Is there any advantage for Shooting in RAW Over JPEG ?

1. 69

   Mellyunpluggedposted 12 years ago

   Is there any advantage for Shooting in RAW Over JPEG ?

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2. 68

   Darrylmdavisposted 12 years ago

   The main advantage of RAW over JPEG is to be found in the editing phase. Think of a RAW file as a old time film negative. It gives you much more control over what you picture will look like in the end. HOWEVER, you have to take the time to develop it. Just like a film negative, until you develop the picture, you don't have anything but work to do. A JEPG, on the other hand, represents an already developed picture...but developed according to the camera's preset assumptions as to what it should look like. And sometimes the camera will do a better job than you but other times you and the camera won't be on the same page.
   
   Because it represents more work (sometimes a lot more), requires special software (note: "special" needn't equate "expensive"...but be aware that there's nothing standard in Windows which will open a RAW file), represents much larger files (which fills up your card more quickly & often slows down your camera because it takes more time to process the shots...this is particularly likely with anything other than a full size DSLR and a very fast card), RAW should be reserved for "serious photography". Personally, in those cases, I shot in RAW and JPEG so I can decide what I use later on. For casual photography, RAW is more of a pain than anything else and JPEG is just an easier way to go.

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   photographyadviceposted 12 years ago

   I think Darrylmdavis covered it pretty well. The main benefit of RAW over JPEG for me is the ability to recover highlight detail from areas that would appear blown out pure white in a JPEG image.
   
   Bear in mind that when you shoot RAW, you aren't forced to process each photo individually. You can always batch process RAW files without making any adjustments to them (or make the same adjustments to a lot of images all in one go). It is still an extra step to go through compared to shooting JPEG though.

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      Darrylmdavisposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Good addition re:batch processing...forgot to mention that ;-)

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   Gina145posted 12 years ago

   I can't add much to what Darrylmdavis said either, but I always shoot in RAW, or sometimes in RAW and JPEG if I think I will need the processed file later.
   One of the big advantages to RAW which I don't think has been mentioned is the ability to correct white balance later. This can be very useful when shooting in artificial light as automatic white balance rarely gets it right and I find that even the other presets often let me down.

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   markjawonposted 11 years ago

   Your question could be the same of: "Is there any advantage for Shooting with more informations over less information?"
   You get the answer by yourself!
   Think about the old film roll... that's the RAW; and then think about a normal photo lab print... that can be considered as a JPEG (a mix of paper quality and compression of color that "fits" the printing technology - and Jpgs are a digital print output.
   Of course it takes more time, memory, hardware and software performance to work a RAW file. But it definitely worths that "effort".
   Than at the end you'll have your personal interpretation of your digital High Quality .JPG, or your digital Highest Quality .TIF.
   
   By the way: does anyone consider the .DNG raws over proprietary raws?
   I wrote an article on my phlog, talkin' about some (solved) issues from Fuji's raw files management, with some more information (which I think is a good thing! :-).
   If you want take a quick read at hdphotography.org
   
   I think you can better ask for a comparison between .TIFFs and .JPEGs, because they are different systems to get an output.
   RAW is an input.
   
   have a nice "shootin' time"!
   
   mark

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      Mellyunpluggedposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Sure ! and thanx a lot for your inputs

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