Raw format

[Nick F]

Now that I have my nice new Nikon D50 I was wondering what the best method is of storing photos on my camera. Is Raw better than normal Jpeg? What are the major differences?

[hoodmeister]

JPEG compresses shots, RAW does not.

Basically more detail is preserved with RAW, but you'll get "flatter" images straight out of the camera. They need post processing.

Once you get into the swing of processing your photos though, you'll find RAW to be far superior to JPEG. It's all I shoot in on my D70.

[noah]

agreed with hoodi for the most part. although i only use raw if i need it. if i know i've got to get a shot perfect, eg a studio type setup shot i use raw, or if it's a difficult exposure or potentially dodgy white balance i use raw. may times i prefer to use jpegs as they are less hassle if you are shooting loads of pics.

im off travelling for 10 weeks later in the year and there's no way i can shoot in just raw for that, imagine the time needed to process 2000 odd shots. it would drive me mad. let alone doubling the storage needed.

raw allows for error, like exposure or white balance adjustment and allows you to save files as .tiffs which will stand more playing around with in photoshop than jpegs will. it can save shots you thought you'd misssed so can be very usefull.

try pixmantec raw shooter essentials or if you have the money nikon capture, i'm using a trial of this at the min and its fantastic, seems better than adobe camera raw so far.

hope that helps

[shiato storm]

travelling for 10 weeks?! where!! once again; jealous!

oh and as far as raw/jpeg goes take a couple of shots one in raw one jpeg and see the difference, its quite remarkable how much better raw comes out after a little processing.

[hoodmeister]

Even if I was taking copious amounts of shots, i'd still shoot RAW, batch processing is easy...

The only time I wouldn't is if I was going to be away from any sort of computer for some time, and I couldn't take my lappy with me.

[noah]

travelling for 10 weeks?! where!! once again; jealous!

still very much in the planning stages but as part of my course i get to go abroad for a medical elective. should be gong to Papua New Guinea for a month or so first to do some surgery and medicine on one of the islands and hopefully to a bit of diving there too, maybe even some surfing if there is any at the time of year. then over to meet a friend in buenos ares to ride motorbikes up to the andes, climb one then ride back in a motorcylce diaries fashion. hsbc will lend me £6000 at 1% above base-rate so i can afford it too. its a bit extravagant, but i think we can pull it off.

back on topic is it amazing the amont of detail raw holds in shadows, and yeah if you get batch processing sorted it's great. as yet im not happy with my batch processing and still do each file indiidually so it takes ages. i'm happy to do this until a point.

[hoodmeister]

/also jealous of Noah

I process my "best" shots manually, then batch the rest - I find this works well.

For example, I took a ton of shots over xmas, mostly of family, which they obviously wanted to see. I manually processed the best of them, and batched the rest. Job done.

If there's no immediate need to use a photo, though, then I just keep it as a RAW. For just browsing thumbnails of pics I actually find NEF's to be faster loading than JPEG's

[menthel]

I process mine using photoshop elements 3. Seems to work ok, but might try some other things.

Sounds like a fun trip Noah, and you can't beat paying off 5 years of medical school for the rest of your life, especially those bank loans! 4 1/2 years out and still handing over large sums of money to the loan people!

[shiato storm]

still very much in the planning stages but as part of my course i get to go abroad for a medical elective. should be gong to Papua New Guinea for a month or so first to do some surgery and medicine on one of the islands and hopefully to a bit of diving there too, maybe even some surfing if there is any at the time of year. then over to meet a friend in buenos ares to ride motorbikes up to the andes, climb one then ride back in a motorcylce diaries fashion. hsbc will lend me £6000 at 1% above base-rate so i can afford it too. its a bit extravagant, but i think we can pull it off.

wtf!! you medics are a bunch of lazy gits, do a proper degree!
swanning off to dive, surf and maybe a little bit of medical orientated learning? ok, thats done it, I'm doing the wrong job. maybe I should have a go at medicine, got an MSc in phyisology under the belt so its feasable...eternal student? moi?!!

noah, i hope you get to go. and when you find a place to live invite a few of us over so we can stay somewhere cheap and take awesome pics we promise not to get in the way when you go to 'work'...