JPEG or RAW?

[soufiej]

I recently done a free family shoot, in which I shot in JPEG. I was pleased with my results, and I enjoyed editing these photos.

I have another shoot coming up in a few days and I was wondering if I should stay in JPEG or try shooting in RAW?

Does one really out-do the other, or is it more along the lines of personal preference?

I would recommend you consider your use before you decide on a file format.

If you only intend to digitally transmit these images to your family, then there's no great reason to shoot in the large file format of RAW capture. You will be sending Jpegs as your email or text files. Unless you simply enjoy the process of converting one file to another file format, then there's no reason to use a format which will require you do more work than needed.

You can go into your menus and reduce the size of the file to make for faster loading of the photo. You can, while you're in your menus, also do some work on the colors and dynamic range of the file to produce a more pleasing look to your Jpegs. None of these controls have any effect when shooting in RAW and will typically be disabled in your menus once you've switched to that file format.

If you intend to keep a few of these shots for mementos, then up the file size and keep in mind your final print size (and aspect ratio). Small prints don't require great amounts of resolution. The larger the print the more common it is to be viewed from a distance where sharpness and noise are less noticeable. Find a happy balance between your file size and your digital transmission plus your final print size.

If you are shooting keepsake photos, then switch to RAW. There will be a bit more effort required in your post processing - and not all editors will easily open a RAW file - but the work will produce a photographic result that is your own and not the guy who wrote the Jpeg program for your camera's manufacturer.

Grainy photos can be the result of over doing your sharpening controls in post production. Various processing controls are similar in effect to sharpening and can emphasize grain if you aren't seeing your image at a larger scale. Increase the magnification of your edited image or zoom in to an area where you can observe just when grain becomes apparent. Various editors have various abilities. Learn your software and you'll probably find the source of your noise.

 

[yaopey]

Hi Ashley, I've recently posted a similar topic on JPEG or RAW. You might find it helpful =)