Photography format - RAW or JPEG ?

[ollieholmes]

I always use RAW for aircraft photos. The only time i do not use raw is for photos of thigs for Ebay listings, forum posts etc where quality is not a huge issue.

I use 6 1GB cards and a 2GB and a portable storage unit. I often use up 4 or 5 cards at one show but i often change cards before one is full.

[B7772ADL]

BUT if ever, ever once you want to rework these JPEG files for an other purpose than displaying in the internet (imagine you want make a poster of one of your best shots), than there may be NO WAY anymore to do this. JPEG is definetely limited in quality (maybe with a high end professional camera this may be ± equalized compared to a cheaper model with less pixel resolution). - I started a few years ago with TIFF (the Sony camera did not allow RAW), and now I make much in RAW with the known inconveniences. It only pays up with the broad band of possibilities you have to rework later.
My advice: you don't have to twist completely, but maybe you try on not moving stuff (displayed or standing planes) taking the one or other time with RAW, maybe you take them off your hard disc by saving them to disk... ? --- And maybe, you'll never regret this...

I've already got perfectly good A2 prints on my walls already from jpegs so not necessarily the case.

I didn't say i'd never try it, I have already before, but I simply don't need to right now. If the need arises then I have no problems with shooting RAW.

[Tanner_J]

...pick up some 4GB cards around $80.

Damn dude, you're getting ripped off.

I'd shoot jpeg for aviation. Get it right and you don't have to worry about it with jpeg. I only use raw for my portraiture and weddings.

[Diezel]

It seems there are more discussions about RAW vs. JPEG than Canon vs. Nikon. There are lots of discussions on the net about this issue. I would say that most of all it is important that you understand what both formats can do.

Here are some links:

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/raw-vs-jpeg/ (sums it up pretty nice)

http://www.flickr.com/groups/digitalps/discuss/72157594232036076/

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/raw.htm

Ken Rockwell has actually the best remark: "If you have to ask then just shoot JPG"

Roel.

[brianw999]

RAW every time, all of the time. As Jid says......

having a RAW image gives me a lot of flexibility with the finished product.

I may have an relatively expensive camera with all the bells and whistles supplied but, considering I turn off all the automated functions anyway in order to ensure that I decide how the picture turns out, then why shoot in a "lossy" format such as .jpg ?

My acceptance rate when I changed to RAW shot up dramatically !

[Will M]

I always shoot RAW + L JPG and get around 240+ images on my 4GB card

[sluger020889]

BUT if ever, ever once you want to rework these JPEG files for an other purpose than displaying in the internet (imagine you want make a poster of one of your best shots), than there may be NO WAY anymore to do this.

I'm not too sure about that. I've got a beautiful 16x20 on my wall made from 6mp jpeg file from a D50. As a matter of fact, all but one of my posters are from jpegs and the quality on all of them is seemless.

[Simpleboy]

Ill be another to have used a JPEG at A2 and find it fine. I have plans to do it again when i can find a photo i like enough to spend over $100 on (printing and framing), since i know quality isnt an issue.

[Tanner_J]

I've had prints blown up to 20x30 from a 4MP point and shoot and the quality rivaled a 20D and others. Shooting raw can be seen as a luxury and jpeg will do just fine. I generally shoot both just to be safe and save time for images that don't need much correction.

However when I had the project that needed a photo blown up to 9.5x6.5 feet, RAW was the only choice.

[B787INDIA]

Canon fans a good read http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/

Some inputs from a photography institute called Shari Academy, www.shariacademy.com which is organised for Canon users on a regular basis. I am sharing the notes, herewith

Scan photos to TIF or PNG formats instead of JPG to help Prevent image quality degradation.

When you scan photographs, your scanner software may provide options on what file format to use when storing the graphics (a file format is the way, or algorithm, that the bits that make up a picture are organized). If you are given options for TIF or PNG images as well as JPG, take the TIF, PNG, or BMP format.

Why? JPG images are 'lossy' compressed. Images stored in this format will take up less hard drive space than TIF images, but the image quality may not be quite as high as you expect.

Even if you don't notice any visible difference in quality between images stored in this format and an uncompressed image in TIF format, if you print a picture from a JPG image, you may start to see smears or blurs. Also, if you manipulate the image and re-save it as a JPG again, you will probably see some degradation.

TIF, PNG, and BMP images, on the other hand, take up much more space on your hard disk, but they more faithfully reproduce the original photographs. And remember - if image size is a concern, you can always change TIF, PNG, or BMP images to JPGs later.

[cf73]

Canon fans a good read http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/

Some inputs from a photography institute called Shari Academy, www.shariacademy.com which is organised for Canon users on a regular basis. I am sharing the notes, herewith

Scan photos to TIF or PNG formats instead of JPG to help Prevent image quality degradation.

When you scan photographs, your scanner software may provide options on what file format to use when storing the graphics (a file format is the way, or algorithm, that the bits that make up a picture are organized). If you are given options for TIF or PNG images as well as JPG, take the TIF, PNG, or BMP format.

Why? JPG images are 'lossy' compressed. Images stored in this format will take up less hard drive space than TIF images, but the image quality may not be quite as high as you expect.

Even if you don't notice any visible difference in quality between images stored in this format and an uncompressed image in TIF format, if you print a picture from a JPG image, you may start to see smears or blurs. Also, if you manipulate the image and re-save it as a JPG again, you will probably see some degradation.

TIF, PNG, and BMP images, on the other hand, take up much more space on your hard disk, but they more faithfully reproduce the original photographs. And remember - if image size is a concern, you can always change TIF, PNG, or BMP images to JPGs later.

Agreed, I have converted JPEG files to TIFF and all of a sudden you are dealing with a 17MB image.