Is RAW really worth it?

[rawfa]

Hi guys,

Other than having used a 35mm adapter with 35mm lenses on my video work I'm new to photography. I've been reading some articles and threads and I cannot really make up my mind if using RAW is really worth it over JPEG. Correct me if I'm wrong but from what I understood the main benefit is that it gives you more room for colour correction. Is there any more to it? Like size? I might eventually want to have a photo framed on my wall, but other than size wise is there any significant difference between RAW and JPEG? Again, I'm not a pro and I won't be shooting for giant outdoors...for now ;-)

cheers,

Rafa

[egproductions]

RAW is worth it but not for "size". Resolution and sharpness of your lens is what effects how big you can print a photo. Aside from JPEG usually applying sharpening and other algorithms that you should be doing yourself, RAW gives you the ability to alter the original photo right off the sensor. Think of JPEG as a presentation format and RAW as uncompressed. They might look the same off the bat, but there is a ton more data in the RAW for overexposure (some underexposure) and you can set things in post like white balance, sharpness, color noise reduction etc.
One of the great advantages in RAW is the ability to overexpose a stop in when using a high ISO and then bring it down the exposure in post. This reduces the noise significantly as compared to shooting at the proper exposure in a lower ISO. You cannot do this to a JPEG since it doesn't have any extra information stored in the highlights.

[rawfa]

Thanks, Eg. How about file size (mb)? How different is it? I mean, lets suppose I take the same exact picture with JPEG and then with RAW. What would be the size difference in megabytes? I've read some threads that said you may need a pc as powerful as you do for editing HD than to CC RAW...I found it a bit exaggerated, but what do I know.

[egproductions]

very exaggerated, I haven't found much difference editing RAW over JPEG or TIFF in terms of computer performance. The only thing is that RAW has the option of exporting 8bit or 16bit and JPEG is just going to be 8bit (your camera is most likely 12bit but the extra 4bits gives you room to color correct.) So the equivalent 16bit tiff to 16bit raw shouldn't be much different. In fact you don't really edit raw you just adjust in raw and export from your raw program to another uncompressed format be it PSD or TIFF. The file size is slightly bigger on a RAW maybe 11/2 times but that's because JPEG is compressed, it is probably the same as an uncompressed TIFF.

[SilverWolf]

Raw is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I used to shoot jpeg until I decided to shoot raw on a photoshoot that I had outside. Well one of my shots that I loved was severely overexposed until I opened it up and brought the level down and viola! the raw had so much extra data in it that I was able to save the picture.

Also I was just reading an article on how the camera stores data in the stop range on a picture and most of the data is in the highlight end of the file. What this means is that you can overexpose much better then underexposing

[PhantomVideo]

adjusting exposure with RAW is magic, wouldn't even go back :)

[triplej96]

RAW is worth it!

[TimurCivan]

Really.......... Hmm... i ve been shooting Jpeg for the last few days......


Raw it is....

[strancali]

Timur, you should shoot raw and use the Canon software to apply any effect without any loss in image quality. Let's say you wanted to shoot Portrait style all you have to do is select in the software and it's the same as if you had shot it in camera. That's one of the beauty of raw, you can change styles on the fly with NO RESOLUTION LOSS!

Take a photo in raw and the same one in jpeg and open them up to have a close look, you'll see a big difference. Here's a link to Canon's tutorial for raw format:

http://www.usa.canon.com/content/dpp2/index.html

Sid

[Tom Marshall]

Another advantage of RAW is it's sort of a digital negative. Being that if you find an image you shot somewhere, either in digital form or printed form, you can prove that you own rights to the image by having the RAW file. I'm pretty sure that would hold up in a court of law.

[TimurCivan]

i was finding that the Jpegs seemed a bit "soft".... i figured it was part of the beast, or a funky lens....

maybe its because im not shooting RAW..... Lemme test. Where do you get this software?

[strancali]

It came with my 40D and should come with your 5D also. Check the discs that came with your camera.

It's called the Canon EOS DIGITAL Solution Disk

Install :

Digital PhotoProfessional
EOS Utility
Photo Stitch

and the others if you need it but the the 3 above for sure.

Sid

[TimurCivan]

ahh i have one of thoes.... will do.

[triplej96]

Really.......... Hmm... i ve been shooting Jpeg for the last few days......


Raw it is....

Oh my gosh yes raw is it! Its like taking a photo on a digital negative and developing it in your digital dark room. I wish my video gave me the same ability to bring back detail as raw does. Simply amazing!