To RAW or not to RAW (and a Photoshop Question)

[TKHerman]

This is a two part question...

1) Up until this point I've been shooting .jpg's and they've worked out fine. Is going through the hassle with RAW worth it? And, what does the extra hassle give me in the end?

2) Do I really need to buy the $99 RAW plug-in for Photoshop or is converting the image to a TIF file using BreezeBrowser sufficient? What does converting to a TIF not give me that working directly in Photoshop using RAW images will give me?

Thanks in advance for your opinions! Have a great weekend...

TK Herman
tk AT level3photography.com

[henkbos]

RAW will give you the best quality, but for a lot of pictures it might not be noticable. On the other hand why NOT use it if it gives you greater flexibility (like correcting white balance). Also consider that a JPEG is already processed by the camera, a RAW is not. It's your digital negative. RAW converters improve all the time and you will get better and better results. For your JPEG the processing is done and nothing can change that anymore.

Don't know about the quality difference between BB and PS ARC. I have used both and YarcPlus, but have switched to Capture One, which I think gives me the best quality and greatest control.

As a starter: get the software that suits your workflow the best. You can always reprocess RAW once you buy different software.

[Roger_Cavanagh]

TKHerman wrote:
This is a two part question...

1) Up until this point I've been shooting .jpg's and they've worked out fine. Is going through the hassle with RAW worth it? And, what does the extra hassle give me in the end?

Actually, if you know what you are doing, I don't believe it is any extra hassle. The Capture One DSLR converter offers a very efficient workflow, which allows me to make adjustment to raw images as part of the conversion process with less difficulty than using Photoshop (or some other editor) to post-process JPGs.

Overall, the raw processing takes a little longer, but it's the PC that does extra work not the photographer.

As Henk has pointed out the quality advantage that raw offers isn't apparent in every picture. Although, it is much easier to fix a raw image that has been badly exposed or has poor white balance.

The only indisputable advantage that in-camera JPG offers is smaller files, but with the cost of storage dropping all the time that doesn't matter to me.

2) Do I really need to buy the $99 RAW plug-in for Photoshop or is converting the image to a TIF file using BreezeBrowser sufficient? What does converting to a TIF not give me that working directly in Photoshop using RAW images will give me?

If you wait until Photoshop 8 is released, then the Camera Raw plug-in will be bundled in. Strictly, speaking ACR is just another converter - you are not working directly with raw - that happens to work within the PS environment. Like Capture One DSLR it is not based on the Canon SDK, as BreezeBrowser is, and gives different results and offers a different workflow.

Regards,

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

For me it's a no-brainer.
When I owned my HP-850 all pictures came out brilliant, good brightness/contrast/sharpness.

HOWEVER, when printing that could be a problem and some whites were always blown, plus the sharpness was some of the times too much.

When switching to the 10D I found out that I had to rework every picture to make it look good on my monitor, they all needed a bit of sharpening and a boost in brightness.

When working on JPEG's this meant loading every one, working on them and saving them again (while keeping my digital negatives in another folder).

Now I'm someone who shoots alot on a day out (anything between 50-400 shots), so this is VERY VERY time consuming and after 50 shots a turnoff.

Since I switched to RAW and C1DSL the fun has come back completly, just drop the raw's in a prework folder, direct C1DSLR there and you can VERY quickly set the levels, focus, WB etc. as you want in under 1 minute per shot (or less when working in Batch with for example a continues shooting set), after that select the shots to be developed and browse some internet while your computer slaves away.

I love it, and the fun in post-processing is back.
No more time consuming JPEG's here.

Greetings,
Frank

[henkbos]

Have a look at this post (http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/44219#366346) on Fred Miranda. Posted the picture with red cast at the bottom. Not sure if I was able to fix this if it was shot in JPEG.
If you can go for the best... go for the best.

[TKHerman]

Thanks for all of the input! I downloaded CaptureOne DSLR the other night -- very cool program...

Thanks again!

[evilenglishman]

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[RichardtheSane]

You could have done them all as a batch process

Gotta disagree about that one mate. If I batch processed all my images I would probably get 10% that I was happy with. Batch processing is fine for simple resize/save for web stuff - but if you want real control over your images then individual processing is the only way to go :)
I liken it to the difference between a pro film lab that do hand printing and a 1hr photo store that use a machine. The 1hr store basically batch process the film, setting up the rest of your prints from the first one on the roll.
If you are happy with batch processing that is fine, but if you shoot RAW and havn't tried c1DSLR then give it a go. Really puts the fun into post processing. Actually it isn't really post processing, it is much more like developing your images (yea, I was an still am a great fan of film :) )

[Spinners]

I do all my printing at walmart, and none of my customers complain at all. As long as you do all the correction on the pc, and then tell them to send it thru without adjustments, the pics will come out fine.

Also, you can batch sharpness and white balance in photoshop 7 quite easily. If your shooting the same white balance the whole time, and the same sharpness, then generally the same modification can be made to all pics.

I have CL1 and it's ok. its not as fast as the software that comes with the camera. I actually find that it hinders my workflow, but thats becuase i purchased the 99 dollar version. only 20 in a batch.. thats pretty lame.

ill stick with my canon software to convert raw to tiff, then batch my tiff's. seems to work for me.

my 2 cents ;)

- spinners -

[evilenglishman]

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[msvirick]

Even if you buy the PS PhotoShop plugin, will it work with PhotoShop 7 or Elements 2?

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

@evilenglishman,

Hi,
I could not or at least I don't know how.

My workflow.
I have all the RAW's on the left side in DSLR, I open one by one and do my settings on them, ONLY those shot in continues mode or under the same condition are done in selections of xxx pieces and take over the settings of the one master.

After I done ALL processing I will develop them.

With JPEG's I have to load one and do my settings, than save, load the other one and do my settings, than save.

I have found no programm on which I have an explorer like bar on which all the pictures are and I can select one (without opening) do some settings and hob to the next one.

Or am I missing something.

I have DIFFERENT settings for almost every picture.

Greetings,
Frank