RAW format - what is it?

[NeurosurgeryNP]

I just purchased a new Canon A570 IS and housing. I hear people mentioning RAW format and it's ability to produce better pictures uw. How do I save in he RAW format? Is this format recognized by Adobe Elements/or photoshop?

 

[Papa_Bear]

It is the RAW data that the camera manufactures write to get the RAW information from the COMOS or CCD to the storage media where it is saved as RAW, TIFF, or JPG. CSII & III convert as well as Light Table! Each manufacturer has their own RAW program....

 

[Christian]

I don't think your camera model is able to save images in any RAW-format, only compressed Jpeg-files. If I'm wrong you can download the Camera RAW-plug-in on adobe.com.

cheers

 

[kerryw]

I just purchased a new Canon A570 IS and housing. I hear people mentioning RAW format and it's ability to produce better pictures uw. How do I save in he RAW format? Is this format recognized by Adobe Elements/or photoshop?

It is the RAW sensory data, not put through any conversion like to JPEG or TIFF, you could think of those like a developed print and RAW as a negative. In theory you have maximum control with RAW as none of the original data has been lost or changed.

Your camera will need the RAW hack to shoot RAW

KLW

 

[cicopo]

About the best explination I have seen to help understnd RAW is here.
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/pdfs/understanding_digitalrawcapture.pdf
When a digital photo is taken the electrical information from each pixel (photodiode) of the sensor needs to be converted into a file to look like a photo. That is done with software & every manufacturer has a different plan when writing the software so if the exact photo was taken with a few different cameras there would be differences in the look & saturation of the colors, such as richer greens, brighter reds etc. That applies to a JPG file which is more correctly comparable to a slide in the film days since you have very little latitude in changing the look of it later. RAW on the other hand is more comparable to a negative because there are lots of ways to varry a print from a negative during the printing "exposure".
Another consideration with a JPG is that it is a compressed file, meaning that some of the original information has been lost in order to reduce file size. A RAW or TIF file doesn't have that fault, so every minor bit of information is still in the file, such as minute shadow detail, slow contrast changes etc. RAW requires that you decide what the minor differences should look like when working with the file in the RAW converter software & it can provide a lot of lattitude depending on your camera system.