jpeg default quality for saving

[MikeG]

I've done it yet again!
Tweaked 15 individual jpegs and saved them using save as. Then deleted the originals. Only to find that I'd saved at 50% quality instead of my normal 97% quality.
Usually I try to avoid adjusting the quality setting from the 97% setting because I know I'm likely to forget to reset it. Maddeningly the reason I'd used 50% was to get a image file size small enough to post to this board!
Please, please, please can we have a preferences entry for a default jpeg quality setting, PLUS a warning whenever we try to save at another quality setting.

I can't be the only person who has this problem, can I?

Mike.

[Dieter Mayr]

I am not sure if i would like the idea of having a additional window to click away when saving.
I usually hava a look at the result window to see that the file size is in the range i expected.
Maybe it would be a solution to use shift click with Save and Save As as it used for Transformations to reset to default ?

Just my thoughts

[tomczak]

Or having and JPG-save preview - thought I'm sure if it was easy, it would have been done already...

[dplester]

Perhaps a 'not at default quality' warning as Mike has suggested with the ability to enable or disable the warning in preferences. Personally, I don't want another click, but I can appreciate Mike's point...and pain.

Darren.

[MikeLafleur]

Perhaps another approach is to have a group (4 or 5) of "Save" or "Save As" buttons that can be programmed by the user for his/her own quality choices and even labeled with the quality. The qualities could be set in preferences, and thus would only require one click, and would be easy to remember.

[doug]

Perhaps, I'm missing something here. But I have never used the quality function in the save command to reduce file size. If I want a downsized file for e-mailing or web posting, I always use the "resize" transformation and save the resulting downsized image at the standard 97% quality setting while amending the name of the original file by adding "(downsized)" at the end.

Can someone explain why saving under a different quality setting is preferable to what I've been doing?

[MikeG]

Doug,

What I have tended to do is use resize to set the maximum pixel dimensions allowed for posting, then adjusted the quality setting - by trial and error - until the file size is small enough. Sometimes my default quality setting of 97% is small enough, but often it is not.

The downside it that, all too often, I forget to reset the quality level back to 97%.

I've no reason to suppose that this is the best way of achieving the required image and file size. I've used this approach because I've assumed that this would result in a post attachment with the best 'viewablity'.

I, too, would like to know if there is a better way of achieving this end. I've assumed that leaving quality at 97% and using only resize to adjust both pixel dimensions and file size may result in a smaller than necessary image that is less 'viewer friendly'. I may well be wrong...

Mike.

[den]

Re: Posting Images
by jsachs on April 25th, 2009, 8:39 am
The maximum image size is currently set to 400x400 pixels and 50Kb file size.

If one desires to post an image to this message board, then the 400x400 pixel dimension may be the primary consideration, followed with subsequent lessening quality saves until the file size is below 50KB.

[keithrj]

There is a great free tool for resizing images and restricting them to a specified file size. The tool is called BD Sizer and is available here: http://www.idimager.com/?page=freeware

[MikeG]

Thanks, Keith, right tool for the job.

Now all I have to do is to remember to use it!

Mike.