Raw? Tiff? Jpeg?

[SlowShutter]

Hello Fellow Snappers...

please enlighten me on the formats of RAW and JPEG.
what are the advantages or disadvantages in using these formats.
for example, if i use RAW, is there any significant different in resolution, or any quality losses in conversion or so.

i really want to know b4 buying any DSLR.

Thank uuuuuu....

 

[nickmak]

Hello Fellow Snappers...

please enlighten me on the formats of RAW and JPEG.
what are the advantages or disadvantages in using these formats.
for example, if i use RAW, is there any significant different in resolution, or any quality losses in conversion or so.

i really want to know b4 buying any DSLR.

Thank uuuuuu....

RAW: Basically the raw data (excuse the pun) that comes from the sensor and no processing by camera...

JPEG: Compressed file and depending on the type of quality and camera the compression is different and gives different quality...

If u are going to blow ur pictures up to say A2 or A1 size then i suggest shoot RAW... if not then JPEG should be ok... (This is coming from a 6mp DSLR...)

 

[nightwolf75]

i believe i read somewhere that if ur images are in JPG, it will lose some data everytime u re-save. the theory is that JPG is a 'lossy' format.

raw is BIG! but, if u wish to PS or blow up ur pics, i've seen people recommending using raw. but, this would mean u need to invest in big storage cards (1GB and above). on my 300D, a raw pic easily comes up to ard 7-8MB.

 

[nickmak]

i believe i read somewhere that if ur images are in JPG, it will lose some data everytime u re-save. the theory is that JPG is a 'lossy' format.

raw is BIG! but, if u wish to PS or blow up ur pics, i've seen people recommending using raw. but, this would mean u need to invest in big storage cards (1GB and above). on my 300D, a raw pic easily comes up to ard 7-8MB.

Yes i agree... u can only take 54 pics in RAW using a 512MB card on 300D... if u wanna spend on a dslr get a big card too...

 

[linse]

You can store about 95 compressed NEF Raw files from a D70 in a 512 MB card.

The power of shooting RAW is not in the resolution or whether it is lossy or not. The advantage or RAW is that you can adjust the exposure, density curves, white balance, tone, saturation, colourspace and sharpening after the shot. If you a just going to do a direct RAW to JPEG conversion without any adjustments, then you do not need to shoot RAW. However, if you don't always have perfect exposures and white balance settings in your photos, then shooting RAW may allow you to easily salvage a bad photo ... within limits of course. However, you will need to invest in a good RAW converter which do not come with the cameras.

 

[nightwolf75]

You can store about 95 compressed NEF Raw files from a D70 in a 512 MB card.

The power of shooting RAW is not in the resolution or whether it is lossy or not. The advantage or RAW is that you can adjust the exposure, density curves, white balance, tone, saturation, colourspace and sharpening after the shot. If you a just going to do a direct RAW to JPEG conversion without any adjustments, then you do not need to shoot RAW. However, if you don't always have perfect exposures and white balance settings in your photos, then shooting RAW may allow you to easily salvage a bad photo ... within limits of course. However, you will need to invest in a good RAW converter which do not come with the cameras.

agree. i dunno abt D70's packaged software viewer for RAW. but 300D's viewer cum editor is quite sucky, IMO. very slow in generating image and even slower when editing and saving. and this is on my P2.6MHz, 1GB RAM computer! i'm looking at a RAW editing software from Capture 1 (http://www.pictureflow.com), highly recommended by some photo website. bro DarkForce also highly recommened this to me, when i posted on the canon thread.

u might want to download the trial version, b4 buying it?

 

[Virgo]

Hello Fellow Snappers...

please enlighten me on the formats of RAW and JPEG.
what are the advantages or disadvantages in using these formats.
for example, if i use RAW, is there any significant different in resolution, or any quality losses in conversion or so.

i really want to know b4 buying any DSLR.

Thank uuuuuu....

The main differences between RAW and compressed (JPEG in this case) format are:

1. Size. RAW files are huge. You need to have a big storage media whenever you want to shoot RAW, as what the rest have mentioned.

2. Purpose. You shoot RAW when you want to make changes to the exposure compensation, white balance and other settings on the pic later on. Although you can do it for JPEG in PS, it's normally very time consuming and involves a lot of steps. RAW is much easier.

3. Convenience. RAW is much more difficult to manipulate, since size DOES MATTER! You need to convert it to TIFF, make changes to it and then convert to JPEG to scale it down. JPEG is much easier, you just need to copy the file to your hard disk and then proceed with the PS process

4. Experience. Experience photographers will normally shoot in JPEG, since they're very proficient in their settings and not much touch up needs to be done. Also, they can shoot more pics with their existing card. That does not mean that inexperience photogs should shoot in RAW. Anyway, digital photography is all about experiment!

Hope these help you in choosing a good DCam/DSLR.