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What file type would be recomended
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Hi everyone, Sorry about this question( i know your probaly asked it every few days) but i was wondering what
file type ye would recomend for my Nikon D70s,, ive a 2 gig card in it ,im using Raw at the moment but
was wondering if theres much difference in the higher quality jpegs, Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks,Quick answer is yes, there is a fair bit of difference.
Probably more important with the RAW file format is that you can adjust
exposure, white balance, highlights/shadows etc… with alot of success.Others will chip in with more detailed answers. :)
I am a beginner and have only tried RAW a couple of times,
I guess it depends on what kind of a photographer you are,
do you like to get your shots without too much processing?
or do you enjoy the computer processing just as much? I know
that using RAW gives you tons more scope for fixing exposure,
colour etc after the fact, but I found I was spending quite a lot
of time post processing, probably because I am not that good at
it :) using precious time that I could have been out with the camera.
I am sure you will get more “for” RAW than “against” though.I personally don’t see the point in using jpeg – all you are going is throwing away information.
Use RAW and learn how to massively improve the chance of success you have from a photo, with very little extra time.
If you take say 20 images in one location, chances are you only need to pick settings once and then batch-edit the rest of the shots – you don’t need to necessarily spend hours pouring over them…
As for the pros and cons of RAW, It’s nearly 2am so for now I’d suggest a google search, until I’m feeling more awake and have the time to type a more helpful response!!
Hope this makes sense :D
Tim
I find the whole RAW v Jpeg question is a bit like whether to breastfeed or not…in photography terms of course!! We all know it’s better in the long run, but it is harder work and is more demanding of your time.
Would it also not be the case that if you are not very familiar with post processing and not particularly accomplished at it at the start of your photography endeavours that you could in fact end up with worse images than if you’d used Jpeg?
I rarely shoot RAW at the moment for that very reason. I know eventually I will, because it does make sense in the long run, but I for one still do not feel comfortable enough with my post processing abilities to make that switch.
Am I wrong?
Not wrong, and yeah I take your point about adding an extra layer of complexity to your work, but once you see the extra flexibility, and realise the effect it can have on your work, you’ll never go back. It only takes 30 mins to learn the basics (come to my house and I’ll show you, if you’re lost!), and really is a great investment of time.
Anyone here think I’m talking **** and want to stand ground for jpeg? Don’t want this to be a totally biased thread based solely on 2 people’s opinions…
Tim
Well maybe the thing is that sometimes it’s made out to be something more complicated than it really is Tim. If you reckon it’s something that can improve your shots with only an hour or so of basic learning, then of course would make perfect sense to invest the time.
Maybe you, or someone could put up a short tutorial for basic raw editing, or at least the most commonly used edits,that would give you an image that would be at least as good as the camera produced Jpeg? If I could get that far I’d happily switch. At least at that stage I’d be left with an image no worse than I would have had from the camera with the added advantage that I could go back to it a later date when my skills improved and improve it even more.
Also..are most Raw editors the same at a basic level? I have S7RAW which can be used for my camera (Fujifilm) and it seems fairly advanced.
Hope thism makes sense.
Interesting discussion taking place here on the pros and cons of RAW. I’m 100% behind Tim on this. The best I can hope to do in order to convince users to use RAW is to recount my own personal experience.
Like everyone else, I started out shooting JPEG’s at first. But this didn’t really last very long because I was never happy with the results I was getting and seemed to be spending forever and a day trying to make even small adjustments in PS tuning my JPEG files. Then I started shooting RAW and that was at a time when RAW converters were not as versatile or as easy to use as they are now, but even so, I ended up spending LESS time at the computer. The most often used argument in favour of JPEG is that it’s quicker than RAW. It’s not!!! At least not in my experience. With RAW I can batch process my images to produce near perfect JPEG files far quicker than it would take me to make adjustments to the same number of JPEG images. Once I realised I could spend less time in front of the computer by shooting RAW with the added bonus that I could redo the process if I needed to at any time (for example when RAW converters add new features or some other similar reason) I was hooked on RAW and now even my “snapshots” get the RAW treatment.
As for a quick and easy RAW process – well, if you just focus on three aspects, you’ll already be streets ahead of any JPEG shooter. The first and most important is white balance. The white balance of a JPEG is set and while it can be changed afterwards, there will be some quality loss. Not so with RAW. Secondly, there are the basic parameters of exposure, contrast and saturation. All very easy to adjust in RAW. Thirdly, sharpening – I always like to do a tiny bit of pre-sharpening of the image before converting it. In fact, I’ve produced finished JPEG’s from RAW files which haven’t had to go near PS afterwards.
One other important point is that JPEG’s are 8-bit files. If you’re working with subtle colour variations then you really need a 16-bit original. RAW gives you that capability.
Spend 10 minutes learning the basics of white balance and exposure in RAW and you’re already half-way there!!!
Like I said, for me it’s a question of speed and convenience. Contrary to popular held beliefs, my experience of RAW is that’s it’s much quicker and easier to get good results than shooting JPEG.
Hmm, I didnt even know you could edit pictures white balance and such on the computer .Ive been shooting in RAW since i got the camera so I think ill stick with it.I guess Ill have to get used to photoshop quickly. I didnt expect so many replys :D I seem to have started quite a discussion,,
Thanks for all the advice,Expresbro – I’ve just recently put together a 15 minute introduction to RAW processing video which you can find on my website: http://www.petercox.ie/blog/2007/02/new_tutorial_video_camera_raw.php
Cheers,
Peterpetercox wrote:
Expresbro – I’ve just recently put together a 15 minute introduction to RAW processing video which you can find on my website: http://www.petercox.ie/blog/2007/02/new_tutorial_video_camera_raw.php
Cheers,
PeterHope you’ve got a broadband connection Expresbro! Sadly, people like me who do not, will have to miss out on viewing large embedded video streams like this unless you download them completely first :cry: I have the full URL to the file and may download it later tonight as I’d like to see this, just to see what ACR is like in comparison to DPP.
Thorsten –
I’ve added a direct download link to the page. Hope that helps.Cheers,
Peterpetercox wrote:
Thorsten –
I’ve added a direct download link to the page. Hope that helps.Cheers,
PeterGreat, thanks!!! It’s always a pain to have to dig down through the code to find this data. Much appreciated. :!:
It’s true that RAW allows much more flexibility to correct images than JPEG. If you’re new to photography shooting JPEG’s is fine, they can still be changed and adjusted in Photoshop, OK not as much as RAW. Why not shoot both JPEG and RAW at the same time, provided your camera has this feature. Up to this point I’ve only ever shot JPEG’s, only in the past week or two have shot both JPEG and RAW.
Shooting both gets very expensive in terms of storage if you shoot any kind of volume. I tried it once back when I was just making the transition and it was a pain to manage.
Thing to remember is that you don’t need to adjust each image individually if you shoot RAW – just tag the ones you want to keep and do a batch convert of them.
Cheers,
Peter
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