Do you ever use Auto White Balance?

[Josh66]

I hear "Grey Card" term often. Is this an actual "grey piece of paper" which I use to manual set WB? It being white balance, I was expecting it to be "white card"?

I use one of these: http://www.rawworkflow.com/products/whibal/purchase.html

 

[Mav]

Yes, D40 and D80 RAW files are compressed by default with no option for anything but that. The D40 gives about 5 MB RAW files and it's around 8-9 MB for the D80. The D200 and higher give you the option of either compressed or uncompressed RAW. If uncompressed, you'll have about 15 MB files. Only computer geeks would argue about the difference between compressed and uncompressed RAW because there's basically zero photographic difference.

Check the FAQ thread for some RAW vs JPEG discussions. It's been covered ad nauseum already. Some software works better with RAW and intentionally cripples features with JPEG, leading to the belief that you "can't" make some adjustments with JPEG when you really can. In DxO, WB adjustments are a slider adjustment or "click new white point" adjustment for either JPEG or RAW and very easy to do. Doesn't matter what file type.

 

[Mav]

RAW keeps all the data, so you can bring out details that were otherwise invisible (particularly in the shadows, I find).

That's what I use grad ND filters for. Usually I can pull shadow detail up on JPEGs by about 2 stops, maybe 3, and still have great quality.