Nikon D300 User Manual page 130

▪ You cannot manipulate a JPEG image more than once or
twice before it degrades to an unusable state. Every time
you modify and resave a JPEG image, it loses more data
and quality.
TIFF Image Quality Format
The TIFF (RGB)
post-processing but can easily be manipulated later if desired.
Some people will use TIFF mode for initial shooting. TIFF is
not considered a lossy format, although there is an initial
conversion from 12 or 14 bits to 8 bits. The image loses 4 or 6
bits during the conversion, so some color data is lost, but it is
not enough to make a big difference in the image. Use TIFF
mode if you do not want the lossy compression of a JPEG and
if you want to adjust the images later in your computer.
TIFF may be used by those who want to be able to work with
their images over and over without throwing away data, as
happens with JPEG files when they are compressed. When
you shoot in TIFF, the camera does not compress the image.
However, it does apply the camera settings to the image file
immediately. Since the camera shoots natively in 12-bit or
14-bit, there is some initial data loss when using the TIFF
format as images are converted to 8-bit TIFF files. The
primary problem with TIFF files is that they are huge and will
slow your camera down while it saves the files.
Here are the pros and cons of the TIFF format:
TIFF Positives
▪ Very high image quality.
format creates images that do not require
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