Another shooting RAW vs. JPEG thread. HELP!

[aleut2]

If you aren't going to use RAW, you might as well pack up your DSLR camera and go buy a 'point & shoot' digicam.

OK, that's a bit of an extreme take on the issue...but if you are at all concerned about image quality, then it would make sense to use the highest quality settings that you have available.

There is a learning curve with RAW files. Learning how to efficiently process them could really make a difference in how you view RAW files.

Of course, you don't have to shoot RAW...but you would certainly be missing out if you don't.

Hay Mike I really like your photo gallary. I was boren in Sitka Alask so can really appriciate the land scapes stuff. I really dont agree with you on the RAW stuff. here is a web sit you should read.http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/raw.htm

 

[table1349]

I agree, I used to use raw most of the time. I stoped useing it because all my JPG file turned out perfict 95% of the time and the other 5% could easy be fixed in photo shop. Or I just send them to my print labTo be Pesonaly adjusted by a real person for about .5 cent per photo. So I guess if you have a new camera and a flash you are not used to you could used RAW just to be safe untill you are fully aware of you camaras capabilities.

Not necessarly. I shoot a lot of sports. A good portion is for one local college. I know the home basketball facility like the back of my hand. When I shoot it I always shoot jpg. They have the most consistent lighting across the court so it makes it easy. On the other hand when I am shooting at a different venue I will often shoot raw so I more lattitude to correct the shots. Often I find areas of the court that are not light as well as others.

I actually prefer raw most of the time. It allows me to be more creative in the computerized dark room.

 

[table1349]

Just to throw something else out... There are 16gb SD cards avail on the market now... I have purchased a couple on Ebay and they have worked well for me.... When shooting Jpeg only, my card can hold 21K and RAW+JPEG I think it is 10K... This minor investment has proven to be worth it so far...

As mentioned above, I shoot RAW+JPEG, this way if I need to distribute the pics asap I can give out a cd with JPEGs only, and do post photo adjustments/editing on the RAW files later....

On my CPU I also have a 1TB ext HD, so I have yet to run into space issues....
I am not saying you NEED to by any of these items, but if you take alot of photos, then I say they are worth the investment..


Rambling:
I let my wife use my D60 at her Office Christmas party and she took some terrible shots... As I looked through them on the camera, I was able to crop them and also use the D-Lighting function (and other edit) to improve them in the camera. I do not believe this is an option when shooting in JPEG...

I have seen and had cards go bad. 21K is an awful lot of shots to loose if that happens. Something to keep in mind with big cards.