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Santa Pictures + Marketing for your BusinessAdvantages of RAW over JPEG
Cameras are smart. They’re practically computers really. But that doesn’t mean that every process that goes on inside the camera should be left to the decision of the camera’s processors.
When you use JPEG as an output for your photos you are letting the camera decide the correct values for sharpening, noise reduction, and white balance. Shooting in RAW lets the photographer take back that control and your images can be tweaked to your specifications.
Color and White Balance
When you set your camera to JPEG the camera processes the color values based on the white balance that the camera is set to for the final image. Because the camera then compresses the file to save space you lose much of the wiggle room you would otherwise have for color corrections.
When you shoot in RAW you leave all of the color information in tact and are able to have much more freedom to fine-tune or make adjustments to basic problems like an incorrect white balance. In fact, many photographers who shoot in RAW just leave the camera set to auto white balance and are able to easily and quickly adjust the images during RAW conversion and editing.
RAW preserves your full color fidelity
With JPEG you could throw away as much as one third of the color information that your camera has the potential to produce. One third!
Most camera sensors record data as a 12- or 14-bit file giving each pixel one of 4,096 levels or more of color. RAW preserves this information but JPEGs don’t. JPEGs support 8-bits per pixel. With JPEG you’ve just reduced your color information from 4,096 to 256 per pixel!
Less color means less room to fix or fine-tune when editing for final output.
JPEG is lossy
JPEG is a “lossy compression” file. That essentially means that every time you open and save a file it re-compresses and you lose a little information along the way. Most often, as I understand it, that information is in color fidelity.
And who says digital images don’t fade? In fact, with JPEG, they do.
Sharpening and Noise Reduction
Digital cameras also apply sharpening and noise reduction to your JPEGs upon output. This is based on your particular camera and many models allow more control in both of these departments. Some cameras will allow you to disable in camera sharpening and noise reduction. Consult your owner’s manual.
The problem with letting your camera decide on sharpening and noise reduction is that your camera doesn’t really know what you are going to do with those images.
Sharpening should be one of the last things you do to your image based on the size and the medium of the image.
Noise reduction can often be a process that is better performed by a third party software such as Adobe’s Photoshop products, Apple’s Aperture, or Noise Ninja to name a few. This is especially true if your camera is a little older and you haven’t upgraded your firmware.
Downside?
Yes there’s a couple of downsides to shooting in RAW. The image files are bigger but with hard drive space getting cheaper and cheaper this is no longer the issue it once was. Images have to be processed before you can print or uploaded to the web but you were going to do that anyway right?
Do you shoot in RAW and if not why not? What advice would you have for any photographers still shooting in JPEG that want to begin shooting in RAW?
Comments
This is an interesting article. You asked if people were going to post-process their photos anyway. And, as far as I am concerned, the answer is yes.Though that doesn't mean that I treat every picture the same way. I'd say from my experience that I very rarely invest much time and effort in post, almost always being happy with minor adjustments to the contrast and the color saturation, maybe some sharpening, some vignette here and there. But heavy editing pertaining to exposure correction for example? That isn't necessary 90% of the time in my case.My philosophy is to try to get the right exposure from the get go, and not just in post, which is time consuming to me. And if my exposure looks correct to me, I'm happy with just the JPEGs from the camera. Whenever I realize that JPEGs won't do, or that I have too little time to compensate the exposure values, or that the dynamic range of the scene in front of me is too much for the JPEGs, then I switch to RAW—which isn't a hassle thanks to the nifty RAW/JPEG button on my Canon EOS 7D.This solution works perfectly for me. That way, I don't waste disk space on photos that don't really need the extra space that RAW files usually need. And I know I won't spend too much time post-processing all my photos—more time to actually shoot, which is the point for me.I guess my advice for photographers who are willing to venture into the RAW world is this: give it a shot, experiment, learn, fail, see if it works for you, and most importantly, if it's worth the "extra hassle" that comes along with post-processing and extra disk space.
I think you make two really good points:
1. Shooting in RAW shouldn't be a substitute for getting the exposure right "in camera".
2. Your system works perfectly for you. That's probably the most important thing especially if you've checked out the alternatives.
Can you recommend a moderately priced camera with the RAW setting? Most cameras seem to be in the $900+ .
If you're looking at point and shoot cameras you can get the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 for $499 at Amazon and the Samsung TL500 is available for $395 right now. Of course there's the Canon PowerShot G11 which Amazon has for $449 right now and it's probably the one I'd recommend. Don't forget to look at entry level DSLRs and micro four thirds cameras as well for good deals (from reputable sources of course)!
I shoot RAW most of the time & ALL of the time for paying clients. BUT... I really recommend those that shoot RAW all the time to give jpeg a go once in a while.
I love shooting fun family shots in jpeg and leaving all the production to the camera is fine by me. I just concentrate on interacting, falling in love & capturing part of a persons inner beauty. Sure I can do the same with RAW but the temptation to adjust this & that is too great for me. I definitely have a "ya get what ya get" attitude when shooting jpeg.
P mode on the Canon dial stands for Professional. Select P, jpeg, desired picture style & get capturing those moments.
I'm pretty new to photography and up until now I've mostly been shooting jpeg. I did some experiments using raw, but the pictures didn't look that great. On the other hand, I guess it takes also some time & experience to get all the settings right - color, white balance ans so on...
'P' mode on Canon cameras stands for PROGRAM MODE.
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