Question about sharing raw files

[karbomike]

Hi there! I was taking some photos of my campus last night and want to share them with people on Discord. I shot the files in raw, transferred them onto my MacBook, and then added them to Google Photos so I can easily download them on my phone. It’s definitely a process but I find it’s the easiest way to get this stuff to my phone.
So anyway, when I downloaded these photos to my phone and sent them, they were either too large to send or sent as a file, not a picture. How could I fix this?
Sorry if this is a very obvious fix, I’m new to this stuff!

 

[Jeff15]

Hello and welcome, you probably need to reduce the size of the image in some type of editing software, the are some free online.....

 

[NS: Nikon Shooter]

… I’m new to this stuff!

We were all "new" to the stuff and to the site once, so welcome, mike.

See, consider, and treat your RAW files as negatives… would you think of
having a negative image of you mother in your wallet? A print — whatever
the size — is what comes to mind and the negative stays well stored in a
safe place.

I develop and cull my RAWs in a RAW converter and export them as ima-
ges — in whatever format — sometimes to be edited in a pixel editor.

Have a good time!

 

[weepete]

Turn them into jpegs and send them, raw files are not a picture format, they are the data used to create a picture format.

 

[wfooshee]

Depending on the phone, the RAW file wouldn't be a visible image to whoever you sent them to, even if you were able to send them. As stated, a RAW file is not actually an image, but the "raw" set of data collected by the camera during the exposure. It must be process into an image somewhere.

If you see an image when opening a RAW file on your phone, then your phone understands the camera's file format. That's not a given.

Also, you really don't want your RAW files out loose in the real world, any more than your want your original negatives out there for anyone to play with.

Lastly, RAW files are HUGE compared to JPGs or PNGs. My D7200 produces RAW files up to 30MB at 24MP, and my D800, at 36MP, produces RAW files over 75MB!

Use some software to save the images as JPGs, even if you don't do any editing with them. You'll get a smaller file, and a file that any device will recognize.

 

[480sparky]

Technically, both JPGs and raw files are just data. The difference is JPG is an industry standard while raw is proprietary. And even within a given brand, raw files are different between cameras.