Picture Format

[Soul Rebel]

With my old point and shoot I had no control over what format. Only the quality and size of the file. Now I can choose from a few different formats, with Jpeg and RAW being the ones I remember.

So what are the benefits of each? I know that RAW gives you more control in PhotoShop. Should I use RAW?

The one problem I would have is if I couldnt manage my photos in ACDSee Pro using the RAW format.

 

[Big Mike]

http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/raw/raw.htm

 

[ksmattfish]

Jpeg is usually what you want if you want photos pretty much ready to go straight out of the camera. Raw is what you want if you want to do post-processing. You'll get away with more under or over exposure with raw.

 

[Soul Rebel]

I tried a few photos in the RAW format (.NEF) but for some reason PhotoShop would not open them. The weird thing is...under their list of different extensions to choose from when opening a file, this extension was included. Not sure what is going on. If I cant get PS to open the file then I guess I will have to go with Jpeg.

 

[craig]

Newer cameras may require the Raw Camera 3.4 plugin from Adobe's web page.

 

[thebeginning]

if you do alot of tonal editing that you couldn't get straight out of the camera with jpeg, then shooting RAW can be a good idea. I personally shoot RAW most of the time because it gives me more flexibility when working with files (and it keeps the noise down a tad more). Alot of pro photographers stick with .JPG, claiming that if you nail the exposure and white balance (and the in-camera settings you want, like contrast and color saturation), then jpeg is perfectly fine for web and print use. I have seen some VERY good photographers' websites that stick to this method. If you have trouble nailing the settings every time (i know i do with white balance. i think it takes a good amount of experience before you get used to it enough to nail it always), then RAW is a better idea. if you find yourself shooting RAW but not doing much in the RAW conversion, then you are probably relying too much on RAW, and you should try shooting jpg. that's my opinion, anyway.

if you want the absolute most tonal range and quality (i.e. for a landscape print or something with really vivid tones), shoot 16 bit (or 12, technically) RAW and convert to TIFF for printing instead of JPG.