RAW....JPEG- Can you guys explain the pros and cons??

[ItsTheLens]

New to the world of adjustments in photography. Can someone help with this?

 

[macpro88]

RAW - Con: Large file format, PRO: Have way more control over adjustments, like exposure, WHITE BALANCE (this is the biggest, IMHO) highlights, shadows, etc... the list goes on.
JPEG - Con: not as much as control as RAW PRO: Smaller file size, saves room etc...

I shoot in RAW, and RAW only.

If I underexpose a shot in jpeg, recovering is way harder than if I had shot raw, same thing with white balance, if its off in jpeg, harder to recover than if shot in raw.

You can make some adjustments in jpeg to the same extent as raw, but not as effective.

Shooting in RAW and editing them/adjusting them will force you to learn more.

Shoot in raw. Do research. Learn more. Become better.

 

[macpro88]

Here is a great site with great resources: Tutorials – The RAW File Format

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Shoot JPEG if you want your photos to irreversibly suck.
Shoot RAW if you want your photos to reversibly suck.

 

[ItsTheLens]

Great stuff here. Thanks!

 

[2WheelPhoto]

google

 

[480sparky41 40]

Jpeg: Takes the data from the sensor, applies all the in-camera settings to the data (sharpness, white balance, saturation, vivid, contrast, etc.), and tosses the vast majority of the data away in the process. Result: A barely editable small-file-size 8-bit image ready to upload, email, post on FaceySpacey-type websites, etc.

Raw: Takes the data from the sensor, does minimal processing, save large files sizes 14- or 12-bit images to the memory card. You must process them image in order to make any use of it. Give you much more control over the final rendition of the image.

And it's raw, not RAW. It's not an acronym like NASA or COBRA. It's just a word, like 'raw meat', or 'raw materials'. You don't buy RAW meat at the grocery store, do you? No, you buy raw meat.

 

[SCraig]

RAW is, for all intents and purposes, the raw data straight from the sensor (it really isn't but it's close enough). All in-camera adjustments such as noise reduction, white balance, saturation, etc. are RECORDED as part of the file but you retain the ability to change those selections out of the camera. When a JPEG is recorded all of the in-camera adjustments are made to the data prior to the recording. When a RAW file is recorded, the adjustments are NOT made directly to the data.

That said, if you do not have plans on post-processing your images then shooting RAW has no advantage and, in fact, has a big disadvantage. RAW files are normally not usable by anything other than a RAW convertor or software designed especially to handle them. You can't just print them straight out of the camera or post them on Facebook or anything.

 

[ItsTheLens]

I am enjoying all of this information. Thank you!

 

[skieur]

It depends what you are shooting. In event, journalistic, public relations work etc., it is more important that you get the shot, rather than how much fine detail is in a print that likely will not be used in any super large size. Speedy processing and editing is also important in this type of work so jpeg tends to be a little faster than working in raw.

On the other hand for fine art, enlargements, book and magazine covers, projection etc., I would tend toward raw.

skieur

 

[TCampbell]

JPEG is an excellent "final output" format. When you're happy with the image and no longer need to adjust, save it as a JPEG.

I only ever shoot in RAW and for a lot of reasons.

1) Disks are CHEAP. There are a ton of disk drive options for under $100 (actually a ton of choices for under $50). A decent filter costs more than disk drive. I'm absolutely not worried about saving space. I think of it this way: I didn't buy a very nice camera with expensive glass only to pinch pennies on disk space and shoot in JPEG.

2) JPEG is 8 bit -- which means that, in theory, it has a max of 8 stops of dynamic range. But the lower 2-3 bits little to no gradient within the stops and I wouldn't consider them "usable" stops (it's why you see blotchy digital artifacts in the really dark tones in JPEG.) That leaves you with about 5 useful stops. RAW, on the other hand, is often 14 bit. Subtract the 3 no-so-useful stops off the bottom and you still have 11 useful stops of dynamic range to work with.

3) JPEG "flattens" pixels of similar color tone to a single color. It does this because the human eye generally cannot tell the difference. It turns out it's actually true. BUT... detail near the extremes of the dynamic range end up getting flattened and lost. Deep shadows and bright highlights will lose details in JPEG that a RAW image will preserve. When you then adjust the image in post processing, you get that detail back if you shot in RAW. If you shot in JPEG... you're just screwed.

When I'm done adjusting an image, I'll export it in JPEG to distribute it. But in my library it stays in RAW format.

 

[KmH]

In other words the important difference between JPEG and Raw is bit depth. JPEG is a lossy, compressed, finished, ready to print file type that has little, if any, editing headroom.

JPEG is limited to an 8-bit color depth.

Raw is 12 or 14 bits, and virtually all digital photographs start out as a 12-bit or 14-bit Raw image data file in the camera.
JPEG conversion can be done in or out of the camera. Record the Raw file to the camera memory card if you want to do the JPEG conversion yourself after editing the photo. Otherwise the JPEG conversion will be done according to software in the camera some group of camera engineers wrote, and the crude editing adjustments the camera menus provide.

The bit depth is about how many distinct colors a photo can have in each of the 3 color channels digital photography is baewd on - red, green, and blue (RGB)
The biggest 8-bit digital number possible is 11111111, and 11111111 = 255. So a photo that has an 8-bit color depth can only show a maximum of 256 colors per color channel.

12-bits is 111111111111, and 111111111111 = 4096 which can show 4096 colors per color channel.

14-bits is 11111111111111, and 11111111111111 = 16,383 which can show 16,383 colors per channel.

To get from the 12-bits or 14-bits Raw image data file the camera starts out with the vast majority of the original color data in the photo is discarded.
That's why JPEG is called a lossy (data is discarded), compressed file type (files are smaller files than the Raw file they are made from).

JPEG retains all of the luminosity data the camera recorded, because the luminosity is needed for humans to correctly perceive the photo.

Bit Depth

Tutorials – The RAW File Format

Tutorials – Color Perception

Overview of Color Management (3 parts)

 

[o hey tyler]

Shoot JPEG if you want your photos to irreversibly suck.
Shoot RAW if you want your photos to potentially reversibly suck.

Fix't.

Remember, lipstick/pigs, still a pig. You get the picture.

 

[480sparky41 40]

..........

12-bits is 111111111111, and 111111111111 = 4096 which can show 4096 colors per color channel.

14-bits is 11111111111111, and 11111111111111 = 16,383 which can show 16,383 colors per channel..........

Another way to write these are:

8-bit is 2^8, or 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 256

12-bit is 2^12, or 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 *2 * 2 * 2 *2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 4,096

14 bit is 2^14, or 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 *2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 16,394