Shooting in RAW

Toby · 25-04-2009, 16:07

Ok it's that age-old question, do you shoot in RAW?

Whilst some say only the "pros" need RAW, I've always tended to think that the ability it provides for "saving" some over or underexposed shots is also of serious use to us "noobs"

As I tend to be the type of person who takes their camera to specific events rather than walk around with it all the time, when I do use it a lot it's usually for a specific event for which I really don't want to lose any good shots to poor exposure, so I tend to always shoot in RAW and then sort them out with Lightroom back at base.

Only problem of course is that RAW eats memory cards for breakfast, even more so now with the 40D over the 400D. As I don't have a laptop to offload stuff onto each night, when I'm away from base for a few days or more, memory card capacity starts to become an issue and it's then that I start wondering whether to just shoot in JPEG and be done with it.

Thoughts?

Dee · 25-04-2009, 16:38

When I was a total beginner, I shot all JPEG.

When I was finding my feet slightly, I shot in JPEG and RAW.

Now I am a fully fledged professional (ok, just better than I was

), its RAW all the way.

I personally dont see the point in shooting in JPEG anymore, I have so much more control over my shots when I process them in RAW, although I always try and get the exposure right in camera before I shoot, I dont like to rely on it too much

Matblack · 25-04-2009, 17:35

Won't shoot in anything other than RAW every again, if you want any flexibility in PP then RAW is the only solution

MB

divine · 25-04-2009, 17:39

I used Jpeg for about a week at most when I first got mine, then switched to RAW and haven't looked back since.

I use RAW+Jpeg if I might need the Jpegs for some reason, like copying to someone elses laptop who don't have any RAW editing programs installed.

Joe 90 · 25-04-2009, 17:45

RAW. w1n.

Matblack · 25-04-2009, 17:49

Your hemorrhaging memory cards on TP anyway Toby, surely the 16Gb held plenty of shots?

MB

Toby · 25-04-2009, 20:44

Too damned slow - bought it as it was a bargain for the size but "133x" my arse! It's less than half the speed of my Extreme IIIs.

Basically I've got 16GB of Extreme IIIs with another 16GB on the way. In RAW on the 40D I'm looking at around 70 shots per gigabyte so that gives me 2240 shots before I'm full. Ought to be enough but I'm sure I'm gonna run out on a holiday trip sooner rather than later.

Off to Le Mans in June for a full five days and I'm worried I'm going to run out of space. Don't know whether to spend even more on memory cards or save towards a laptop/netbook. Might see if I can borrow one from work.

As I revived in a thread on TP this morning, I can't believe no-one does a simple USB 2.0 bridge device which can literally shovel data from one device to another. I could then plug my USB CF reader into it and a standard external USB hard drive and offload the cards to the drive. Belkin used to do such a device called the "USB Anywhere" but it's been discontinued and was only USB 1.0 which would be rather painful when unloading a 16GB card.

Mark · 25-04-2009, 21:16

I've tried so many other SDHC cards - Class 4, Class 6, whatever. None - not a single one - even gets close to Extreme III speed. Indeed I've found that the Extreme IIIs are the only cards that beat the buffer on my S3IS, so I dread to think about RAW performance.

Extreme III all the way, price be dammned.

Back on topic, I thought the whole point of having RAW was more flexibility. Why on earth would anyone shoot JPEG only out of choice (lack of memory excepted).

Matblack · 25-04-2009, 21:48

JPEG will pre-apply some processing and the shots will look good out of the camera most of the time, RAWs however tend to need a quick spruce in a post processing program to make them look good to the eye, things like sharpening, saturation and contrast are left to the user to tweak.

MB

Mark · 25-04-2009, 21:54

True - hadn't really thought that statement through. There are uses - if you don't have time, or if it's a throwaway shot (I quite often take a photo of my gas meter to get the reading from it - no point at all shooting that RAW as the picture is used for all of about 10 seconds).

25-04-2009, 16:07	#1
Toby Absinthe Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 1,023	Shooting in RAW Ok it's that age-old question, do you shoot in RAW? Whilst some say only the "pros" need RAW, I've always tended to think that the ability it provides for "saving" some over or underexposed shots is also of serious use to us "noobs" As I tend to be the type of person who takes their camera to specific events rather than walk around with it all the time, when I do use it a lot it's usually for a specific event for which I really don't want to lose any good shots to poor exposure, so I tend to always shoot in RAW and then sort them out with Lightroom back at base. Only problem of course is that RAW eats memory cards for breakfast, even more so now with the 40D over the 400D. As I don't have a laptop to offload stuff onto each night, when I'm away from base for a few days or more, memory card capacity starts to become an issue and it's then that I start wondering whether to just shoot in JPEG and be done with it. Thoughts? __________________

25-04-2009, 17:35	#3
Matblack Baby Bore Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Svalbard Posts: 9,770	Won't shoot in anything other than RAW every again, if you want any flexibility in PP then RAW is the only solution MB __________________ "we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two"

25-04-2009, 17:39	#4
divine Moonshine Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Southampton Posts: 3,201	I used Jpeg for about a week at most when I first got mine, then switched to RAW and haven't looked back since. I use RAW+Jpeg if I might need the Jpegs for some reason, like copying to someone elses laptop who don't have any RAW editing programs installed. __________________

25-04-2009, 17:45	#5
Joe 90 Absinthe Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Chester Posts: 2,345	RAW. w1n. __________________ 360 Blog \| Join GiffGaff \| Twitter

25-04-2009, 17:49	#6
Matblack Baby Bore Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Svalbard Posts: 9,770	Your hemorrhaging memory cards on TP anyway Toby, surely the 16Gb held plenty of shots? MB __________________ "we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two"

25-04-2009, 16:38	#2
Dee Combat Spanker Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 5,292	When I was a total beginner, I shot all JPEG. When I was finding my feet slightly, I shot in JPEG and RAW. Now I am a fully fledged professional (ok, just better than I was ), its RAW all the way. I personally dont see the point in shooting in JPEG anymore, I have so much more control over my shots when I process them in RAW, although I always try and get the exposure right in camera before I shoot, I dont like to rely on it too much

25-04-2009, 20:44	#7
Toby Absinthe Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 1,023	Too damned slow - bought it as it was a bargain for the size but "133x" my arse! It's less than half the speed of my Extreme IIIs. Basically I've got 16GB of Extreme IIIs with another 16GB on the way. In RAW on the 40D I'm looking at around 70 shots per gigabyte so that gives me 2240 shots before I'm full. Ought to be enough but I'm sure I'm gonna run out on a holiday trip sooner rather than later. Off to Le Mans in June for a full five days and I'm worried I'm going to run out of space. Don't know whether to spend even more on memory cards or save towards a laptop/netbook. Might see if I can borrow one from work. As I revived in a thread on TP this morning, I can't believe no-one does a simple USB 2.0 bridge device which can literally shovel data from one device to another. I could then plug my USB CF reader into it and a standard external USB hard drive and offload the cards to the drive. Belkin used to do such a device called the "USB Anywhere" but it's been discontinued and was only USB 1.0 which would be rather painful when unloading a 16GB card. __________________ Last edited by Toby; 25-04-2009 at 20:48.

25-04-2009, 21:16	#8
Mark Screaming Orgasm Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Newbury Posts: 15,194	I've tried so many other SDHC cards - Class 4, Class 6, whatever. None - not a single one - even gets close to Extreme III speed. Indeed I've found that the Extreme IIIs are the only cards that beat the buffer on my S3IS, so I dread to think about RAW performance. Extreme III all the way, price be dammned. Back on topic, I thought the whole point of having RAW was more flexibility. Why on earth would anyone shoot JPEG only out of choice (lack of memory excepted).

25-04-2009, 21:48	#9
Matblack Baby Bore Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Svalbard Posts: 9,770	JPEG will pre-apply some processing and the shots will look good out of the camera most of the time, RAWs however tend to need a quick spruce in a post processing program to make them look good to the eye, things like sharpening, saturation and contrast are left to the user to tweak. MB __________________ "we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two"

25-04-2009, 21:54	#10
Mark Screaming Orgasm Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Newbury Posts: 15,194	True - hadn't really thought that statement through. There are uses - if you don't have time, or if it's a throwaway shot (I quite often take a photo of my gas meter to get the reading from it - no point at all shooting that RAW as the picture is used for all of about 10 seconds).