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what do you shoot?

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  #1  
Old 18-07-2007, 12:55 PM
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ving (David)
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raw vs jpg?

what do you shoot?
being a new DSLR owner i have never been confronted with the ability of picking RAW format (or in Nikon land NEF). after doing much research i have found that if you get the shot right straight up then RAW is not needed and one might as well save room on ones storage device by shooting the highest qualiaty Jpg avaliable to the camera. However because RAW is not compressed and has had nothing done to it what so ever (hence the name i guess) no quality is lost at all... or rather everything is caught but then needs to be processed in order to adjust things like sharpening, white balance, brightnes/contrast and saturation (which come automatically in Jpg) and then converted to TIFF for printing or Jpg for the net... (sounds compilcated and long)

so given the above information i have decided that it would be best for me to mainly shoot Jpg and then in those rare instances where i am where an exceptional shot can be made shoot NEF so no data is lost and maximum tweekage can be made without damage.

what do you do?
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  #2  
Old 18-07-2007, 01:04 PM
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h0ughy (David)
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i use both
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  #3  
Old 18-07-2007, 01:21 PM
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I use mainly raw, only because I've got 11 gig of memory cards. Before I got my 8 gig card I used "jpeg fine" setting a fair bit, and would switch to raw whenever I thought there was a good shot, or if I knew I wouldn't run out of space on the cards. I always backup the .NEF files as .TIFF because there's no loss of quality and it is easier to work with now, and will be with future software.
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Old 18-07-2007, 01:24 PM
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rogerg (Roger)
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For astro I use RAW only. For the rest I either use RAW or RAW+JPG if I am out and about and want to view the results instantly on my ZenW. I occasionally use just low quality JPG for some stuff I am only going to want to throw on the web.

Last edited by rogerg; 18-07-2007 at 01:34 PM. Reason: Oops, I meant "low quality JPG" not "low quality RAW"
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  #5  
Old 18-07-2007, 01:25 PM
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iceman (Mike)
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I started out using JPEG (highest quality) but now I always use RAW. You might not always know in advance whether a shot is going to be a "keeper", or need that extra level of adjustments.

When I swithced to RAW my shots immediately improved, perhaps it was just allowing me to take more care in the post-processing and giving me the extra adjustments I needed.

It does add time to the workflow (adjust as RAW, convert to TIF, open in Photoshop, save to web as jpeg). But some people just use Photoshop for their RAW adjustment so it's probably quicker for them.

I use Raw Shooter Premium to adjust my RAW's, which doesn't physically touch the RAW's at all, it just saves setting files so that when you convert to TIF, it is applied only then. The RAW file is never changed and so you always have a backup.
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  #6  
Old 18-07-2007, 01:31 PM
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ving (David)
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i need more memory
thanks for the replies so far
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  #7  
Old 18-07-2007, 01:43 PM
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twas this that made me think about the topic:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/raw.htm
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  #8  
Old 18-07-2007, 02:03 PM
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Put it this way ving, with a jpeg you have 8 bits of data to work with (256 shades of grey) with Raw (canon) you have 12 bits of data to work with 4096 shades of grey to work with. This gives much more abiltity to stretch you data to bring out hidden highlights and shadows.

Which is why astro CCD are 16 bit (65536 shades of grey from black 0 to white 65535), in each channel that is recorded (RGB)
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  #9  
Old 18-07-2007, 02:05 PM
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I don't think I can help, as the Toucam isn't the same as a DSLR, but I capture in Raw which is .bmp with the modded Toucam.

I don't think I can capture in Jpeg with the Toucam.
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Old 18-07-2007, 02:51 PM
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A bit of both here, usually Raw, but sometimes Raw and Jpeg similtaneously (dont think that is spelt right) depending on what i'm after.

Leon.
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  #11  
Old 18-07-2007, 04:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by [1ponders] View Post
Put it this way ving, with a jpeg you have 8 bits of data to work with (256 shades of grey) with Raw (canon) you have 12 bits of data to work with 4096 shades of grey to work with.
ideally if you get the picture right fromthe start (ie when its taken) then little neds to be done to the Jpeg. in order to share the pic with anyone online you generally need to convert it to jpeg anyhow, thus compressing it. in the end it should turn out the same, the only difference being you processing a raw and compressing it or the camera doing it for you....

as pointed out on several sites tho the are positives and negatives to both.

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  #12  
Old 18-07-2007, 04:14 PM
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Ahhhh, I beg to differ there ving. There can be a huge difference between the outcome of working a RAW image and the default Jpeg a camera produces. Even if all you want to do is take a pic and put it online then the final result with a Raw (and just a bit of photoshop knowhow) will still be better than a straight jpeg.
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Old 18-07-2007, 04:49 PM
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I'm with h0ughy, I shoot both, Canons have the option to save both a JPG and raw of the same image. Memory cards are cheap I've got 2x2gb and 2x1gb as well as an image tank with 32gb of storage in case I fill all my cards.
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  #14  
Old 18-07-2007, 05:14 PM
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I shoot nothing but in the raw, gives you the greatest opportunity to stretch and manipulate an image. I started out shhoting JPEGS till I got used to the camera. now only in the raw is more.
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  #15  
Old 18-07-2007, 05:17 PM
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I must admit I would like to be able to shoot in both as I invariably convert them to jpeg to quickly view the keepers and throwers, but after that I throw the jpegs.
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  #16  
Old 18-07-2007, 05:38 PM
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i shoot in jpeg at the moment but still in the early learning vurve , i would convert to shooting in raw but unsure about what the processing and stacking difference is going to intail
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  #17  
Old 18-07-2007, 08:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ving View Post
ideally if you get the picture right fromthe start (ie when its taken) then little neds to be done to the Jpeg. in order to share the pic with anyone online you generally need to convert it to jpeg anyhow, thus compressing it. in the end it should turn out the same, the only difference being you processing a raw and compressing it or the camera doing it for you....

as pointed out on several sites tho the are positives and negatives to both.

I have heaps of drama trying to get an image better once I have converted it to JPEG. It just isn't manipulative any more.

So I end up hunting down the original .bmp's, process them again from the start and then convert them to JPEG. If I stuff up again by trying to re-process them again while in JPEG, it's back to the .bmp's AGAIN!
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  #18  
Old 19-07-2007, 09:55 AM
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ving (David)
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well the idea is that kyou get it right straight from the camera. that way all you need do is a resize and you are off... not much recompression of your jpeg

of course if you are doing some post processing then raw is the way to go.
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  #19  
Old 19-07-2007, 10:07 AM
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iceman (Mike)
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Lately I take more care in getting it right while taking the shot - ie: checking the histogram after the shot, adjusting as needed, and re-shooting. It means deleting all the duds after but the ones I keep usually require less post-processing these days, unless i'm going for an artistic look.
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  #20  
Old 19-07-2007, 10:10 AM
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yup, i dont like having to correct errors in exposure and sharpness from por focus so i too reshoot if it doesnt turn out right.
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