New to processing

I would just like to start by thanking everyone that posts here regularly, I have learned a lot by just reading everyone elses topics and realize just how much more I have to learn. I am having a problem and wonder what my problem could be and if anyone could help or direct me I would be very thankful. I started with jpeg and have now started moving to RAW, but unfortunately all of my raw photos seem very grainy compared to the jpegs which I didnt unless im missing something shouldn't be the case? Am I just completely missing something with settings or could something be wrong with my camera?? rebel xt with sigma 17-70 lense. Thanks everyone.

I am starting to think more and more that I am underexposing my shots when I shoot in RAW, unless anyone has other suggestions. I am going to compare while shooting in RAW+jpeg

Camera will be fine, just make sure auto adjustments are turned off in whatever RAW viewer you're using. If you want email me a well exposed shot taken in RAW+L/fine JPG mode i'll take a look and post the result here.

Yes, Tim is right... depending on what converter you use (ACR, by any chance?) the auto settings will often "over-brighten" an image, leading to grain... this throws many RAW newbies for a loop, turning many against RAW before they really give it a try. (Adobe really needs to do something about that.)