RAW vs. JPEG
Posted by Abe Batthish on January 1, 2008
Was playing around with features on my SLR and left the image quality setting on RAW. The following day we attended an engagement and took quite a few pictures (and filled up most of my memory card) before I realized that I had forgotten the setting and switched it back to a JPEG setting.
The following day I was uploading photos to Flickr when I realized that I wasn’t allowed to upload RAW files, at least not with my account.
You would think the software that came with my Nikon camera, Picture Project, would have such a feature. But I was disappointed to find out it didn’t. Then started the quest to find a RAW-to-JPEG batch converter. In my particular case, I was in need of a NEF-to-JPEG converter. Eventually I found one and converted the 100 or so pictures to JPEG before uploading them to the Web.
I then decided to do some research on the 2 formats to see when RAW is necessary. Found a good thread in a Flickr photography group that allowed folks to share their opinions. Overall, if you have the need and time to do post-processing on the image use RAW, otherwise stick to JPEG. I’ll probably use RAW when I’m in an artistic mood, but will use JPEG for the quick-shot family event photos. Although you never know when you need to do post-processing, and there is the option to shoot RAW+JPEG on my Nikon… man, I need to buy a new monster external hard drive. :(
One other handy recommendation when using RAW files on the Windows platform, be sure to install the Windows RAW image viewer.
Saves me time while I’m browsing through images on my laptop.
Stephen J. Zeller said
One of the largest benefits of using a RAW is that you have much more control over the file for post processing than you do with JPEG. RAW files are exactly the same as what your camera’s sensor captured. Granted, they are a much larger file because there is no compression as there is with JPEG.
wildstorm said
Ditto Stephen Zeller. It’s all I use now and simply convert once they are on my computer if necessary.
photodoug said
Agreed.
I did not use RAW at first and created many jobs on JPEG for a while until a colleague suggested the virtues of RAW. I will never go back. There are so many ways to increase the quality of the image. The obvious drawback is that you need to have lots of storage space and large cards too.