Raw vs JPG Article

[Roger_Cavanagh]

I've posted a new article that discusses some of the issues:

http://www.rogercavanagh.com/helpinfo/35_rawor.htm

I hope it's useful to some of you newcomers. Please post or email any comments you may have.

Regards,

[CyberDyneSystems]

A very good article,. thank you for this. Your timing is impeccable,. as you say with the intro of the 300D,. we will be asked this question quite a bit in the upcoming months :)

.......Joy :D

[jyrgen]

Thanks, excellent article!

[Aylwin]

Yes, excellent article! And so are the other ones too!

I used to always shoot with JPG because it was just easier. Now I'm trying to shoot more with RAW but I never know how to "process" them properly so I don't see much difference between JPG.

It's nice that you describe your workflow on your site. It gives me a better idea of what to do with the RAW files I have.

I'm still trying to justify purchasing RAW converter software though. It seems to me everyone's using Breezebrowser or Capture One.

Perhaps you could write an article comparing Canon's File Viewer Utility with 3rd party converters? :) Or is there one already somewhere or here on the forums? I've gone through your C1 vs BB article and that's very informative too. Is there any point then to get BB if it's based on SDK which I assume the File Viewer Utility is also based?

A hundred bucks though for C1... hmmm... I could get quite a few FM actions and plugins for that. :eyes

[Roger_Cavanagh]

Aylwin,

100 bucks is a non-trivial sum. :) BB is far more than just a converter, but as a converter it is much easier to use than FVU, but the basic image quality will be the same as FVU because it's based on the Canon SDK. There are additional post-processing options that will improve the image further and noise reduction is built in.

At the moment, I do believe that C1LE gives the best results and the workflow that suits me. However, in your position I'd wait until Photoshop 8 is released to see whether the new bundled Camera Raw is worth the price of the upgrade. In the mean time, you can download trial versions of both C1 pro and LE and get 6 weeks free trial to get a better idea of what to do. LE and pro works exactly the same when it comes to conversion, so there's no problem switching back to LE from pro.

Regards,

[Aylwin]

Roger,

Thanks for the reply! I've downloaded both BB and C1LE. I'll now wait for a good time to install them so I can make the most out of the trial period.

Funny you should mention noise reduction built into BB. Does C1LE have it built in too? I've just ordered the FM 10 ISOR. Doh! This is my first FM but hopefully it'll be worth it. There are a few of them I'd also like to get but looking at many of my pics this seems to be the one I need most.

Thanks again,
Aylwin

[Roger_Cavanagh]

C1 does have noise reduction built-in, but I tend to have the 2nd lowest setting (of 4) and use NeatImage (more expense :) ) for noise reduction. It is very slow, but does a much better job.

Fred's action are good value for money and usually work well. I don't have the ISOR one you mention, but I do have and use others.

Regards,