Elements 7 won't import large 16-bit tiff files

[jimpete]

<p>Hi, I posted this on a related forum, but thought I would try here also since I always got great answers here. I just got a few Nikon Coolscan 9 scans done (first ever) from a few Mamiya 7 color transparencies. I farmed this out. They were done at a scan resolution of 4000ppi and at 16 bit depth and are tiff files. The files are huge (566mb and the pixel dimension is 8961 X 11016). I did this on purpose though so that I could eventually print large (16 X 20 or larger) if need be with a lot of detail. I only had 1GB of RAM in my computer. I upgraded that to 3 GB and Elements 7 still tills me that the files are too large to import. I have a feeling that some of you folks do this sort of thing. I wonder if I am missing something. I wonder what my minimum computer requirements would be for working on these files. Thanks for any info. Jim</p>

[john_liberty]

<p>Try converting it to a jpeg. Then save it back to a TIFF when you're through editing it. If you only plan on printing to 16x20, 566mb is overkill. Just rez it down to what you want to print at. I don't think all of your tools will work w/ 16 BIT files in Elements 7 though. Are you sure all 3 GB of RAM is available on your computer? I open files this big all the time on mine w/ only 2 GIG memory, but I'm working w/ PS-7, not Elements.</p>

[david_littleboy__tokyo__ja]

<p>The files may be too large for Elements. Check the fine print about the largest files Elements will handle. You may need to look into another photo editor to get your raw scans down to a manageable size.</p>

<p>For 16x20 you need (300 x 16) x (300 x 20) x 6, which is (4800 x 6000) x 6, or 30 MP times 6 bytes, or 160 GB. OK, the raw scans are a bit of an overkill. Archive the originals and work with downsampled files. You might, though, want to hit the originals with a touch of noise reduction _before_ you downsample.</p>

<p>Photoshop does its own memory management, and (depending on the OS) may be able to use a lot of memory. But when working with files that large, you need to make sure the history list is set to be as short as possible. Photoshop will blithely create multiple history copies of your file, and the instant the working set exceeds memory, things grind to a halt.</p>

[User_503771]

<p>Sounds like you have great files for archiving purposes. And 566 MB isn't all that huge if your infrastructure (computer, software) will handle it. If you have a decently fast machine, it shouldn't be a problem.</p>

<p>Software is the other issue, obvously from what you said. Might want to try googling "photo editor" or "image editor" and see if maybe there's a freeware program that will let you open these files.</p>

<p>Then, from in that program, you can change to 8-bit, or down-size, then save as a new file name, and bring it back into Elements.</p>

<p>Or, you might just find a lot to like in the new program, then you'll have two viable software options....</p>

<p>Anyway, have fun. Isn't it great having good quality scans to work with?</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>I have little difficulty handling files of this size with PS CS2, a 5-y-o Dell with XP and 4MB RAM , though the computer will recognise only a little over 3MB. So I'd be looking at the amount of memory allocated to elements and as others have said checking whether the editor you have has some sort of size limit.</p>

<p>Your longer term issue is whether you need to store files of this size if your print size ambitions don't exceed 20" x 16" and indeed whether future scans need to be so big. Threre's no right answer here - it depends on how good you are at forecasting your future usage. </p>

[philip_wilson]

<p>I don't have elements 7 but I just opened a 586 MB Tiff in elements 6. The file was a Fuji GX680 Scan on a Nikon 9000ED scanner. I opened a couple of other scans just to check and they all work in Elements 6. It is slow to open and actions (e.g. sharpening) take a while to process but this is also true of CS3. I can assure you that Elements 6 can handle these big files. You are limited in what edits you can perform on a 16 bit file but I use a Dell Dimension 9150 with 3 MB of Ram and have no problem besides speed. If you run Photohop while the Nikon scanner is also running the PC is liable to crash. It is possible that one of the upgrades to Elements 7 was to restric file size - I tried my largest file 613 MB Tiff and it opened fine in Elements 6.</p>

[rob_hale1]

<p>Hi David,<br /> <br /> "I have little difficulty handling files of this size with PS CS2, a 5-y-o Dell with XP and 4MB RAM , though the computer will recognise only a little over 3MB."<br /> <br /> Humm me thinks, perhaps a G should be where you have an M ? Most <br /> Xp pro installations use in the order 250 Mg of RAM to run cleanly, you might of course have a truck load of graphic card RAM.<br /> <br /> Best Regards <br /> <br /> Rob</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>You're right. And I made the same mistake twice! Sorry.</p>

[stephan_jamieson]

<p>Your query struck a chord so I did a bit of investigating with Elements 6, a Thinkpad with 2GB of memory and a 343MB TIFF scan of a B&W 645 negative. The upshot is that the Elements organiser displays an "error icon" for the image, indicating that it's too big. I can however open it in the Editor with no problems whatsoever - allowing that, as was mentioned, Elements is not particularly 16bit aware.<br>

Hope this is useful.<br>

Stephan</p>