Shooting in RAW.

[TelekinesisKeith]

How many of you always shoot in RAW?? Is it smart to keep it in RAW mode, or should I still shoot JPEG?

 

[maulrat]

I only shoot in RAW. If you plan on processing your photos heavily like I do, then I would suggest you shoot in RAW. If all you're going to do is convert it to jpg and want to perform minimal processing, you should shoot in jpg. If you want to have it all, shoot in RAW+jpg.:lmao:

 

[Big Mike]

You can very easily turn a RAW file into a JPEG....but you can't turn a JPEG into a RAW file.

I almost always shoot in RAW.

 

[AlexColeman]

Always raw.

 

[dakkon76]

Same, I'm still wet behind the ears but always shoot in RAW. I can store over 450 RAW images on my 8gb card, so there's really no excuse not to...

Even though I'm new, I might get lucky and have some great shot that down the road when I'm better at photoshop, I'll have wished I'd shot in RAW. I'm all about up-front planning

 

[hankejp]

Right now I shoot JPEG, because I don't have the software to PP Raw files. I only have Photoshop 7.

 

[TUX424]

Same, I'm still wet behind the ears but always shoot in RAW. I can store over 450 RAW images on my 8gb card, so there's really no excuse not to...

Only 450
I get 725 on a 4gb CF i wonder why that is

 

[nikonguy]

i've shot in raw from day 1.. like mike said "you can change a raw into a jpg, but you cant change a jpg into a raw"

 

[TUX424]

shooting raw is really not worth the space to me i am more than happy with how my jpeg fine come out. i also dont find it worth the time to convert them to jpeg.

 

[TelekinesisKeith]

I have photoshop CS3 and it doesn't allow me to open my Nikon's RAW files..Does anyone know how I can open them or even a different program I could use?

 

[LarryD]

I shoot in RAW, and I'll tell you why........ It's not because I do a bunch of Post Processing, because I don't.

JPEG is what is called a "lossy" format. This means that the compressed JPEG format throws out data in order to "compress" the file....In other words, each time that you do any processing on a JPEG file, or just from the beginning, it has tossed some of the data that makes up the photo you just took.

RAW does not do that.........it records all the data available and when you download that data, it is as much as was there to begin with....Your RAW file becomes what in film we had as a negative........forever..

You can do some sharpening and color balancing if you want...and then convert and store your photo......... I usually store in a TIFF file because most software will open a TIFF and it too is a complete file, just processed the way you want it to look.. I only convert to JPEG from the TIFF is I need that format..

But, really, for general snap-shots, there is nothing wrong with JPEG......I've got a bunch of them from my early years with digital, and many others that I just don't want to use the storage space for.. Storage used to cost a lot more than it does today..

 

[TUX424]

I have photoshop CS3 and it doesn't allow me to open my Nikon's RAW files..Does anyone know how I can open them or even a different program I could use?

if ur using mac then you can get RAW Photo Processor which is a free program

 

[nikonguy]

I have photoshop CS3 and it doesn't allow me to open my Nikon's RAW files..Does anyone know how I can open them or even a different program I could use?

you need to download adobe camera raw... get it here

 

[manaheim]

Only 450
I get 725 on a 4gb CF i wonder why that is

His camera is roughly 2x the megapixels of your D70.

 

[manaheim]

Oh and I nearly always shoot in RAW, but I usually tell people to shoot in JPEG until JPEG actually fails them. RAW is a lot of extra work and storage and confusion to stack on top of learning lots of other stuff.

When will JPEG fail you? A few circumstances... like if the color of the light is wrong on your image, or you miss an exposure by a bit, or the camera makes the wrong interpretation for you. It happens a lot, but a lot of people newer to the hobby/trade don't notice it as easily.