RAW file format

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Hey Evad, how about doing what I do and shoot Raw+JPEG fine? That's worked well for me thus far. Then at least you'll have options.

 

[ukcatfan]

You already have some great info, so I will just say hello from across the river in The Cape.

 

[boBQuincy]

I used to do that. Now my fle volumes are just too big. I've had days where I've shot 6 DVDs worth of files. Now I carry a pair of 500 gig USB drives. I import my pictures to both simultaneously and store them separately. It's not quite as secure as DVDs, but the difference is trivial. I find it much more convenient.

Redundant systems are a great way to improve overall reliability. If your drives are 99% reliable (and they are probably much better than that) it gives 1% unreliability each. For two redundant drives we multiply the unreliability which gives 0.01% total unreliability, or 99.99% total system reliability.

That's probably good enough!

 

[keylime359]

Thank you for the suggestions! I will look for the books mentioned. I also looked into the local community college for a continuing ed class!

Ukcatfan- I have a friend in Ft.Myers that uses UkFan as her email! Hello to your side of the River!

 

[roselark]

I second the recommendation for "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson.

I started this journey a few weeks ago and at first, I knew nothing. I have wanted to step into photography as a hobby for a long time, but the terms aperture, RAW, exposure, etc had intimidated me so much that I always shied away from it. I read this book in two days and it made all the difference for me. I now have my Canon Rebel XSI and I LOVE it! I still have a long way to go, but I am steadily progressing. The most important thing though is that I now have the confidence that I CAN learn it!

 

[boBQuincy]

RAW? I'm voting JPG. RAW is for people that can't get it right when they shoot. You're not an idiot. Surely you can manage to get a few simple settings right like exposure level, white balance, saturation, contrast and sharpening before each shot. It's not rocket science.

Right on Bro'!
256 levels are all anyone needs, 4096 (or the even more ridiculous 16,384) are a waste of space and probably don't really exist anyway. Ken Rockwell doesn't use RAW, neither did some of our 'banned for life' forum members, what more do we need to know?

 

[scoot241]

I shoot RAW. The file size is much bigger, but it's also much more flexible for those times that you don't get it quite right in the camera. For me, it lets me concentrate more on composition and exposure and not having to worry so much about white balance and the rest.

I just ordered two more 8GB SD cards so I don't feel like I'm space-limited at WDW in two weeks. Four 8GB cards should get me about 2000 shots. It wouldn't surprise me if I ended up filling it though.

 

[klmall]

Last month (August) I took my brand new Canon XSi on a two week trip to Washington state (Olympic NP, Seattle, Mount St. Helens, Mt. Rainier). It was definitely a learning experience but with a few exceptions I got the trip pictures I wanted! I've shot RAW before with my G5 and G9. And with plenty of inexpensive memory cards I decided to shoot in both RAW and jpeg for learning purposes this trip.

Conditions:
• I shot over 1500 pictures each in both RAW and jpeg.
• I used the P (Program AE) setting most of the time with occasional use of Landscape, Close-Up settings
• 90% + of my shots were outdoors.
• I used Photoshop Elements 5 with ACR Camera Raw 4.6 to process my RAW shots.
• I also shot some pictures with my Canon G5 but only in jpeg.

What I found about my first dSLR:
1) I love the ‘lightning speed response’ in taking shots including immediately after being turned on etc. What a change from my Canon G5 and G9.
2) An entry level dSLR is an easy step up from point ‘n shoot with great results without using the Auto setting!
3) I got an acceptable quality of shots with inexpensive lenses to learn on (see below).
4) Many of my Canon G5 jpeg pictures are comparable to similar XSi RAW pictures and indistinguishable at times; still thinking about this one! But those if those jpegs need work they are definitely harder to work with than the same images in RAW.

My conclusions (based on my limited experience):

-Little or no difference between RAW and jpeg shots on the XSi in:
• good or “golden hour” photography situations such as late afternoon

-Where RAW excelled (saved the shot even without postprocessing) compared to jpeg:
• midday, overexposed, blown out sky shots
• shots with little contrast in background to begin with (rocks, ice)
• bringing sky to a realistic color compared to doing so with jpeg in PSE

Here are 3 examples of the same scene to illustrate what I found. I purposely chose a scene where I normally wouldn't have been happy with the sky in the jpeg.

Pic 1 - jpeg------------------Pic 2 - Raw/ACR Default Setting ----Pic 3 - Raw/ACR Auto Setting

Some EXIF data for all pictures:
Focal Length: 55.0mm
CCD Width: 22.30 mm
Exposure Time: 1/100
Aperture: f/5.0
ISO Equiv.: 200
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: matrix

I'll be posting some trip pictures over the next few weeks - it was a fantastic trip!

 

[annnewjerz]

Sounds like you had a great trip and so happy to see you are loving your XSi. Looking forward to seeing some more pics---looks like you were spending time in a beautiful spot.

 

[mabas9395]

You need to post some more shots from your trip. I just moved from Seattle 11 months ago to the Chicago area and I would love to see your pictures from my old home.

I used to take the mountains for granted, but they just don't have places like Mt. Rainier out here.

 

[SrisonS]

I just started shooting in RAW with my T1i, a couple of months ago. I won't ever go back to jpeg now; unless I have limited space and need to take tons of pics. But for those that don't know, post-processing is where you REALLY know the difference between shooting in RAW vs. jpeg.

I don't have Photoshop or anything like that; so i just use the DPP software that came with the camera. But it works great for the little processing I usually do anway.

 

[roselark]

Wow! Thank you so much for posting that comparison. I have heard that so many people prefer RAW over JPEG, but I never really understood why.

Just so I understand better, RAW is a much larger file? How much larger? I am curious, how much space on your cards did you use? Also, RAW requires a program, such as Photo Elements, to process it correct? (I have held off on purchasing photo editing software, but I know I need to. Just waiting on reviews of PE 8 to determine which version to get.) When shooting in RAW, do you get the image on your LCD screen as you would with a JPEG; are you able to review them on the camera?

Sorry to bombard you with a ton of questions. I am asking because I am preparing for my first WDW trip with my new XSi. Even though this is my first "photography" trip to WDW of many, I still want to try and get the best pictures I can. It sounds like perhaps I should try this experiment as well and possibly try to shoot in both formats. I have a 16gb and 2 8gb cards, so I will have lots of space...I think...

 

[VVFF]

Wow! Thank you so much for posting that comparison. I have heard that so many people prefer RAW over JPEG, but I never really understood why.

Just so I understand better, RAW is a much larger file? How much larger? I am curious, how much space on your cards did you use? Also, RAW requires a program, such as Photo Elements, to process it correct? (I have held off on purchasing photo editing software, but I know I need to. Just waiting on reviews of PE 8 to determine which version to get.) When shooting in RAW, do you get the image on your LCD screen as you would with a JPEG; are you able to review them on the camera?

Sorry to bombard you with a ton of questions. I am asking because I am preparing for my first WDW trip with my new XSi. Even though this is my first "photography" trip to WDW of many, I still want to try and get the best pictures I can. It sounds like perhaps I should try this experiment as well and possibly try to shoot in both formats. I have a 16gb and 2 8gb cards, so I will have lots of space...I think...

RAW files are approx. 4x larger than JPG files. Yes you get a preview on the back of your camera(the camera creates a "in camera" jpg for this purpose processed with the camera settings at the time. Yes, you do need software to process them. However Canon includes Digital photo professional with all their SLRs which can process their RAW files.

 

[klmall]

Wow! Thank you so much for posting that comparison. I have heard that so many people prefer RAW over JPEG, but I never really understood why.

Just so I understand better, RAW is a much larger file? How much larger? I am curious, how much space on your cards did you use? Also, RAW requires a program, such as Photo Elements, to process it correct? (I have held off on purchasing photo editing software, but I know I need to. Just waiting on reviews of PE 8 to determine which version to get.) When shooting in RAW, do you get the image on your LCD screen as you would with a JPEG; are you able to review them on the camera?

Sorry to bombard you with a ton of questions. I am asking because I am preparing for my first WDW trip with my new XSi. Even though this is my first "photography" trip to WDW of many, I still want to try and get the best pictures I can. It sounds like perhaps I should try this experiment as well and possibly try to shoot in both formats. I have a 16gb and 2 8gb cards, so I will have lots of space...I think...

Roselark - I snapped well over 2500 pictures on my trip. Here's how the memory card space was used for my XSi with RAW images ranging from 15 mb -22 mb. The jpeg images range from 2mb - 9 mb.

Card #1 – 4 GB SDHC, 405 pictures/filling 3.65 GB (roughly half jpeg and half RAW) - Full card.

Card #2 – 4 GB SDHC, 404 pictures/filling 3.65 GB (roughly half jpeg and half RAW) - Full card.

Card #3 - 16 GB SDHC 1,376 pictures/filling 14.7 GB (roughly half jpeg and half RAW); this card was full!

Card #4 - 16 GB SDHC 933 pictures/9.99 GB (roughly half jpeg and half RAW); this card still had additional space for pics.

My RAW size choices are different if I choose to shoot in RAW only.

Hope this helps!

 

[YesDear]

The size of the RAW file will depend on the camera and the type of RAW file you use. I shoot with a Nikon D300 and it has a uncompressed loss less RAW setting. Each image is approx 25mb large. The camera is a 12 mb camera.

 

[disneyboy2003]

Wow! Thank you so much for posting that comparison. I have heard that so many people prefer RAW over JPEG, but I never really understood why.

Just so I understand better, RAW is a much larger file? How much larger? I am curious, how much space on your cards did you use? Also, RAW requires a program, such as Photo Elements, to process it correct? (I have held off on purchasing photo editing software, but I know I need to. Just waiting on reviews of PE 8 to determine which version to get.) When shooting in RAW, do you get the image on your LCD screen as you would with a JPEG; are you able to review them on the camera?

I've got the Canon 40D, which is 10.1 megapixels. I used to shoot JPEG up until several months ago. On an 8GB card, I could fit more than 1300 JPEG pictures at the highest quality, and each JPEG picture was about 2.5-3 megabytes.

Now that I'm shooting RAW, I can fit more than 500 pictures on the same 8GB card. Each RAW file is 9-10 megabytes in size.

The size of your files will depend on your particular camera, since your camera's photos probably has a different number of megapixels than mine.

Yes, as VVFF mentioned, when you shoot RAW, you do get a preview on the LCD screen on your camera, and you can do the same on-camera reviewing of your shots as you would have with JPEG.

In terms of software to process RAW images, at the very least, you'll need Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DPP), which is the free software that came on a CD with your camera. Other popular RAW software that people tend to use are Photoshop Elements, Adobe Lightroom, Apple Aperture, and others. Of course, you can also shell out $$$ for Adobe Photoshop itself, which includes the Adobe Camera RAW for processing RAW images.

Hope that helps.

 

[TheGoofster]

I don't think I am ready yet to start working with RAW files, but it is something which I do want to look into in the future.
The camera I plan on getting has the ability to shoot in the RAW format, so I'm sure I will eventually start trying to use it.

My question, though, is whether Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 is a good program to use to work with RAW files. It does say that it can handle the RAW format, but I was wondering if it is a good program to use, or if I would eventually need to look for something that is more dedicated to that format.

Once again, thank you for any help with this.

Let me add that I usually only get a chance to go back to the states about once a year. We will be heading back in about a month (at which time I plan on getting my camera and any / all accessories). This is why I am wondering if Corel will be useful enough to last me until I get another chance to go back, or should I look for something else on this trip. I'm sure it depends on how much I actually use the RAW format, but assuming I really decide to go with it, how good would Corel be, or would I want something different.

 

[MICKEY88]

I don't think I am ready yet to start working with RAW files, but it is something which I do want to look into in the future.
The camera I plan on getting has the ability to shoot in the RAW format, so I'm sure I will eventually start trying to use it.

My question, though, is whether Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 is a good program to use to work with RAW files. It does say that it can handle the RAW format, but I was wondering if it is a good program to use, or if I would eventually need to look for something that is more dedicated to that format.

Once again, thank you for any help with this.

Let me add that I usually only get a chance to go back to the states about once a year. We will be heading back in about a month (at which time I plan on getting my camera and any / all accessories). This is why I am wondering if Corel will be useful enough to last me until I get another chance to go back, or should I look for something else on this trip. I'm sure it depends on how much I actually use the RAW format, but assuming I really decide to go with it, how good would Corel be, or would I want something different.

Paint Shop pro does a good job with raw files..

what make and model of camera are you getting

 

[TheGoofster]

Paint Shop pro does a good job with raw files..

what make and model of camera are you getting

I'm looking at the Nikon D3000

 

[MICKEY88]

I'm looking at the Nikon D3000

sorry can't help you out on that,, Sony dslrs come with a nice software package for working with raw, I actually shoot raw, then batch convert to jpeg with the sony software, if I feel anything needs tweaked beyond that I then export directly to paint shop pro...