Raw, Jpeg, or Raw+Jpeg

[RockstarPhotography]

I ask just about every photographer this question. What format do you shoot, Raw, jpeg, or raw+jpeg?

[Ads]

[o hey tyler]

Just raw. Back them up with lightroom and keep all the original raw's on an external HD.

[KenC]

Just raw. If someone needed to process hundreds of images, I can see why they might want to shoot jpg, but I don't process in that quantity, so I can't see giving up the flexibility of raw processing. Another issue is that I don't trust a compressed file type as my primary capture mode. As for raw+jpg, why bother - you can get a jpg any time from a raw file.

[Overread]

RAW only now - I might slip into RAW+JPEG for family holidays and stuff where I might not want to process the photos (or end up with things like portraits and hoomins in the shot that I don't know how to process ) but still want a usable image format.

JPEG to me exists only as either a way to have a larger buffer (smaller file sizes over RAW) or if I were to need to create usable images in a very fast paced environment (thus far sports photography is the only area that really operates this way when they need the shots on the editors table whilst the photographer it still covering the game)

[RockstarPhotography]

I figured since i posted this I might as well add what i shoot to

primarily raw....

if its fast action sports where i'm using continuous shutter i'll shoot jpeg to help the buffer keep up easier

I've only shot raw+jpeg once. and that was when a client needed images right away to proof the ones they wanted edited....

[e.rose]

RAW.

Except yesterday apparently.

Because the camera was set to JPEG from when I was taking a shot of something to throw up on my personal blog, which I had no intention of editing.

And then I went out to shoot "snow/ice" pictures on one of the trails.

I forgot to switch back to RAW and didn't realize it until my second to last shot.

#%*#@^*&%#@$

[dnavarrojr]

Interesting... I shoot Raw+Jpeg only because Windows doesn't show me a thumbnail of raw images, just the Jpegs. So I use them as a reference when I'm going through images in explorer.

Lightroom lets you browse raw images, right? So once I get Lightroom I can probably change the way I work.

[Overread]

Hmm if you've installed the camera codec from the CD that came with your camera windows image viewer should be able to show you your RAW files as images (or more correctly it should be able to find the embedded JPEG in your RAW files and show that).

[sean7488]

I used to shoot raw+jpeg but I switched to just raw cause it's easier to organize and process the images. With both raw and jpeg it got kind of confusing and annoying

[o hey tyler]

Interesting... I shoot Raw+Jpeg only because Windows doesn't show me a thumbnail of raw images, just the Jpegs. So I use them as a reference when I'm going through images in explorer.

Lightroom lets you browse raw images, right? So once I get Lightroom I can probably change the way I work.

Yes, LR3 handles RAW files quite nicely and is great for organization. Gives me a photo boner every time I boot LR up.

[Gaerek]

Interesting... I shoot Raw+Jpeg only because Windows doesn't show me a thumbnail of raw images, just the Jpegs. So I use them as a reference when I'm going through images in explorer.

Lightroom lets you browse raw images, right? So once I get Lightroom I can probably change the way I work.

This might help:

For Canon

For Nikon

If you use a manufacturer other than Canon or Nikon, just do a google search for "<camera manufacturer> raw codec" and you should find it.

As for the poll, I usually shoot RAW + jpeg. I don't have a real good reason for it, but I like having the jpegs available and not having to convert from RAW. Though, almost all of my heavy lifting is done in RAW. Memory card space is cheap, hard drive space is cheap, and having a jpeg version means I can show photos immediately (if need be) without converting.

[sanderso]

raw+jpeg. Nice to be able to see/reference the image (in jpeg) from windoze w/o processing it.

[DxAxN]

I only shoot in JPEG... maybe I will get around to trying raw one of these days

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

Just RAW. Uploaded to my computer and periodically redundently backed up to two additional hard drives. Unless I am taking family pics for my wife, since she wants them right away for her facebook and just to keep for personal reasons. So I shoot JPEG so she doesnt have to wait on the edits. If its a more planned family thing ( like a formal picture or something) then I would still shoot RAW.

[jrphoto]

I just shoot RAW then convert to DNG when I put everything on lightroom. It makes me feel much more secure for the times ahead and will hopefully save me a lot of time and headache in the longrun!