What are the benefits of RAW?

Glimmerman · Oct 4, 2006

I know my Nikon D80 has RAW, and a couple different JPG formats to choose from.

For post-processing, what are the advantages of RAW over JPG?

I have Photoshop CS2 but just learning how to use it.

Big Mike · Oct 4, 2006

Wow, you are full of questions today.

Try a search of the forum...this has been discussed many times. Also, check this web site

Glimmerman · Oct 5, 2006

Thanks for the link.

Iron Flatline · Oct 5, 2006

Go RAW. It is an extra step, but gives you a lot more control. Basically your camera is a little computer. It captures the image, then applies a lot of "fixes" such as white balance, sharpness, exposure settings, etc. blah ad nauseum, and then saves your file into a tiny compressed jpeg. RAW is literally raw data. You can make your adjustments later at home, save the file to jpeg (or .psd or .tiff or .dng or whatever) and STILL have the original file available. Think of it as a negative, but even better. You'll be able to correct a lot of mistakes you might make while shooting, and go back to a favorite image months or years later as your skills improve and tastes change.

Digital Matt · Oct 5, 2006

http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/u-raw-files.shtml

Glimmerman · Oct 5, 2006

Yeah, the link above was great, went into lots of detail.

For taking "serious" pictures I will definately go RAW, and convert them en-mass in Photoshop. If I want to print a large size like 8x10 or bigger I will convert the RAW more carefully.

But for day-to-day pictures that I want to be able to give to other people quickly, and will only be printed at 4x6, JPG should be fine.

Now, there are 3 levels of JPG in my D80, any suggestions which of these to use?

Digital Matt · Oct 5, 2006

I would use the highest quality you can, because you can't forsee while taking a picture, what you are going to do with it. It may be a "day-to-day" picture, that ends up being the greatest photo you've ever taken. Do you want a low res jpg?

I've heard this quote before and it really sums it up for me.

"Memory is cheap, but memories are priceless".

Glimmerman · Oct 5, 2006

Very true.

Can any cameras do both at the same time? Store the RAW, and make a JPG? That would be sweet.

Digital Matt · Oct 5, 2006

Yes, most can shoot raw + jpeg, and some will allow you to set the quality of the jpeg to a lower quality, which would just be a quick proof.

Glimmerman · Oct 5, 2006

Cool, I just checked the D80, and it can shoot in RAW + user defined JPG.

That is what I will do then, I will have a useable photo and the "negative".

Big Mike · Oct 5, 2006

I've done that...but it eats up plenty of memory space. It only takes a few seconds to turn a RAW file into a JPEG.

Iron Flatline · Oct 5, 2006

Yeah, and toggling bakc and orth between jpeg and raw has proven to be recipe for disappointment in my case. I always forget to switch over, so either I'm stuck processing pics that aren't that important to me, or stuck with jpegs when I thought I was doing some great creative work.

Just shoot raw, it's one less thing to think about....

Arch · Oct 5, 2006

personally i like the RAW + Jpeg option... its quicker to preview the shots you've captured... and can be done on any computer just using windows image viewer or whatever. I also like to see how the camera interpreted the processing of the image... it can be useful as a reference point.

Glimmerman · Oct 5, 2006

Raw + JPG normal doesn't add too much more memory space.

The Raw is 12 megs, the JPGs average 2 megs, so it is only 1/6th more to have it save a JPG for me too.

Good point on seeing the camera processing vs. what you do, I look forward to checking that out.

Just picked me up a 50mm 1.8 AF, woo-hoo!

kkart · Oct 6, 2006

Glimmerman said:
Raw + JPG normal doesn't add too much more memory space.

The Raw is 12 megs, the JPGs average 2 megs, so it is only 1/6th more to have it save a JPG for me too.

Good point on seeing the camera processing vs. what you do, I look forward to checking that out.

Just picked me up a 50mm 1.8 AF, woo-hoo!

If your jpegs are 2MB...I would be seriously wondering about the compression which you have the settings on, cuz on my Minolta 5D they are 8MB