Just incase someone is looking for this information. When you install Paintshop Pro X4 the default setting is Compress your raw photos by 20 % if you select to edit a photo and the click file then export and jpg optimizer you can change the compression ration to a 1 from the 20 percent it is set by default.

RAWs cannot be compessed , its a trick , or else a misleading statement
hopefully PSP X4 is better then X3 and X2

If I used the convert RAW it would go from 7 to 10 meg. to less than one. The export function helps a lot and doesn't shrink the file as much when you convert it from raw to jpg.

Originally Posted by Zerolightphotos If I used the convert RAW it would go from 7 to 10 meg. to less than one. The export function helps a lot and doesn't shrink the file as much when you convert it from raw to jpg.

You are converting the raw file-- actually exporting it to a different format, such as jpeg. That is different from modifying the original raw file, and is no different from what Photoshop/Elements/Lightroom do when you export.

Personally, I never covert to JPG except to publish to my smugmug site.

As an aside, LR4 now allows "lossy" dng files, but that's a different thing altogether.

I first use DPP (exposure, cropping) to create a tif from my RAW's and edit the tif in PSPX2 saving as a jpg. The
only compression applicable is in saving the jpg. PSP never sees my Raw's. Is there a better workflow then this?

Any advantage in "upgrading" X2 to X4?

"Any advantage in 'upgrading' X2 to X4?"

For me there was. Along other things, version X4 allows you to clone and use the paint brush with a 16-bit image. Previously, the only masking I could do in 16 bits was hide- or show-selection masking. Now I can use the paintbrush, and it makes a big difference.

There are a couple of new adjustment layers, local tone mapping and clarity/fill light, that are useful at times.