Advice on shooting in RAW

[Sportsman]

Hi

Infrequent visitor ( and infrequent photographer) so be gentle.

I have a Fuji Finepix S7000 and want to use it to take photographs to illustrate a book. I understand that the pictures need to be as good as possible and have been told to shoot them in RAW for processing later.

The camera has a "CCD RAW ON" feature in settings but when I turn it on and take picture I have a problem downloading them to my PC. The PC download wizard tells me there are no images on the camera although I can view them on camera.

Do I need some piece of whizzo software to download them.

I have Photoshop CS3 if that helps.

Any advice would be warmly received

Thanks

Dave

[MrWiggly]

Hi Sportsman ...

 

Windows may not recognise the Fuji "Raw" format.

 

Did not the Fuji camera have software with it, which may include a download prog. ?

 

If not, a visit to the Fuji site looking for downloads may be in order.

 

There are other progs that may do the job ...

 

Keep us updated ...

 

Wiggly.

[Sportsman]

Hi Sportsman ...

 

Windows may not recognise the Fuji "Raw" format.

 

Did not the Fuji camera have software with it, which may include a download prog. ?

 

If not, a visit to the Fuji site looking for downloads may be in order.

 

There are other progs that may do the job ...

 

Keep us updated ...

 

Wiggly.

 

 

Thanks Mr W

Yes, I did have the software when I got the camera but I deleted a load of stuff from my PC a while ago, as I never used it, and now I can't find the CD.

I'll take your advice and visit the fuji site

[Sportsman]

The Fuji site has updates for Finepix viewer, which is what I need before I can install the RAW downloader.

I will contact them tomorrow and see if I can get new copies of the software.

[MrWiggly]

The Fuji site has updates for Finepix viewer, which is what I need before I can install the RAW downloader.

I will contact them tomorrow and see if I can get new copies of the software.

======================

 

I used to run Fuji cameras some years ago and may have some old disks laying about. I'll have a look for you.

 

Any Fuji guys out there willing to pass on a copy to help out ?

 

Wiggly.

[Comus]

Hi Sportsman,

 

Not sure if the Fuji allows it but, with my Nikon, I'm able to shoot in RAW and Jpeg. It eats up your memory card but allows you do review shots in Jpeg and, if you're happy with them, print the Jpegs. If you feel that you need some post processing then you can open the raw and process away.

 

Raw vs Jpeg is a constantly held aruement but RAW really does have its uses, particularly for the sort of work you're talking about.

 

Regards,

 

Comus

[MrWiggly]

Dave ..

 

You have PM mate ..

[Sportsman]

Dave ..

 

You have PM mate ..

 

Yes thanks for that, it's a great help

[Alnath]

Only shoot raw if it isnt critical, i love raw for weddings or when i need the extra exposure control but as a rule JPEG will do and it doesnt come with all the extra post processing that raw requires.

[Peter Sharpe]

Totally agree with the above. I work on a magazine and we actively discourage people from sending photos in the RAW format. RAW just eats up your memory card space and unless you are such an expert that you know exactly what exposure and aperture settings to make for every exposure you will be restricted from experimenting. Apart from anything else, I have yet to see any difference whatsoever between an opened RAW file and a jpg taken straight after. You are far better shooting in the highest qhality jpg possible and bracketing the exposure (either manually or by the camera's automatic facility) to be certain of getting a usable shot. If you want to do your own processing on the finished shot (although most magazines prefer that you leave it to their own experts), then save a copy as a Tif file, so that any subsequent saving won't result in further compression. Every time you save a jpg it degrades it, although copying it and pasting it leaves it unaltered.