Shooting in RAW

VaE39 · May 13, 2008

Normally I don't shoot in RAW, but I decided that I should shoot in it on my last trip home. What are the upsides of shooting in RAW? I can't seem to be able to view the pictures on my computer. I can only view them on my camera. Am I doing something wrong?

dslrchat · May 13, 2008

Special software including PhotoShop and many others to view.

I am definitely no expert or even close, but raw it the highest uncompressed setting and can be enhance more with less deterioration.

The above statement may be completely wrong, this is just my understanding of Raw.

BoblyBill · May 13, 2008

No you are not doing anything wrong... Do you still have the software that came with your camera? In order to post them on the web you'll have to convert that CR2, PEF, NEF, or whatever Olymus or Sony shoot in to a JPEG, TIFF, PNG, DNG, or GIF for a program like Windows Picture ans Fax Viewer. Even in photoshop you can see it but have to convert it in order to mess around with it.

As far as advantages... I'm sorry but this has been discusted plenty in this forum, and it usually ends up in a cat fight. But there are enough advantages that a lot of people like it enough to shoot with it (including me).

nynfortoo · May 13, 2008

Which operating system are you using?

I ask because Vista doesn't have native RAW support. Instead, they leave it up to the camera manufacturers to write the drivers; allowing you to use the picture viewer to preview RAW images, as well as allowing Windows to show RAW thumbnails.

edit: I believe there was a Windows Update for XP to give RAW support, though I'm unsure.

VaE39 · May 13, 2008

Oh ok thanks for the replies. I'm using windows XP. I just didn't know how to actually view the pictures. I guess I'm gonna have to find the software to convert it.

patrickt · May 13, 2008

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=1238503

If you try Google you'll find a lot of resources that discuss the advantages and disadvantages of raw files as well as information about how to view and edit raw files.

nynfortoo · May 13, 2008

VaE39 said:
Oh ok thanks for the replies. I'm using windows XP. I just didn't know how to actually view the pictures. I guess I'm gonna have to find the software to convert it.

Have a look Here for an XP download to view RAW files natively.

Of course, you'll need a separate program to process and output them, but it's much nicer to preview files within windows than using a 3rd party program.

dslrchat · May 13, 2008

nynfortoo said:
Have a look Here for an XP download to view RAW files natively.........

Wow, and released in 2005, not sure how I missed that 1.
Thanx.

VaE39 · May 13, 2008

Oh wow thanks for that. It comes in handy when I just want to view the pictures on XP.

So I pulled out the D80 box and I got all the cds that came with it. Theres 3 cds: Capture NX, PictureProject 1.7, and PictureProject 1.7 Reference manual.
What does each CD do and which of the 3 cds would be needed to convert the NEF to JPEG

Mav · May 13, 2008

There's a good discussion in my sig about RAW that's probably worth a read. Yeah, you need special software and have to convert NEFs, otherwise they're pretty useless. The Nikon software is all clunky and slow. The NX will work with the RAWs but it's probably a trial. PictureProject is more for organization. I'm not sure if it actually does RAW conversion or not.

dangergoinoff · May 14, 2008

Ok so before I start another thread hopefully someone can help me in here.
I shot in RAW on the weekend for the first time. I am reasonably happy with what I captured but now I want to share them with friends and family etc.
Do I just convert them to jpeg once I am happy with them?
Is this self defeating or is the data still captured at the highest level?
If I want to get them printed do i need to convert them into jpeg?

Sorry if these are retarded questions but like I said this is new to me and it seems like a lot of work to shoot in RAW on first glance.

Thanks,

Matt.

Senor Hound · May 14, 2008

How I understand it, Raw is like shooting a negative, where as shooting JPEG straight from the camera is like having it automatically processed. So you take your raw file, and with the right software you adjust the light levels, and whatnot, and it doesn't mess up your photo. This takes extra time, and space on your memory card, though. If you shoot straight JPEG, you already have the photo ready for print or show, but if you need to alter it, you can actually make the picture lose some of the data it uses to make the photo (which can make it less defined). Usually this is minimal, but you should really do a "blind taste test" to see if you are okay with your image quality after modifying a JPEG, or if you would rather shoot raw and make sure you squeeze every ounce of detail out of your photo (even at the expense of it taking three times as much space on your camera sometimes).

My camera only shoots JPEGs, so I get this decision made for me. YAY! :x

So, yeah, you mess around in Raw setting, and then "lock it in" to JPEG when you are done, thereby capturing the highest detail possible. Converting to JPEG is kind of like putting the clear coat on a car, or putting the finishing sealer on your oil painting. Once you do it, you don't go back to mess with it again.