File Sizes made smaller with EOS40D when I uploaded should be over 3,000 px

Strange ! I just did some snaps with my EOS40D + RAW files to J Peg using FastStone Image Viewer and the file size came out very small just over 1900 PX when it should be over 3,000 PX- I have a NEW WINDOWS 11 computer now in File Explorer to get the files off the CF Card into my CANON EOS40D Folder -- in the Older Windows 10 there was a thing where you clicked on say 6 RAW Files on the Card then could 'COPY' them to the Folder of choice but NOT on Windows 11 -- I forget HOW I finally got the snaps into EOS40D folder but noticed the RAW FILE SIZE had been made SMALLER !
Here is a J Peg with the smaller File Size --

 

STRANGE AGAIN today ! I was doing some RAW files from my OLYMPUS E-500 in FastStone Image Viewer taken at the Brentwood Half Marathon and the SAME THING has HAPPENED -- the JPeg size was REDUCED without me doing anything on output ! I can't see what has gone wrong so far .. in the CANON EOS 40D I DEFINITELY had it set to the LARGE 'RAW' size -- I checked what you showed me .

 

I'm not familiar with the FastStone Image viewer Peter but I am wondering if it has an option for setting the JPEG Size Options (similar to Photoshop as shown below) and that it may be set at a low setting?

Three different sizes shown below:

 

KEITH -- Very Helpful Thanks -- but I thought those settings were for the PIXEL AMOUNT not 'IMAGE SIZE' -- I have searched FastStone and cannot see anything which affects Image Size on change from RAW to J Peg -- I will now ask a Camera Club Member who is a Computer Buff if he can help and let you know how I get on ! I have my Folder 'PICTURES' then inside that a Sub-Folder 'CANON Pics' then inside that all my CANON Cameras - my three DIGITAL ones EOS 1000D, EOS 40 D and Powershot G5 so I copy the RAW files into one of those then do the Adjustments and change to JPeg in the Software.

 

Peter, this could get into very deep waters if you're not au fait with digital file formats but in a nutshell:

1. A RAW file from the camera is pure data, it is not a 'image' file as such. What you see when you look at it in software, is that data converted into a human viewable image. Software can do all sorts of manipulation on the data to give you the 'look' you want, but you then have to 'save' it in another file format - you cannot save it as a RAW file.

2. There are many different file formats but there are two important ones you need to know: TIFF (.tif) and JPEG (.jpg) formats.

The TIFF file format is a 'lossless' file format, which means it will save all the information in your image file, including any changes you have made to the original RAW file - it will be a very large file.

The JPEG file format is a 'lossy' file compression format, designed to produce smaller file sizes without compromising image quality too much. Often the 'Quality/File size output can be varied as shown in the three images above. How this is achieved is really beyond this discussion, but suffice to say the software 'throws away' information from the file that it deems 'unnecessary' in order to achieve a smaller (i.e. compressed) file size, a file saved as a JPEG therefore will always be smaller the RAW or TIFF file it was generated from.

This is a very brief explanation that I hope will help you understand why your file sizes differ. Also, bear in mind that 'pixel size/count' and 'image resolution' are inextricably linked - once again, this is a very much simplified explanation. E&OE

I hope this makes sense as it's quite made my brain ache.

 

Dear Mr THUMBNAIL: Wow - So helpful -- YES I understand about about 'TIFF' and 'JPeg' and 'RAW' differences now (I am Gradually Getting Computer Imaging Au Fait even at MY AGE 87 ! ) AND have some Good News! I had another look at FastStone Image Viewer settings and clicked on the 'Quick Resize' button and Lo and Behold ! a Much BETTER thing came up were I could get what I wanted ! As I told you -- although at the TOP in the small Boxes the RAW file showed as 3340x2504 for my 2005 8MP Olympus E-500 when I chose one and went to 'Resize' it was ALREADY SET down to 1600x1200 Pixels without me doing anything - BUT in the NEW BOX there were options and if I clicked on 'A' key it made it go to the full RAW Size ! So I could mess about a bit if necessary then if I WANTED I could downsize OR keep it Same for upload to FLICKR. When I got my New All-Singing- All - Dancing POSH 16GB RAM Windows 11 computer I had to get the LATEST VERSION of FastStone Image Viewer so that may have been the reason -- I also have PhotoShop 7 BUT that will not do 'RAW' files .

 

I tip my hat to your five years seniority Peter and I'm glad I was able to help. I've spent sixty years printing in a wet darkroom but even after twenty-five years with digital imagery all this file-size/resolution/how's-yer-father-thingymebob stuff still does my head in, but never mind, we got there in the end. Enjoy the new-to-you branch of photography.