do you loose stuff with raw?

[jsnonzzr]

I have been told (by my camera instructer at wolf camera) that if I use anything besides captureNX, I will only be unlocking 40% of the picture..."and thats a fact".

From my googling, I have noticed that this seems like it might have been true, but I cant find anything to confirm if this is the case. Can someone give me the back ground on this, or a link that will help me understand? I have googled a few times and cannot find an answer to this part of my question.

[IgsEMT]

ok, so based on that:
#1 u HAVE to shoot nikon and
#2 if not shooting nikon u must shoot jpg for best quality.
Now you probably see that what he says isn't accurate. Personally, I never learned & don't have time to learn how to setup profiles in adobe raw converter thus for RAW i use Capture but not b/c of higher image quality but bc it'll read my camera settings and my adjustments will be minimal if any (b/c mostly everything is done in-camera).

[PhotoXopher]

Nah... you can use programs like Lightroom as well. No offense, but your instructor needs to be taught some new information.

Unless I'm missing something in the translation.

[NateS]

Maybe what he is saying is that if you use any other RAW editor besides Capture NX/NX2 that you will be losing all but about 40% of the camera settings. This is very true. If you use any other raw editor with your nikon .nef's, the program won't read all of the color data, white balance, etc... and you will have to work to get it where you want.

If you use NX/NX2, then when you initially open that raw image, it will look exactly the same as it did when you shot it. I believe some people get around this by getting color where they want in lightroom and then save it as a preset to apply to all their pictures. I personally use NX2 and couldn't be happier. There is very little that I need that it won't do and those few things I need can be taken care of in Gimp (such as cloning).

Oh, and I may be wrong on what he means, but it sounds like he means what I'm saying above.

[jsnonzzr]

yeah... i know adobe has to back into it as nikon, or other manufactures are not up for sharing... or so the interweb says. so i can see maybe 10% or so... I was just wondering how much truth and if it still applied to any degree

[jsnonzzr]

Quote: Originally Posted by NateS

Maybe what he is saying is that if you use any other RAW editor besides Capture NX/NX2 that you will be losing all but about 40% of the camera settings. This is very true. If you use any other raw editor with your nikon .nef's, the program won't read all of the color data, white balance, etc... and you will have to work to get it where you want.

If you use NX/NX2, then when you initially open that raw image, it will look exactly the same as it did when you shot it. I believe some people get around this by getting color where they want in lightroom and then save it as a preset to apply to all their pictures. I personally use NX2 and couldn't be happier. There is very little that I need that it won't do and those few things I need can be taken care of in Gimp (such as cloning).

Oh, and I may be wrong on what he means, but it sounds like he means what I'm saying above.

Thanks,

this isnt what he is saying, but it sounds alot more accurate and believeable that what he is saying. He also doesnt push people to use the m, a or s mode. he says' that p is the best mode. he also set the camera to pick the best ISO even when its in manual mode and I have set it (very frustrating)

so, it sounds like as long as I am doing all my own whitebalancing and color management in lightroom, then I am not loosing anything from the programs... just from the user

[IgsEMT]

Quote:

this isnt what he is saying, but it sounds alot more accurate and believeable that what he is saying. He also doesnt push people to use the m, a or s mode. he says' that p is the best mode. he also set the camera to pick the best ISO even when its in manual mode and I have set it (very frustrating)

well darn, y by an slr camera and shoot GREEN when you can do the same with 35mm disposable .
REALLY sounds like he doesn't know him self optimal use of any non-auto modes.

[Big Mike]

Firstly, I'd stop listening to that salesman.

Although, it's certainly true that different RAW programs can give you different results. I read an article that compared 4 different ones and pointed out some of the differences.

It's not really a big deal, you are still in control of your post processing.

[IgsEMT]

I was going to say that salesman/teacher/instructor is an I**ot but thought would be more civil.

Quote:

I read an article that compared 4 different ones and pointed out some of the differences.

Which article?

[NateWagner]

right, the only thing other thing about what he was saying that would make sense is if he was comparing using capture nx, vs. shooting only Jpeg. In which case I suppose with the jpeg you're immediately throwing away a great deal of the image data.

Using Raw in itself isn't getting rid of information. So I don't think that you would be losing anything outright (at least nothing of significance) I.E. capturenx and AdobeRaw etc. should be fine.

[jsnonzzr]

He seems to know and understand them... I think what it is though is he is teaching to an audience that doesnt want to learn... or dosent want to do any post proccessing. after all, they make no printer other than the one at wolf that the prints well enough to last more than 2 years.

The class does have some things that have tought me about photography, but its mostly a marketing class. you need a memeory card reader... you should buy this one that we sell. you also need a filter... you need this specific brand... that we also sell

Sorry, im ranting now

[IgsEMT]

since u wasted time in class learning from a salesman,
read this
Exposure & Your Photographic Triangle
and this
Topic #2, Light Metering, White Balance, JPEG vs RAW formats
good luck

[jsnonzzr]

Quote: Originally Posted by IgsEMT

since u wasted time in class learning from a salesman,
read this
Exposure & Your Photographic Triangle
and this
Topic #2, Light Metering, White Balance, JPEG vs RAW formats
good luck

Thanks, Im doing the classes because they are teaching me something if you can sift though all the sales crap. atleast I didnt pay for the classes. I paid the camera store preimium for the "if ya run it over with the truck, its replaceable" insurance.

Thanks again for the links, Im going to start reading them tomorrow, its too late now.

[itznfb]

From my personal experience Lightroom and Photoshop don't even come close to rendering the Nikon RAW format accurately the way CaptureNX2 does. After switching to CaptureNX2 for my initial import and looking at the same shot in Photoshop I can't believe how horrible the image looks in Photoshop.

[Joves]

What you are losing is some of the information on the cameras settings itself. In NX you can apply the cameras settings to the NEF file. I shoot RAW+Jpeg and when the Jpegs look fine I apply the camera settings to the NEF. If they dont look right I tweak the image and discard the Jpeg. You should try downloading the trial version of NX2 and, playing with it and, then trying it in whatever you are processing with to see the differences.