. The photo's resolution is 24MP (megapixels), which is 6000x4000 = 24 000 000 pixels.

Photo analysis apps, like JPEGSnoop and EXIFTOOL report the X resolution as 300/1 & the Y resolution as 300/1 (which looks like DPI or PPI but it's not referring to a print). These pages contain some explanatory notes on terms & definitions.

According to JPEGSnoop, the original photo (from the camera) has X/Y resolution of 300/1, which is exactly the same as the exported version. i.e. PhotoDirector is NOT decreasing the resolution/pixels/quality of the photo on export, beyond the expected impact og JPG compression.

If you wish, you can use EXIFTOOL on your Mac to compare data from original & exported photos.

PIX