RAW is the best? Are you sure?

Well, like most around here I started shooting JPG, then discovered the power and flexibility of RAW shooting and proclaimed my dedication to RAW and cast off the inferior JPG.

Many months later I am no longer as sure.

Sure RAW gives you great flexibility etc etc, but at several costs, many I am not sure I want to pay now. Here are my issues:
- Camera speed, I run a 20D, it is noticeably slower in rapid fire, and I regularly full the buffer when shooting RAW, with JPG – no problem, solution getter a better camera
- Capacity, that is obvious. More frequent downloads of cards is a pain in the field, solution there get bigger cards
- Post processing, this is my real issue, I have recently spent far too much time post processing images, and I am kind of over it

Now yesterday I did a shoot, spend a few more minutes getting my exposures right, and got my white balance set correctly, fortunately the condition had controlled lighting. The result, all my images are just right as JPG, and require no post processing, time saves – heaps.

From now on I am cutting back my RAW shooting in favor of spending a wee bit more time getting things set up right, and leaving RAW for when I require the absolute best quality I can get, or if the conditions are photographically “challenging”

Thoughts, feelings flames?

It all depends on what you need. You'll be the best looking images from RAW, but if you don't have the time for it then it's not for you. When people talk about RAW being best - it's for image quality which is what most people are looking for, not what is least overburnening.

Now you have tried both formats thoroughly, I suppose, Pete, you are now in the happy position to be able to judge which of them will suit your immediate needs based on experience. It seems to me you have made yourself a more accomplished photographer!

Balliolman wrote:
Now you have tried both formats thoroughly, I suppose, Pete, you are now in the happy position to be able to judge which of them will suit your immediate needs based on experience. It seems to me you have made yourself a more accomplished photographer!

That is the best compliment I have had all day

I have no problem shooting in Raw or JPEG. However knowning when to use RAW and JPEG will save you shots. With RAW, you are able to recapture any blown high lights up to 1.5 stop over exposed(for most Canon CMOS sensors) JPeg... bye-bye.

JPEG is like shooting chromes, small latitude in EV range. Exposure must be tack on.

RAW, is like shooting negative film. must wider latitude, and you can manipulate color rendition in dark room (digital dark room).

For events, I shoot jpeg. I know I don't want to go through 300-900 pix. In door events I will shoot raw, specially if there is mix lighting. Unimportant personal stuff.

For RAWs, important shoots, paid shoots. (I don't do weddings)

Though I shoot most of my personal stuff using film chromes and neg.

mbze430 wrote:
I have no problem shooting in Raw or JPEG. However knowning when to use RAW and JPEG will save you shots. With RAW, you are able to recapture any blown high lights up to 1.5 stop over exposed(for most Canon CMOS sensors) JPeg... bye-bye.

JPEG is like shooting chromes, small latitude in EV range. Exposure must be tack on.

RAW, is like shooting negative film. must wider latitude, and you can manipulate color rendition in dark room (digital dark room).

For events, I shoot jpeg. I know I don't want to go through 300-900 pix. In door events I will shoot raw, specially if there is mix lighting. Unimportant personal stuff.

For RAWs, important shoots, paid shoots. (I don't do weddings)

Though I shoot most of my personal stuff using film chromes and neg.

That is an excellent summary, it was an event that has got me thinking about just shooting JPG under some circumstances.

That is a good summary.

I wouldn't hesitate to use jpg for allot of things. I can definatly see that when you are shooting an insane amount of images at a time. I've actually used RAW long enough now though that I find post processing even easier and archiving easier as well (see this post.) I think it's come down to automation though for me. Without that, raw would be too time consuming.

I too am starting to focus allot more on getting the setup right to begin with. I've been lacking in this area because I tend to grab the camera out real quick to get a shot of the kids doing something and don'thave time to think about it.

Why not shoot RAW+JPEG ?
If you are in a hurry use the jpeg.
If you want extra quality the raw is always there.

You still get the perfromace disadvantages, plus even heavy space utlisation!

Pete,

I wholeheartedly concur with your sentiment about PP, but suggest that if you foolow your new mantra (above) then you wouldn't have to PP in RAW either. I shoot generally RAW but also use JPG when need arises. I too have an aversion to PP and use RSE for the basics and find it takes no longer than it does with JPG, 10 secs per image unless its a 'poor' starting image!

What am I trying to say? Shoot correctly in-camera and you should not need to PP much and then its a matter of taste whether you use RAW or JPG. I tend to use RAW as I hate the thought of throwing 4 bits away the second the shutter fires

For the space is it really a problem since the price of memory cards and hard drives are not expensive in regard to the price of camera and lenses ?

for performance, that's can be a problem..so just use jpeg when you need performance.
By the way, did you try with different memory cards ? The speed of memory cards are not the same. I have compared a memory card of 1 giga and another one of 128 M and I was suprised to see that formatting the 128 M card takes more time than formating the 1 Giga card...

Shooting raw+jpeg will fill your camera's buffer faster than raw alone, compromising your ability to to capture a fast-moving moment. If that's not an issue for you, then you're good to go shooting raw+jpeg.

That depends on your model as well. I know the 10D doesn't really benifit from the card speed (except for getting images off the card) but does for the 20D. Wait a minute, am I the only one still with this discontinued camera...doh. Someday...someday.