Making the leap to RAW

[Cousin Orville]

I recently purchased a Sony a6000. I've decided to start shooting RAW. How does everyone here manage their RAW files?

1. The camera has the option to save in both RAW and JPEG. Should I just save in RAW or is there an advantage to save in both formats?

2. I use Apple Photos and have about 70,000 photos in the library backing up to an ext hard drive, formally flickr, and now iCloud. Is there a better option especially now that my RAW files will start taking up some serious space? What software do you use to view, edit and backup your photos? Would you recommend I stick with Apple Photos and iCloud?

Thanks in advance! As an aside, I really love the a6000. I've also had a Nikon 7100 and RX100 for a while, which are also great cameras, but I wanted something a bit lighter for traveling that could take awesome photos. Just got back from a couple of trips to San Francisco and WDW with the a6000 and I've been very impressed.

 

[PythonFan888]

What software do you use to view, edit and backup your photos? Would you recommend I stick with Apple Photos and iCloud?

With RAW files I would definitely move up from Photos. Apple Photos has very rudimentary editing tools and working with RAW files holds very little advantage. I would recommend moving up to a more robust set of tools like Adobe Lightroom or Bridge/ACR/Photoshop. This will involve an investment of time and effort on your part to learn and use the new software but I think it will be worth it.

I personally use Adobe Creative Cloud so I have access to Lightroom and PS.

 

[havoc315]

Lightroom is the premier product for managing and processing raw files.

The advantage of shooting JPEG+RAW is to save some time, by primarily relying on the jpegs, but using select raw images for photos that will benefit from some extra adjustments.

Though I almost never use this mode, it can be helpful while you learn raw processing. Compare the raw to the JPEG... Make your raw adjustments, compare again. At first, the jpegs may be better than the raw, until you become better as processing.

 

[elmoandzoey]

Third here for Lightroom. I shoot solely RAW since I bring everything into LR anyway (and since the camera I first used only had either or but not both RAW+JPEG output). What I deem usable, I edit and export to JPEG. It will take time to get used to how LR works but it will be worth the effort. I am not familiar with Apple Photos so I can't say how good it would be to take full advantage of RAW editing.

I used to backup my RAW files to DVDs as 2nd backup from what I have on HD but have now switched to USB sticks as a 2nd backup form. I just buy whatever size I need to fit one shoot on and be good with that. I have had quite a few HD failures in the past so I always back up important stuff somewhere else as well.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

Because of the type of photography I do (motorsports), it requires that I shoot RAW + JPEG. It eats up a ton of memory and I use a bunch of external hard drives.

 

[mom2rtk]

I only use RAW + Jpeg when I have a reason for doing so. It takes too much storage space for me to want to use it as my default option. I shot some photos of my sister's family recently. She wanted to just take the card with her instead of letting me edit anything. She swears her son knows how to process the RAW photos. But I was skeptical,so I did RAW + Jpeg just to be sure.

When I first swapped to RAW I went with RAW + Jpeg to give me time to figure out how comfortable I was with the processing. Now I shoot exclusively RAW. But I'd like to get good enough to go back to Jpeg.

I third (or 4th or 5th?) using Lightroom. It's an awesome tool and very easy to use.

 

[Tigerlulu]

Ditto Lightroom! I use LR/PS6 and shoot only raw. Everything gets catalogued into an external harddrive.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Thanks everyone! I've started using LR6 and it does seem to be very impressive and straight forward for the most part. YouTube tutorials have helped.