Is RAW worth it?

[chugmeister]

I apologize as this may be a seemingly simple question but I am new to all of this so bare with me.

Is it really worth it to shoot in RAW format? Can you really do that much with it? I am using a Sony F828 and in the RAW format each picture is like 16Mb or something like that. It also takes several more seconds to store the pics even to fast storage.

I haven't seen much discussion of Sony in the RAW format discussions. Is anyone edititing Sony RAW format and if so what software are you using?

Thanks for helping a novice.

 

[sharky60]

From what I understand the main advantage to shooting RAW is when you go to photoshop to do the work there is a lot more information to the file than in a lower resolution format.

My camera, the Sea & Sea DX5000G, doesn't shoot RAW files, the best I can do is a TIFF, but I've still been only shooting at the "fine 2592" setting 2592 X 1944, I'm not an expert with photoshop, but I've been able to get pretty good results with the experience I have with the software.

I guess it's a matter of how much storage capacity you have while shooting and when you get ready to archive your files. I've been using a 512MB memory card and could get approx. 50 shots/ card shooting TIFF as opposed to 230+ shooting F2592.

I know there are a lot more folks here more experienced with the digital than I am so hopefully some of them will weigh in for you.

Have fun in Coz!!!!!

 

[dsafanda]

Worth what?

I can't think of any reason not to shoot in RAW. The file size is much smaller than a comparable TIFF file so you can shoot many more images before maxing out your micro drive or flash card. It's easy to open a RAW file in PSD CS2. The quality of a RAW file is vastly superior to Jpeg. Jpeg is a very lossy compression standard. You will be able to make larger prints with files that have been converted from RAW.

My standard workflow for making a large gallery quality print:
Shoot in RAW mode
Open and process in Photoshop
Save as 8bit RGB TIFF file for LightJet printing

I usally archive both the RAW and edited PSD version of my favorite images.

It really depends entirey on your goals. If you want to simply take photos that you can share on the web with friends and family, Jpeg is easy and convenient. If you want to make quality prints, RAW is the way to go. IMHO

 

[alcina]

Short answer, yes - shoot RAW if it's available to you.

If you really mess a setting up, you'll be able to fix it with much more satisfactory results in RAW.

If you get your settings very close to spot on RAW will give you a great advantage in final quality and minor tweaking.

The sacrifice of write time is worth it, IMHO. Especially as it gives you time to shoot, review, adjust, shoot, review, adjust...underwater for the most part, speed shooting isn't essential.

If I get time, I'll try to post a couple of examples of where things went wrong, but with RAW were fixable...

 

[chugmeister]

Worth what?

I can't think of any reason not to shoot in RAW...

- JPG on my camera is 3Mb per picture. RAW is 16Mb. So you get alot less pictures.
- Lag time. JPG is around 1 second on average. RAW format is like 8 secs. So you sacrifice time.

 

[chugmeister]

If I get time, I'll try to post a couple of examples of where things went wrong, but with RAW were fixable...

That would be much appreciated.

Still curious if anyone has experience with Sony. I have Photoshop CS2 ordered.

 

[dsafanda]

- JPG on my camera is 3Mb per picture. RAW is 16Mb. So you get alot less pictures.
- Lag time. JPG is around 1 second on average. RAW format is like 8 secs. So you sacrifice time.

Yes, good points. I stand corrected. I sort of lost track of the fact that I was thinking of my own equipment setup.

With a 1GIG microdrive I can shoot 108 RAW images before I need to switch to another microdrive or download the images. For me that's plenty of shots. Also, I don't have an 8sec. delay between each RAW shot. However, I do occasionally have to wait for the buffer to catch up. It's annoying but worth it.


Here's a good article on this issue...
To Raw Or Not To Raw by Rod Klein
http://www.rhkuw.com/pdf/fathomsraw.pdf

He also has a decent intro article about digital workflow here...
http://www.rhkuw.com/pdf/FathomsDigitalWorkflow.pdf

 

[ssra30]

For general snapshot type pictures, you probably won't lose much by shooting JPEG but when you get that one very very nice shot, it would be nice to have it in RAW. Resolution is technically the same but you will lose some fine detail with JPEG. The ability to bypass automatic adjustment by the camera and start with as shot info for manipulation in PS is also a worthwhile consideration. Mine you, if you only use your pictures for internet posting at a much smaller size, you probably won't notice a huge difference between RAW/JPEG but when print it out in a large format, the difference will be a lot more significant.
I shoot RAW that is 20mb a shot. Get a bigger CF card or whatever card you need for the camera. I use a 4GB card personally. Faster card will reduce the writing speed to a certain extent. Waiting 8s is a trade of for shooting RAW for you but in most cases,I think it is well worth it. Writing and buffer handling is still one area that PnS still has a lot of room to work on unfortunately.

 

[alcina]

When you are talking about RAW, the brand won't matter re: basics.

My overall feeling is the extended write time, in most underwater situations, shouldn't be that big of an issue as you should be thinking of how to improve the shot instead of snapping as many as possible. Waiting for your camera to finish writing forces you to stop, think, adjust and plan before you take the next shot. Now if the wait were 30 seconds instead of 8ish it might be a little different

Obviously there are exceptions to that (feeding frenzy perhaps or other fast action - where sacrificing RAW for speed, if you are already dialled in right, might be great) and it depends on what you want - snaps for the family that if you miss that perfect shot doesn't matter or the best possible shots you can take from every dive or something inbetween (which is how I shoot mostly).

RAW gives you the most options and let's you make the decisions - not your camera.

I'll try to get some stuff posted by tomorrow so you can see a couple of examples...

 

[dsafanda]

some good examples in that PDF I linked to above.