whats so good about a pro camera??

[480sparky]

lol, Yeah, my main thing is I take a ton of photos (my kids) and I am afraid the files will be too large!

For 'snapshot' situations, jpeg is just fine. And there's nothing wrong with that.

However, memory is cheap, and getting cheaper every day.

 

[paigew]

Thanks sparky, just for you, my next 'photo session' I will shoot in raw

 

[480sparky]

Thanks sparky, just for you, my next 'photo session' I will shoot in raw

Just remember, you'll need to take extra time to work with the files!

 

[D-B-J]

Take a look at everything you camera does, and compare the bits and pieces side by side with, say, a 1dx. The 1dx does everything your camera does, but it does it better.

 

[paigew]

Thanks sparky, just for you, my next 'photo session' I will shoot in raw

Just remember, you'll need to take extra time to work with the files!

okay on the subject of raw again...if I "get it right in camera" why do i need to shoot raw??

 

[Overread]

Thanks sparky, just for you, my next 'photo session' I will shoot in raw

Just remember, you'll need to take extra time to work with the files!

okay on the subject of raw again...if I "get it right in camera" why do i need to shoot raw??

Inside the camera is a RAW processing code which produces your JPEGs, over these you've some limited control with things such as contrast, brightness, sharpening etc.. through the in-camera menus. However these are only able to be used prior to shooting the shot, you can't adjust them based on the lighting, exposure nor your own creative take on the scene.
This is why we have RAW mode, which lets you define all those values (and more) at the editing stage in the computer. Though your RAW processing software might read your cameras default values and use them as a starting point you are free to adjust any of those settings as you wish. You can also adjust the whitebalance totally freely. In addition because the settings are not fixed you gain a bit more data to work with - sometimes this is the make or break between blown out sections and areas that are just marginally overexposed.

Though it should be noted all RAWs have an embedded JPEG in them which is used to make the histogram and LCD image on the camera and that this is processed using the cameras set settings, thus many who shoot in RAW still keep their in-camera editing settings set to neutral/base values so that their histograms are as close to the RAWs as possible.


In the end RAW gives you more freedom and more options to control the creative and final appearance of a photo even if you don't intend to make significant edits to it.

 

[480sparky]

.............okay on the subject of raw again...if I "get it right in camera" why do i need to shoot raw??

Define "get it right". White balance? Sharpness? Image size? Jpeg compression ratios? Exposure? Picture Control? Color space? Noise reduction?

 

[Derrel]

"The Nikon D5100 offers not only in-camera RAW file processing, but also provides Nikon's extensive in-camera image retouching capabilities. These include resizing, cropping, post-capture D-Lighting, redeye correction, monochrome and other filter effects, color balance, image overlay, quick retouch, straighten, distortion control, perspective control, miniature effect, fisheye, color outline, color sketch, and selective color."

A handful of Nikon cameras allow the user to use the *camera* to post-process images, and make as many different JPEG variations as they would like. Handy if you do not have a computer at hand, or just want to kill some time, or to just use the camera to help you make different "looks" to images. Canon is starting to do this as well, some seven years later...

"The Nikon D5100 has six presets called Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait, and Landscape, and up to nine custom presets can be defined, named, saved, and copied. Sharpness can be adjusted in ten steps, along with an Auto setting; contrast, saturation, and hue can be adjusted in seven steps, while hue is adjustable in three steps. There is also a five-step "Quick Adjust" setting, which exaggerates or mutes the effect without having to adjust each slider individually. When Monochrome Picture Control is selected, Hue and Saturation are replaced by Filter Effects and Toning respectively. Filter Effects offers Off, Yellow, Orange, Red, and Green settings, while Toning offers B&W, Sepia, Cyanotype, Red, Yellow, Green, Blue Green, Blue, Purple Blue and Red Purple settings. Note that Picture Controls are only active in Program, Aperture-priority or Shutter-priority and Manual exposure modes, as the Scene modes already apply preset image adjustments. Of course, the Nikon D5100 also offers sRGB and Adobe RGB settings, in a separate Color Space menu."

from imaging resource's review of the Nikon D5100 .http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D5100/D5100A.HTM

 

[Garbz]

One thing that wasn't mentioned is some of the Pro cameras play music.

The E5 has all sorts of background music programmed into that. Can't do that with any of the lower end E-volts or the Pens. That's gotta be worth the extra cost.

okay on the subject of raw again...if I "get it right in camera" why do i need to shoot raw??

My favourite way of thinking about it is with film. You can take an absolutely perfect photo on your camera, and then take it to the chemist to get processed. This is shooting JPEG. Someone else decides contrast, saturation, tone, colour balance, effects, they decide how bright and dark areas of the image are, and they decide all the things which you would have had control over if you had taken the film into the kitchen and done the processing yourself.

Processing the image yourself is like shooting RAW. It's not about getting it right in the camera and being done with it. It's about getting it right in the camera and then getting it perfect in post.

Mind you there are many scenarios where good enough is good enough