BTHOEM wrote:

> However, I am still anxious to use that feature, as long as I do not
> know if JPG-operations like rotate, crop and flip are performed
> lossless.
>
> I have not found any information beeing spesific on this - all I know
> is that WLPG saves a copy of the original file after performing edits.
> To me that implies that the JPG-file is recompressed when stored,
> which is not good.
>
> I would prefer if basic edits like rotate, crop, flip and redeye
> removals are performed as lossless operations on the original file.

I used FastStone Image Viewer to crop and rotate some files in a lossless
fashion and then compared the results to those operations done by WLPG on
the same files. The results indicate (by side-by-side comparisons at
500%) that WLPG appears to use lossless algorithms for rotate and crop.

Further, the WLPG-rotated and cropped files have the same JPEG Quality
embedded in the files (I started with 98%) before and after those
operations. This would also tend to imply that those operations are
lossless. (Curiously, the WLPG-produced files are not exactly the same
size as those produced by FastStone's lossless rotate and crop. I can't
explain that.)

However, if you do any 'fixing' in WLPG which involves Exposure, Color,
Detail or Red-Eye operations, the resultant JPG is saved with a quality
level of just 89.

> Saving houndreds and thousands of photos for undo-purposes for such
> edits, will occupy uneccessary storage space, make it very difficult
> to interoperate with other photo software, make it very difficult to
> back up my collection.

Under File | Options, you can specify how long WLPG should keep the
originals before sending them into the Recycle Bin.

> And what if the WLPG database was corrupted -
> or not backed up - how would one be able to reconstruct?
>
> BTW: Anyone know where the backup files are stored and how to back up
> WLPG properly in order to be able to restore properly?

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Photo Gallery\Original
Images\ is where mine appear to be stored. I'm using Vista, and therefore
I had "Windows Photo Gallery" before I installed "Windows Live Photo
Gallery" but notice that WLPG appears to use the same location as WPG. I
don't know where WLPG would store originals if I uninstalled WPG and I
don't know where WLPG would store originals if I had never had WPG.

HTH.



--
-blj-