It’s not a full examination of every technical aspect of RAW vs. JPEG, but I show some of the reasons why I try to shoot RAW almost all the time, as well as some reasons why I sometimes shoot in JPEG instead. Some of the subtle differences didn’t really translate into the compressed video files, but hopefully you can get an idea of what the extra data in a RAW file is handy for.
Episode 003: 10:43 duration, 320×240 11.4MB or HD 15.2MB
That was a very clear and very helpful mini-tutorial. I’ve been using .jpeg only ever since I got my digital SLR a year ago and was wondering about the plusses and minuses of shooting RAW. Thanks.
Yours is the first simple yet detailed explanation of raw v. jepeg I have found without paying for long, unnecessary classes. (I shot semi pro film years ago for local papers)
My new wife and I are honeymooning in Antartica (no it’s not a typo) so detail in snow and shadow is a major concern.
Could I still save space and get “close” to the tweaked RAW images by bracketing at jpeg images? I don’t expect an absolute yes/no but will appreciate your imput greatly.
Thanks and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Dan
if you’re in antartica, I’d shoot RAW. Better to fill up some extra cards with data than miss some detail by trying to conserve space… I just got back from the caribbean, and shot mostly JPEG, but switched to RAW to capture scenes where the dynamic range was more important (sunsets, etc…) You could shoot JPEG some of the time, and bump over to RAW when you need it…
As a wedding photographer I always shoot raw. I can make as many image enhancing adjustments as I like to the raw imagw without losing data or degrading the original image. When I am finished I convert the raw file to a jpeg and the jobs done.