RAW or not?

I'm mainly into landscapes but also into birdlife and particularly with the DSLR always shoot in JPEG+RAW and process in LR4.

We're off on a month long trip soon to New Zealand and as well as my EOS 650D will be taking the G1X Mark II. Along with landscapes (lots!) there will many general interest shots as well.

I've got a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 to back photographs up on using some tablet memory but most will go onto Microsoft OneDrive.

I've noticed though that it can take some time to upload images to OneDrive and am wondering if I should just stick to JPEG given that even with those you can do some processing in LR and I'm pretty happy with the results?

What do folks think?

Chris L F wrote in post #18295511
I'm mainly into landscapes but also into birdlife and particularly with the DSLR always shoot in JPEG+RAW and process in LR4.

We're off on a month long trip soon to New Zealand and as well as my EOS 650D will be taking the G1X Mark II. Along with landscapes (lots!) there will many general interest shots as well.

I've got a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 to back photographs up on using some tablet memory but most will go onto Microsoft OneDrive.

I've noticed though that it can take some time to upload images to OneDrive and am wondering if I should just stick to JPEG given that even with those you can do some processing in LR and I'm pretty happy with the results?

What do folks think?

If you are happy with the results using jpeg...who is anyone to argue. Personally I'd never just shoot jpeg for my landscapes...but I might have different criteria than you.

I wouldn't let your current backup strategy dictate whether or not you should shoot RAW vs. JPEG. You should determine that based on how you will process the file. Obviously RAW will give you a lot more processing options. If you find the backup strategy limiting, change that but don't change the way you shoot.

Thanks Guys. As you probably guessed I really want to stick with RAW but wanted to see what the thoughts were on JPEG only.

I think it's pretty clear what those thoughts are!

I shall do some further testing before I go.

Cheers, Chris

Hogloff wrote in post #18295516
If you are happy with the results using jpeg...who is anyone to argue. Personally I'd never just shoot jpeg for my landscapes...but I might have different criteria than you.

Yeah, this is really the key part. If JPEG gives you everything you're want, then you can probably stick with. I effectively never shoot JPEG, and I definitely wouldn't rely on JPEG for a potentially once-in-a-lifetime event/trip.

Bcaps wrote in post #18295523
I wouldn't let your current backup strategy dictate whether or not you should shoot RAW vs. JPEG. You should determine that based on how you will process the file. Obviously RAW will give you a lot more processing options. If you find the backup strategy limiting, change that but don't change the way you shoot.

I would agree. If you can, find another way to manage your files that doesn't dictate how you shoot.

I prefer to be on the safe side and shoot both RAW and JPEG, even if it turns out that I will process the JPEG in 99/100 cases. Also I might want the RAW some time in the future.

For my holiday trips (usually 4 weeks) I carry a laptop & a small external HDD (~500GB) and I back up all files on both of these.

New Zealand has pretty good internet connections, so long as you stay in decent places your One Drive should upload ok. Shoot RAW. If required go to an internet cafe and plug the laptop in for a few hours. Public internet hotspots will likely limit your speed or uploads.

Thanks again guys. You've convinced me to stick with RAW. I shall do some more testing this weekend.

With hindsight I think I rushed into buying a tablet and didn't think it through sufficiently and now wish I'd bought a small laptop instead. In my defence I've never owned a tablet before or even a smartphone.

I may actually bite the bullet and get one anyway. I know someone who will be happy with the tablet! I can then also use a lead to transfer from the camera rather than a card reader which I'm happier doing.

Chris

Landscapes in jpg? No way Jose.

I'm glad to hear you are sticking with Raw. It's definitely the right way forward.

I accept that I am always going to want to edit my photos. - Horizons should be horizontal and verticals should be vertical (unless you have an artistic reason for wanting the keystone effect to remain. Also shadow and highlight recovery.

If I am away from home and can't take my MacBook with me to do any editing, then I take photos in raw and jpeg. Then I can upload and display the jpegs while I am on the road, but still have the raw files for editing work when I get home.

Not a particularly great photo, but one which illustrates my point:

jpeg straight out of camera:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Rytz​9a

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/SyGo​w3

griffljg wrote in post #18296278
I accept that I am always going to want to edit my photos. - Horizons should be horizontal and verticals should be vertical (unless you have an artistic reason for wanting the keystone effect to remain. ...

Not a particularly great photo, but one which illustrates my point:

jpeg straight out of camera:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Rytz​9a


From an edited raw file:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/SyGo​w3

Yet one does not 'have to' work with RAW to straighten horizons or fix keystoning...or even alter shadow areas to brighten them up. (I altered the first of your two photos, to illustrate my point.)

Agreed. But jpeg being a "lossy" format, each additional edit and save causes the photo to lose definition. Can you see that your edited photo has a lot less definition than my edited photo has? If you have large capacity memory cards, then it is no more difficult to to take photos in raw and jpeg than in jpeg (or raw) alone. You still have the raw file for editing, but the convenience of jpeg for immediate display / uploading.

My Canon EOS 6D has only one card slot. I don't like SOOC jpegs and so I always take only raw file images.

My Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mk II has two card slots. I use the first one for raw files and the second one for jpeg files. Easy as! And I get the best of both worlds.

I don't know whether you have ever been to New Zealand, but I can vouch that the air is very clear, the variety of colours is amazing, but the light is harsh, with a great dynamic range. Take a good pair of sunglasses with you and be prepared to do a bit of post-processing to recover highlights and shadows.

griffljg wrote in post #18296336
Agreed. But jpeg being a "lossy" format, each additional edit and save causes the photo to lose definition. Can you see that your edited photo has a lot less definition than my edited photo has? .

gimmeabreak...Don't forget I only had a measly 982 x 669 posted image to work with!

Oh! You couldnt get the full resolution image from Flickr?

Never mind. - I see that the OP lives in England, which is about as far away from New Zealand as it is possible to get while still staying on Earth. I am guessing that this trip may well be a once in a lifetime trip.

I have been in a similar situation. Back in late 2012 I went on a trip trip to my native South Africa for the first time in 18 years. I intended using my Olympus E-3 for most of my photos, but also bought a little Canon PowerShot S100 as a general purpose carry around camera. I took all my photos in raw and processed them them using Olympus Viewer for the Olympus and Bibble Pro for the Canon. I was generally happy with the results.

Then, a few months ago, I upgraded my raw file convertor to Capture One Pro Version 10 and decided to play with some of my old SA photos to give it a test. To say that I was impressed is a huge understatement! The highlight and shadow recovery work is amazing compared to earlier raw file convertors and the old Olympus E-3 wasn't exactly renowned for its dynamic range. I am now slowly, but surely reprocessing all the photos.

My point? - To the OP, I say: All photos are originally raw. If you have your camera set to write jpeg files, you are limited to the quality of the raw file convertor in the camera at the time you take the photo. Raw file convertors continue to improve. If you are going on the trip of a lifetime, you will probably want to reprocess the photos as newer and more capable raw file convertors become available. With jpeg files, you do not have this option. - And it is an option!

If it is a choice between raw and jpeg for a "trip of a lifetime", go raw. If you have space on your memory cards, use both raw and jpeg. That will give you the option to upload photos to social media while you are on the run, without the need to download and post-process the images.