What size raw files is recommended for wedding photography?

I apologize if this is in the wrong category, I wasn't sure where it should go.
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Hello, my Canon 5D Mark ii takes the following size images. I'm curious what size you use or recommend for wedding photography. As of now, I have been using the largest one, yet when I go to export them from Lightroom I bring "image quality" down to 60%. Does it in this case make no sense for me to take the largest file if I'm going to compress it like that, or how do you approach sizing in general. Thanks in advance.

RAW - 5616x3744 (what I use)
RAW1 - 3861x2574
RAW2 - 2784x1856

Image quality = JPG compression used when exporting the image.
Which raw type = image resolution.

Image quality setting does not affect the resolution.

Luigi1234 wrote in post #18030490
I apologize if this is in the wrong category, I wasn't sure where it should go.
--
Hello, my Canon 5D Mark ii takes the following size images. I'm curious what size you use or recommend for wedding photography. As of now, I have been using the largest one, yet when I go to export them from Lightroom I bring "image quality" down to 60%. Does it in this case make no sense for me to take the largest file if I'm going to compress it like that, or how do you approach sizing in general. Thanks in advance.

RAW - 5616x3744 (what I use)
RAW1 - 3861x2574
RAW2 - 2784x1856

I think your right to use the largest size (highest resolution) RAW file for the originals. And as you are doing, reduce the jpegs as needed. I don't use LR, but 60% IQ for jpeg seems a tad compressed to me based on some other apps. Maybe more like 75% 80% I would use.

I shoot with a 5DIII and shoot at full RAW in camera for weddings then export in LR at 70% quality which generally gives me a 3-5MB JPG file.

I read somewhere that there is absolutely zero difference in the appearance of an A1 sized print from a 100% quality JPG and a 70% quality JPG.

Thank you BlackBull,
What is an A1 size print?

So you don't think taking photos mid size raw (3861x2574) and simply leaving it at 100% when exporting as JPEG would be about the same thing as taking largest size raw and exporting at 70%?

You get what I'm saying?

Could you tell us what size raw you take and if you compress when exporting? Or whatever it is you do, that's most helpful.

You are still confusing resolution and compression.

The image quality refers to the compression used. It doesn't downsample the image to a lower resolution.

I shoot maximum size raws on all my cameras (Canon 5DIII's, Sony A7, A7R and A7RII. Why lose the ability to crop when I don't need to?

My high resolution files for clients are 5400 pixels x 3600 pixels (3:2 aspect ratio 18” x 12” @ 300DPI) in JPG format (IQ 75). My low resolution files are 2048 pixels x 1365 pixels in JPG format (IQ 70).

If you are shooting in RAW because you're actually doing real editing, then never, ever, ever shoot in mRaw or sRaw if you have anything that looks like a high dynamic range scenario - i.e. white wedding dress lit with sunlight and other people ih shade wearing blacks. Trust me I have tested mRaw and sRaw in numerous Canon cameras - 5D3, 7D2, 5DSR - the data that is lost is exactly what you need not to be lost - it kills the data in the shadows and the come out with a magenta of green cast in you push them at all.

If you are shooting in well lit situations or do minimal shadow pushing, the mRaw is fine.

I good jpeg to use is 80% - personally however, and it is one of the things I tell my clients, is that I give them 100% jpegs - especially when I'm using the 5DSR on family and Bridal Portraits - I want them to know what they are getting - i.e. it isn't a cell phone picture - the files are huge. I will however the day or two after the wedding send out a few processed pictures to the Bride so she has a few to share the next day family and friends - when I do this, they are smaller jpegs because I know they are going out on social media.

Luigi1234 wrote in post #18031573
Thank you BlackBull,
What is an A1 size print?

So you don't think taking photos mid size raw (3861x2574) and simply leaving it at 100% when exporting as JPEG would be about the same thing as taking largest size raw and exporting at 70%?

You get what I'm saying?

Shooting full size will give you more ability to crop if needed during post processing.

All my cameras permanently set at MRAW for weddings. My requirement is sizes upto 12x30 inches for album printing. It speeds up my workflow and saves some space on storage. For Jpegs I shoot at max size (only for HDR and Pano shots Jpegs are used)

I always shoot at the largest raw size because:

o I want the flexibility in cropping and still have enough resolution to work with
o I want the absolute best quality large sized prints possible should the client request them
o Better high ISO results than shooting at smaller raw sizes
o In the future, there will be better raw and post processing tools, and I can then go back and obtain even better results for the aforementioned 3 bullets

I do shoot at medium JPG though, and only go back to the raw if I have to change exposure, white balance, tweak other settings, or need a larger resolution file for either printing or noise reduction. This is how I keep workflow down to a manageable level while still having the full size digital negative for recovery work.

Almost everything you said is what I do! Great to hear I'm doing something right Thank you so much

I shoot RAW, not M raw or S Raw. why not just shoot JPEG?

When I was shooting with a Canon 5DIII I had large raw being saved to one card and small raw to the second card.

Lightroom, when the file numbers are the same, can use the parametric processing setting from the small raw files and apply them to the large. Its also possible to use the previous icon to transport the settings.

Now that I shot with a Sony A7RII I shoot everything in uncompressed RAW. There is absolutely not excuse, in my view, for a professional photographer to compromise quality when shooting for a client. That, for me, means the best data collection possible from my camera.