Wedding Photographers: Do you shoot in RAW or JPG?

I understand RAW gives you a lot more control verses JPEG but is it worth shooting 300-400 pictures in RAW and then converting them to JPEG to give to clients or is it better to just shoot in JPEG?

Yes, I shoot in RAW. I know the files with the mk2 are huge but you just have to make sure you have adequate space. Hard drive space is cheap these days.

RAW. Always.

RAW.

I shot a wedding recently where the bride was standing in a beam of light in the church and the groom and vicar were standing in shadow. Exposing for the bride, RAW gave me the ability to pull the groom and vicar out of the shadows in post. Shooting in JPEG would have meant the shot was lost as there just isn't enough data in a JPEG to do this.

Apologies for the quick and dirty screengrabs but here's an idea of what I mean:

SOOC:

Mike wrote in post #11246108
RAW.

I shot a wedding recently where the bride was standing in a beam of light in the church and the groom and vicar were standing in shadow. Exposing for the bride, RAW gave me the ability to pull the groom and vicar out of the shadows in post. Shooting in JPEG would have meant the shot was lost as there just isn't enough data in a JPEG to do this.

Apologies for the quick and dirty screengrabs but here's an idea of what I mean:

SOOC:

IMG NOTICE: [NOT AN IMAGE URL, NOT RENDERED INLINE]

After processing:

IMG NOTICE: [NOT AN IMAGE URL, NOT RENDERED INLINE]

There were a few shots like this and it saved the shots by shooting in RAW.

That's a great example, I def. see how it would not be possible with a JPG.

Peronally, I hate shooting RAW because I don't like the flow and having to convert shots to jpeg. I am lazy, I admit. I just keep an eye on my histogram and shoot jpeg. Always.

I started shooting in RAW this year. I haven't looked back since! For reasons you have already seen, it can be a life saver. Granted, it takes up three times the hard drive space, its worth it and converting the images isn't that much of a PITA.

RAW always...

Maureen Souza wrote in post #11246215
Peronally, I hate shooting RAW because I don't like the flow and having to convert shots to jpeg. I am lazy, I admit. I just keep an eye on my histogram and shoot jpeg. Always.

This is exactly how I feel, but I will give RAW a try on the next gig I do to see the difference.

It helps if you have good conversion software too!

Mike wrote in post #11246443
It helps if you have good conversion software too!

What do you use?

Raw for everything I shoot.

I use Adobe Lightroom 3. For me it is the best bit of software I own. Takes a little bit of getting used to but really helps you to get the most out of your images.

I think you can download it and try it out for a month.

Raw always then Lightroom 2.5 to convert and tweak....

RAW, or RAW+JPEG if displaying a slideshow during the day (so dont have to convert the RAW)