Rotating Digital Photos

[wireman]

[Mod Edit]Moved this part of thread from 'I know it's still beta but' thread - had gone off topic [/Mod Edit]

Originally Posted by m_pav

Hint - for digital camera use, treat them like a removable storage device and use the tried and true drag and drop or copy and paste. Relying on a program as a front end to access the camera is sure to end up in tears, that goes for windows users too.

I disagree. The drag and drop method isn't without it's flaws either. For example, how do you deal with rotation of portrait style photos automatically?

I'm a big fan of digiKam and if your camera is supported (and very few aren't) then there's no reason not to use it. I've had zero problems with it over the last few years.

[m_pav]

Originally Posted by wireman

I disagree. The drag and drop method isn't without it's flaws either. For example, how do you deal with rotation of portrait style photos automatically?

I'm a big fan of digiKam and if your camera is supported (and very few aren't) then there's no reason not to use it. I've had zero problems with it over the last few years.

That's not a flaw, that's a design. Changing a file mid-transfer is not what drag and drop is all about, it's about making an exact copy. Rotation can still be handled by the "viewing" program and I (as well as thousands of other enthusiasts and pros) prefer to keep every digital image exactly as it was as it was taken because jpg is a lossy format and a rotation can cause losses. I prefer gwenview, and that rotates as required, but leaves the original intact and unchanged.

As a computer tech, I've heard people say "They're in (program name)" referring to their photos, when I know darn well they are not, they're on the hard disk and the program only references them. Drag and drop or copy and paste is always the safest way, though "programs" like digicam can add a nice touch when it comes to automation. btw, I think Digikam is a great program too.

Mike P

[wireman]

Originally Posted by m_pav

That's not a flaw, that's a design. Changing a file mid-transfer is not what drag and drop is all about, it's about making an exact copy. Rotation can still be handled by the "viewing" program and I (as well as thousands of other enthusiasts and pros) prefer to keep every digital image exactly as it was as it was taken because jpg is a lossy format and a rotation can cause losses. I prefer gwenview, and that rotates as required, but leaves the original intact and unchanged.

That's a fair point and I guess I didn't really think about what the auto-rotation was doing (editing and re-saving)

[carlops]

I am not so sure if it affects the image quality. As far as I know, rotation is achieved by modifying some header info in the image, and it leaves the pixel info untouched.

[Acesabe]

I found recently that using the camera to rotate the relevant photos before uploading circumvents the need to use any post processing - most decent image viewers will then show the image with the correct orientation. Or if you have a Canon Ixus it has an auto orientation detection sensor to do this automatically - nice!

[wireman]

Originally Posted by Acesabe

I found recently that using the camera to rotate the relevant photos before uploading circumvents the need to use any post processing - most decent image viewers will then show the image with the correct orientation. Or if you have a Canon Ixus it has an auto orientation detection sensor to do this automatically - nice!

Yes, my Canon Powershot G3 has the orientation detection built-in, which is what digiKam uses to automatically rotate portrait images during download.

The thing I'm not sure about is whether rotation is done by editing and resaving the image or not.

[carlops]

Well, looks like I was partially wrong: http://osdir.com/ml/kde.digikam.user.../msg00114.html

Digikam does not have lossless rotation. It is possible to do lossless EXIF rotation, but apparently not all apps understand EXIF headers....

[Acesabe]

Originally Posted by wireman

The thing I'm not sure about is whether rotation is done by editing and resaving the image or not.

Well on my Pentax Optio S60 the rotation is virtually instant - suggesting that it is the EXIF info being modified not the image itself...

[Allan Gabston-Howell]

Originally Posted by m_pav

As a computer tech, I've heard people say "They're in (program name)" referring to their photos, when I know darn well they are not, they're on the hard disk and the program only references them. -- Mike P

Same here, and I get a chill that runs down my spine when I'm given the requirement of saving "Everything in EasyShare" or "Everything in ZoomBrowser" when their system is cratered by one exploit or another.

Like I know how to use *those* photo browsers when I use a card reader and just dump the photos to a directory.

Sheesh! Go and show 'em how easy it is to do it with a card reader and a real photo editor; and they just say that they like windoze program X|Y|Z better.