Need help with RAW images

[JohnMN]

I see RAW images are the highest quality images available to us A40 Powershot owner's, so I would like to know how to record them rather than the pixelated Jpeg's that the camera is set to? RAW format is mentioned in the camera manual and in the software instruction book, but it doesn't tell you how to go about it. The jpeg's are too soft edged and I was wondering if the images were in a different format would they come out sharper?

[GadgetGeek]

You could refer to this page from Phil Askey's dpReview for an explanation on the the raw image format:

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/Glossary/Digital_Imaging/RAW_Image_Format_01.htm

Basically, when you take a pic, the camera does some enhancements (compression, sharpening, saturation, contrast, etc.) on the image. The JPG or TIFF file is what you get after the camera has processed the image.

With RAW format, the pic is saved "as is" without it being processed by the camera. You get a bigger file, but you can do your own enhancements using a Photo editor such as Photoshop.

RAW is usually better if you can live with the "darkroom" processing that is necessary and the larger file sizes. You can normally get better pics with it because most good photo editing programs are better than the camera's internal image processing system.

[jgillard]

The canon powershot A40 does not have a RAW mode for saving images. The best image quality that you can get is a superfine 1600x1200 image!