RAW v JPG ?

[Guest CJS2]

Eatlard,

 

Thanks mate, did not realise it was an Adobe program.

 

I now understand that TIFF (I think) is a 'save' function of the RAW manipulating program on the computer. The file can be saved as a no lose TIFF file or as a quality JPEG file. Logical now, cameras dont need to shoot in TIFF, just RAW, then convert as required?

 

Have to go and shoot some RAW pics???

 

Thanks again, Cliff

 

PS, Corydoras, Just read your post, things are getting clearer. I need to have play in 'RawShooter', see where we can go. Just a point though, I never was against RAW or for JPEG, just thought it would promote interesting dialogue, and I might learn something, I think I have?

Edited August 15, 2006 by CJS2

[Steve Randles]

Not to derail the thread at all Steve but HDR works best IMO with bracketed shots

 

Its not derailing, just discussion.

 

Anyway, I got the following statement from this page here

 

Exposure is best set to Manual mode, and Autofocus turned off. Don't use your camera's auto-bracket function, because these don't allow for enough shots or enough range in bracketing. Simply take a series of shots at about 1 stop increments by changing the shutter speed. You can use the post-exposure histogram to judge when you have taken enough to adequately capture the scene's brightness range.

 

I'm certain that bracketing does work and in my little tests it has, although I need to find a few better subjects. And he is talking about true dynamic range photography. Have a look, its an interesting read.

 

Steve...

[Steve Randles]

I forgot to mention that bundled with Photoshop CS2 is another little program called Adobe Bridge, you can edit RAW files in that without having to open Adobe Camera Raw or photoshop. You can save any settings made to a RAW file and give it a name, or apply the same settings to all files in a folder if you so choose, you can also instantly remove them too, all this before going into photoshop itself.

 

Steve...

[Eatlard]

Its not derailing, just discussion.

 

Anyway, I got the following statement from this page here

 

Exposure is best set to Manual mode, and Autofocus turned off. Don't use your camera's auto-bracket function, because these don't allow for enough shots or enough range in bracketing. Simply take a series of shots at about 1 stop increments by changing the shutter speed. You can use the post-exposure histogram to judge when you have taken enough to adequately capture the scene's brightness range.

 

I'm certain that bracketing does work and in my little tests it has, although I need to find a few better subjects. And he is talking about true dynamic range photography. Have a look, its an interesting read.

 

Steve...

 

I see. He's doing a larger merge than I've been playing with so normally I'm happy with 3 to 5 shots (although my camera only does 3 max) whereas he's using up to 9. Interesting page though, I think I've seen it before and read through, only slight annoyance was that I don't have Photoshop to fully follow it along.

 

Thanks tho

[corydoras]

PS, Corydoras, Just read your post, things are getting clearer. I need to have play in 'RawShooter', see where we can go. Just a point though, I never was against RAW or for JPEG, just thought it would promote interesting dialogue, and I might learn something, I think I have?

I think you're nearly there. All digital cameras starts of as RAW data, but in low end cameras this is thrown away after bieng processed and converted to JPEG. Most low end cameras only offer JPEG. Mid range cameras (like my Olympus C765UZ) throw away the RAW data, but offer TIFF in addition to JPEG whilst more expensive offerings will allow RAW data, JPEG and maybe TIFF too.

 

One last thing to note is that whilst the JPEG format is a standard format, RAW is proprietary so the RAW processing software that came with say a Canon camera may not read a RAW file from a Nikon. Thats how I understand it, if I am wrong I sure that someone else will correct me .

Edited August 15, 2006 by corydoras

[Guest CJS2]

One last thing to note is that whilst the JPEG format is a standard format RAW is proprietary so the RAW processing software that came with say a Canon camera may not read a RAW file from a Nikon. Thats how I understand it, if I am wrong I sure that someone else will correct me .

 

I seem to remember reading RAW files are not universal, manufacturer to manufacturer. Confirmed perhaps, when I looked at the free down load of 'RawShooter' the web page made a 'thing' of mentioning that it now supported the new Nikon D200 and 'a another' camera, cant remember what that was?

 

Been out this afternoon, had some shopping to do in town, I live in Ipswich, and there are some great old buildings, in the centre, wood framed and some really nice churches, 13 of them!!! Grabbed my Canon S50 P&S, just to take some pictures, the light was good, no car, in for service, perfect, walk down the old link passages in town, you can feel the atmosphere.

 

Unfortunately the battery was down ho-hum! But it did flash up on the screen before it went on strike, 'did I want to use the RAW file'? Did not know my Canon had access to its RAW files, so now I have even less excuse for not try RAW. I do leave the Nikon D70s at home in favour of the Canon if I just want a few snaps, trouble is, the Canon can produce some very satisfying shots, so the Nikon sees less use that it should

 

In town again tomorrow, might treat myself to a new tripod, got a brand new Manfrotto head and a tripod with a wonky leg, let the shop have a look first, but the nuts and bolts look very no adjustable to me. The new breed of Manfrotto look very easy to adjust? Perhaps this will encourage me to get out more with the Nikon?

 

Cliff

[Peter Sharpe]

I work in publishing and I have to ask contributors never to send photos in RAW format. This is mainly because I don't think we have a computer in the entire office that can open the damned things. I always shoot in the highest quality jpg format that my camera allows. If the photo does not have to be enlarged in any way, I will even perform a few tweaks in (horror of horrors) Paintshop Pro and then save it - still as a jpg. If it is only altered once it is almost impossible to detect any difference and it saves a lot of time. For photographs that require a fair amount of manipulation, or for ones that are to be reproduced at 100% or more, I first save the original as a Tiff file. As somebody else mentioned, this will save it from further compression, which occurs every time you save a jpg (even if you don't use Paintshop Pro's JPG compression facility. Life is just too short to bother working with RAW files.

[poledark]

My Nikon saves in JPEG, TIFF and RAW. File sizes are a bit different though..

 

8Mp RAW =12Mb

 

8Mp TIFF =23Mb !!

 

Den

[corydoras]

I work in publishing and I have to ask contributors never to send photos in RAW format.

Absolutely Peter, but this is not what RAW files are for. If we were to go back a couple of years, it would be a bit like sending you an undeveloped 35mm film.

[Peter Sharpe]

Absolutely Peter, but this is not what RAW files are for. If we were to go back a couple of years, it would be a bit like sending you an undeveloped 35mm film.

 

In that case I obviously no understanding of the concept of RAW. On the other hand though, neither have the people who have sent them to me