Rotating Images

[bgate]

Quick Question -

Is your image really affected when you rotate the image? In Windows XP - it warns you of a possible loss of resolution should you proceed with the image rotation. Is this real? I don't see why it would - but being a little uneducated in the actual changes to the image file, I'm a little nervous.

However, my neck is getting sore from looking at my portrait shots :D .

Thanks-

[bgate]

I found an answer...

"It turns out that Nikon has also previously posted similar warnings about using Windows XP to rotate images and format CF cards. The exact same cautions apply, that if you use Windows Explorer to rotate images you will destroy the important EXIF data held in the JPEG image header, it turns out that even a simple 'properties' view of a file can destroy the EXIF data. Secondly if you use Explorer to format CF cards the default filesystem is FAT32 which digital cameras won't understand.

Nikon advisory:

Important Notice for Users of Windows XP Home Edition / Professional
When using Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional (hereafter Windows XP), carrying out the operations listed below may cause format changes in, or data loss from image data stored in Exif file format. This may also cause Exif Images produced using Nikon digital cameras and Nikon scanners to fail to open in Nikonimage software.

Problem Operations

1 Rotating images in Windows XP explorer using either of the three methods listed below;

Selecting an image file and clicking either the “rotate clockwise” or “rotate counter clockwise” button located at the bottom of the image preview area.
Selecting an image file, clicking the right mouse button and selecting rotate clockwise or rotate counter clockwise from the menu which appears.
Selecting an image file, clicking the right mouse button, selecting Preview from the menu which appears, then clicking the “rotate clockwise” or “rotate counter clockwise” button located at the bottom of the Windows Picture and Fax viewer. (Note that other methods can also be used to open the Windows Picture and Fax viewer.)

2 Choosing Simple in the Summary tab of the image file Properties dialog, and clicking Apply or OK (clicking Cancel will not cause any problems)."

So, should we assume that our image asset managers do it correctly?