Is RAW really worth it?

[Neda]

RAW RAW RAW !

OMG YES!
My siblings and hubby got so annoyed at me on our last road trip when I kept flipping between a raw and a jpg amazed at the difference in colors. Yep, I nearly got my laptop taken away from me from forcing them to look at the difference.


If you're filling up a card on one dive you're being a little trigger happy IMO. You don't need it on drive to get the one good pic of a star fish!

Shoot better not more.

Are you shooting the largest size and largest quality of image? Do you really really really need to? Unless you're printing images each time you dive and blowing them up wall hanging size, you might consider lowering image size before axing RAW.

Go back to the days of 24 images per roll. We did things a little different back then didn't we. I know I did, I considered if a photo was really worth it. Really captured something new and different in an interesting way.

 

[diver 85]

xaveri--here's an example from 2 weeks ago...Wife & I went to Cozumel then & I made 6 boat dives with my camera..Just counted on my Photoshop Element 5 program 30 stills & 5 videos I came back home with(deleted some during the dive & post dives).Here are a few I have gotten around to uploading on a new album on my Photobucket site(click below link)...Also, look in my sig @ some other shots over the last 2 years(-) I've taken with my 570, I don't believe I've ever 'come back with' more than 50 stills on a single dive...

CZMApr09 pictures by GEAUXtiger - Photobucket

In fact on the 6 CZM dives, I only started with a clean 1 GIG card(now jpeg format remember) & still had around 250 shots I believe left on that card after 'shooting' those 6 dives..I would try concentrating on quality vs quantity for a few dives & see how that works out...From what you stated on the 350 shots for 2 dives, you're snapping a pic maybe every 10 seconds or so???---you can actually do the math...That doesn't leave much time to enjoy the dive IMO....Let us know how things work out though....


Forgot to say, I use no external strobe ie 'barefoot' only on my 570.....

 

[xaveri]

Those are awesome photos diver 85, thanks for sharing.

I think I should clear a point regarding the comment I made earlier about the amount of photos I can take in a dive. I dive with a buddy of mine regularly. We are both into photography and we often do shore dives to locations that I've dived 10-15 times. We do these dives to practice and fun. So when I say I take 150 in one tank dive, I could take like 7 or 8 pictures of the same coral with strobe, without strobe, adjusting white balance, etc. I'm learning what works, what doesn't and figuring out stuff.

Whenever I go to a new dive location, usually a boat dive, I take like 150 pictures for both dives so is considerably less. However I find that is harder to get good pictures since I'm rushing it and not taking my time to adjust the camera to the situation.

In the end, I will have to try RAW, test it for a few dives and see if t works for me.

 

[diver 85]

Those are awesome photos diver 85, thanks for sharing.

I think I should clear a point regarding the comment I made earlier about the amount of photos I can take in a dive. I dive with a buddy of mine regularly. We are both into photography and we often do shore dives to locations that I've dived 10-15 times. We do these dives to practice and fun. So when I say I take 150 in one tank dive, I could take like 7 or 8 pictures of the same coral with strobe, without strobe, adjusting white balance, etc. I'm learning what works, what doesn't and figuring out stuff.

Whenever I go to a new dive location, usually a boat dive, I take like 150 pictures for both dives so is considerably less. However I find that is harder to get good pictures since I'm rushing it and not taking my time to adjust the camera to the situation.

In the end, I will have to try RAW, test it for a few dives and see if t works for me.

Your last statement IMO is the beauty of digital ie you can see 'on the fly' what's working & not working that day...After shooting 35 mm with strobe for over 12 years(with pretty good results @ times---see my avatar pic--that's with 35mm), I decided to get a digital camera---lol I was tired of everyone coming back to the boat & saying "Oh look @ this beautiful picture of that turtle we just saw" & I was going to have to wait a week or so to see if mine turned out @ all....

Again good luck & keep us posted---I may have to go to RAW if it's that good...lol


EDIT: forgot to add in my 2nd to last post----ALWAYS(well 95+% of the time) use Macro setting--- no matter how close or far away you are from the target.....

 

[Scubakevdm]

I'm popping the card into a built in card reader on my computer. It's a couple of years old and not fancy. HP Pavilion, AMD 64 Athlon 978 mhz 960 MB RAM.

Each RAW file is 15.3 meg

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I'm popping the card into a built in card reader on my computer. It's a couple of years old and not fancy. HP Pavilion, AMD 64 Athlon 978 mhz 960 MB RAM.

Each RAW file is 15.3 meg

@Scubakevdm: I'm guessing that the built-in card reader is transferring data at USB 1.0 speeds...or worse. Assuming that you're using an SDHC card in your camera, get a SDHC card reader USB 2.0 reader/writer (they're quite inexpensive now), pop the SDHC card into it, and plug it into a USB 2.0 slot on your computer. You'll be pleasantly surprised with the transfer speeds.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

In terms of memory size. :admin: I've read that someone has and uses a 16Gb card in their Canon A590 IS and is quite happy. Another advocate of this writes.

I own a Canon A570IS, the predecessor to the A590IS. I use an 8GB SDHC card in it and run the CHDK firmware while diving. There's no reason that you couldn't use a 16GB SDHC card if you felt so inclined.

xaveri is correct about the CHDK build only working with 4GB SD cards. CHDK will only load on a FAT16 partition, yet FAT16 partitions cannot be larger than 4GB. FAT32 partitions can be larger than 4GB. Interesting problem, eh?

Essentially, you need to split the > 4GB SDHC card into 2 partitions:
1. Small partition (FAT16) that contains the DISKBOOT.BIN file.
2. Larger partition (FAT32) that stores CHDK preferences and all of the RAW, RAW+JPGs, and movies that you've happily snapped.
The smaller partition needs to be flagged as bootable.
These partition changes can be performed using any OS (Mac, Windows, Linux). I successfully made these changes for two separate cards using my Macbook Pro for one and my Linux laptop for the other. IMO, the partitioning was much easier to do on Linux. I'm not a hardcore computer geek, just someone who is curious about how things work. If you lack patience with troubleshooting computer issues, I highly recommend you enlist the help of a friend who is more computer savvy. Here's a link to the CHDK wikia webpage on how to make an SD card bootable. User lafesnet posted a very nice description of his solution on this Flickr discussion forum thread.

You may want to put some thought into sizing the two partitions. If the switch on the SDHC card is not in the "Locked" position, then CHDK won't autoload and the camera will only "see" the smaller partition. From one dive to the next, if you like to switch between shooting CHDK RAW and regular old JPEG (using the Canon firmware), you should probably make the smaller partition larger than "minimum" size. This is why I've partitioned my 8GB SDHC card to be 1GB FAT16 (containing DISKBOOT.BIN) with the rest of the card being FAT32. Do what works best for you.

Therefore my advice is to go and buy a 8/16Gb memory card. You wont have to open the case in-between dives nor compromise on shooting RAW. That will allow you to take pictures and video to your hearts content as long as the batteries work that is

I recommend that you get a large, name brand Class 6 SDHC memory card and dual-partition it so that you can store a ton of RAW pics. Just as important, use good quality AA rechargeable batteries. I can highly recommend the Sanyo Eneloop low-discharge batteries. Having a big card and good batteries will help you avoid opening your UW housing in-between dives in a humid environment, which will invariably result in lens-fogging. That's no fun at all.

Hope this info helps.
Have fun and dive safe...

 

[xaveri]

xaveri is correct about the CHDK build only working with 4GB SD cards. CHDK will only load on a FAT16 partition, yet FAT16 partitions cannot be larger than 4GB. FAT32 partitions can be larger than 4GB. Interesting problem, eh?

Thanks a lot for the heads up. I red that using cards larger than 4GB was a problem but I didn't know there was a solution.

...Just as important, use good quality AA rechargeable batteries. I can highly recommend the Sanyo Eneloop low-discharge batteries. Having a big card and good batteries will help you avoid opening your UW housing in-between dives in a humid environment, which will invariably result in lens-fogging. That's no fun at all...

Of course, having more space to shoot photos, the battery issue comes to surface. I've read about those low-discharge batteries but the thing is, they offer less amount of battery life than regular NiMH batteries.

Sanyo Eneloop AA batteries and other low-discharge types offer only 2000-2100 mAh. I use 2850 mAh Energizer AA batteries, so isn't that cutting almost 30% battery life?

 

[alcina]

I use a variety of rechargeables and currently my Imedion Powerex 2100s kick every other battery in my possession. They keep their charge, they run forever and they recycle fast.

I've pretty much stopped using my 2700 Sanyo's, Sony's etc except for carrying them around "just in case" ... and the Imedions haven't come close to "just in case" yet

 

[xaveri]

I use a variety of rechargeables and currently my Imedion Powerex 2100s kick every other battery in my possession. They keep their charge, they run forever and they recycle fast.

I've pretty much stopped using my 2700 Sanyo's, Sony's etc except for carrying them around "just in case" ... and the Imedions haven't come close to "just in case" yet

So, what you are saying is that your Imedion Powerex 2100s last longer than a regular brand (Energizer/Duracell) 2700s? How is that possible?

Remember that I don't need a battery that I can use a week from now, I need a battery that I can charge today and use tomorrow on my 2 tank dives, and that lasts about 2.5 hours worth of taking pictures and video while diving. I could do that with my old camera, I'm not sure if I can do that with my new A590 IS while shooting RAW.

I don't care about a low-discharge battery, I want a long life battery. Now if you tell me that low-discharge batteries are manufactured better and thus holds the charge and delivers actually better than an Energizer 2700, I can understand that. Is that what you are saying?