Shooting in RAW??

ATXshots

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Can someone please explain why I would need to shoot in Raw form...and what it is exactly. What do I do differently when shooting photos in raw? Can I shoot in raw with a point and shoot camera?
 
There are plenty of RAW threads to mine if you search.. and most P&S cameras do not support raw. Cannon's G9 is an (not cheap) exception, there are likely others... basically it comes down to compression (or the important lack of) and bit depth opening up more editing capabilities - more data to run through various logarithms or even print if the bit depth is maintained through the work flow.

-S
 
One of the newer Nikon P&S supports raw as well.
 
RAW is the digital equivalent of a negative exposure, and JPEG would be the print. You can only do so much editing to a JPEG, but with RAW, you can tweak it as much as you'd like and later export it as a JPEG for space.

In short, if you're shooting something important, do it in RAW. If it's a throw-away (e.g. the sign of the restaurant you want to try but you keep on forgetting) and you're worried about space, then JPEG works just fine.
 
I am just switching our studio from film to digital and the way I understand is shooting in raw allows the most manipulation of the image afterwards. For a Bday party it probably isn't needed, but for a wedding I would suggest it. Just what I have learned thus far.
NCH
 
And by preserve bit depth, I mean setup the RAW importer to open at 16 bits per pixel, and save in a supported format. You will have to drop down to 8 bit (image/mode..) for some filters and creating JPGz for the web. Really only on concern for your finest work but smart to know especially in a studio converting to digital.

-Shea
 
Like those above stated, RAW is for use when you are going to be doing lots of editing to the pictures. It enables you to do so much more when you get it into the computer. The only thing that you need to remember is that you are going to be filling up your memory card a lot faster because the files are a lot larger. If you aren't doing really important images or taking pictures for pay, you are better off just shooting in JPEG and avoiding the need to carry lots of memory cards.:wink:
 
Like those above stated, RAW is for use when you are going to be doing lots of editing to the pictures. It enables you to do so much more when you get it into the computer. The only thing that you need to remember is that you are going to be filling up your memory card a lot faster because the files are a lot larger. If you aren't doing really important images or taking pictures for pay, you are better off just shooting in JPEG and avoiding the need to carry lots of memory cards.:wink:

Shooting for pay is the wrong metric. A better metric is "do I place lots of value in these pictures?". And don't amatuers deserve the best image quality too?

As to the large raw file sizes, this is not worth worrying about because cards these days are dirt cheap, and huge too.

To the OP: Buy a book on raw processing...going with raw is far too endepth to do it justice in this thread. In short, shoot raw for all the pictures you value, and regardless of the amount of post processing a picture might require.

I only shoot in raw, for paid and personal work. However there are some pros that have legitimate reasons to shoot jpg, like PhotoJournalists, sports shooters, anyone that feels that getting the shot fast is more important then absolute image quality.
 
Raw = best image quality
JPEG = what manufacturers think you want

It has nothing to do with how much editing you do, tweak settings yes, personal preference yes, your vision yes, shoot raw.
 

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