just a question to all

[aladyforty]

Ok, Ive been photographing wildlife along with most other forms of photgraphy for some time now. In early 2007 I switched to shooting everything in RAW format. Now Im so used to it and its second nature. However many times I wonder why I am doing so. With kids portraits inside I see the benefits, exposure and correcting color etc but with wildlife I'm losing photos because I only get 11 shots or less out of my camera in consecutive shooting. With jpeg the camera can do on average 38. So how many in here shoot their wildlife in jpeg format? I am seriously thinking of going back to jpegs for wildlife and a lot of other outdoor shots.

[MikeB2299]

I shot all my wildlife in RAW format, same benefits as you discussed earlier.

[aladyforty]

MMM I see the point. I went out today and shot jpegs and for the life of me I seem to have forgotten how I used to process them, I just cant seem to get the look I want and to be honest I think that I can do the RAWS up way more quickly:)

[scrumpy]

Always shoot in RAW now. Was looking at some jpegs this morning I took five years ago and my thoughts were...if only I shot these in RAW. So much more to play with.

[IslandCrow]

I'd think it would depend on the wildlife. For most of what I shoot, the benefits of RAW outweigh JPEG. I don't do a lot of wildlife photography, but I'm usually shooting something like Buffalo that just don't move that quickly most of the time, or something I'm stalking, that is going to remain pretty still until it notices me, and then I'm only going to get a couple more shots before it scurries away. On the other hand, I can see other animals being a lot more like sports photography, which is one of the few places I'll often shoot in JPEG. Of course, with sports, I do very little post processing. Generally, I just tweak the contrast, possibly play around with the light curves and add a bit of sharpening. Wildlife can definitely lend itself to significantly more PP, though. I'd probably stick with RAW, but it sounds like a tough call.

What type of memory card are you using? I keep meaning to actually measure the difference, but I definitely seem to get more continuous shots off with my Lexar Professional while shooting in RAW. It's probably not much more than 11, though.

[Riaan van Wyk]

For most of what I shoot, the benefits of RAW outweigh JPEG.

For me too.