shooting format question

[zakhopper316]

hey guys.
so i have a sony A 100 and i have a few format options. i have standard, fine, jpg and raw, and just raw.? which is the best and what is the difference?

thanks

 

[Digital Matt]

There are two schools of thought.

1. Choose the best option for the situation you are shooting. Are you shooting stuff for ebay? Use standard jpg. Shooting a 1000 shots at a wedding? Shoot large/fine jpg. Shooting a few shots of something you really care about? Shoot raw.

2. Memory is cheap but memories are priceless. Shoot everything in raw because it undoubtedly gives the highest quality image. It takes more post processing time, but in the end it is worth it.

You can find lots of technical info on why to shoot raw by googling. Here is a good place to start: http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/raw/raw.htm
Through googling you'll also find reasons to not shoot raw. Try searching for "raw vs jpg". In the end, you'll have to decide for yourself.

 

[zakhopper316]

hey man,
thanks alot, will a be able to upload into i photo and then on to photobucket using raw format?

 

[Digital Matt]

Shooting in raw requires special software to convert to jpg or tiff. The camera should have come with raw conversion software. There are others available as well, like Photoshop CS, CS2, or CS3, and host of others.

 

[ann]

the newest version of picasa2 will also handle raw files , and it is free.

 

[lockwood81]

This forum is the best...I haven't had to ask a question, everything I wonder about someone has already asked. And the intelligent members are able to answer so clearly and concisely.

 

[hockeybear]

This forum is the best...I haven't had to ask a question, everything I wonder about someone has already asked. And the intelligent members are able to answer so clearly and concisely.

Agreed:thumbup:
Dave..owner of an A100

 

[Coyotebd]

http://www.gimp.org

The GIMP can be used to process RAW if you use the free UFRaw plugin. Both are free, but GIMP can then be used to process images further, as it's trying to be an open-source alternative to Photoshop.

Actually, the most important plugin for RAW on Windows XP is the MS Powertoy RAW Preview. It lets you see thumbnails of your RAW images in Explorer folders and also use the XP filmstrip function. This'll make life bearable for people that shoot a lot of badly exposed, badly focused, badly composed pictures in order to get a good picture, like beginner photogs such as myself.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/raw.mspx

 

[WDodd]

http://www.gimp.org

The GIMP can be used to process RAW if you use the free UFRaw plugin. Both are free, but GIMP can then be used to process images further, as it's trying to be an open-source alternative to Photoshop.

Actually, the most important plugin for RAW on Windows XP is the MS Powertoy RAW Preview. It lets you see thumbnails of your RAW images in Explorer folders and also use the XP filmstrip function. This'll make life bearable for people that shoot a lot of badly exposed, badly focused, badly composed pictures in order to get a good picture, like beginner photogs such as myself.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/raw.mspx

Great advice. Further, if you are running Windows Vista .RAW support is built in. You may need to get a codec depending on your camera maker and raw version.

Also, no one has mentioned Lightroom. Great program for cataloging photographs and making some editing changes.

 

[b3av3r]

will a RAW image take longer than a JPG to save to the memory card, and will the difference be noticeable?

 

[Digital Matt]

Raw images are much larger because they don't use jpg compression, so yes, they take longer to write to the memory card. Is it noticeable? It depends what camera you have and how fast it is.