Raw shooting for a non-Photoshop CS user?

[WOODMAN]

I have Photoshop Elements 4, and also the ubiquitous Picasa (you gotta love that one:10: ) but I never could see my way clear to the expense and complexity of Photoshop CS. Now, my question is, is shooting in RAW of any advantage , given my limited processing tools? I have not seen anything in Elements that uses this mode specifically, although I am by no means master of this program yet. Any thoughts? Woody

 

[justleesa]

Elements can process RAW photos. You should take a look if the plugin is available for your camera. Also the software that came with the camera should have RAW processing abilities.

As far as RAW goes...I didn't used to shoot in RAW, just because my UW camera takes sooo long to take the picture....but now, where I am doing more topside stuff (and have a faster camera) I wouldn't take a picture any other way - I can do so much more tweaking with RAW than I can with jpeg or Tiff files.

 

[alcina]

Absolutely it is. You can never get that data back after you shoot it in only jpeg. If you have the option on your camera, shoot both RAW and Jpeg - that way you have the RAW file and don't have to convert to get to the jpeg. If you don't have that option, just make sure you have software that will convert the RAW to a jpeg for you at the very least.

I, too, had a very slow RAW writing camera - the Oly 5050. My biggest regret is that I deemed the write time too long initially and the post processing too hard - I shot for months without RAW and now I look back at those images and think "If I would have just shot RAW I could have really worked with that." Jpeg just throws data away.

I am not a big post processing girl. I'm learning new things every day, but mostly my pp is basic basic level Happily, basic basic in RAW is much better than it is for Jpeg - you can make much finer, less invasive adjustments. And you never touch the original so there is no degradation of the data/image.

Shoot RAW. Yes, you might have to slow down to allow your camera to write; yes, you might have to learn a bit of new software. No, you won't regret it; no, it's not that hard or time consuming - my workflow is fast per image now with better results.

Have fun!!

 

[jarhed]

I second that, The information recorded in the RAW format allows you so many advantages in post processing that it's great to have even if you currently don't take advantage of it.

Keep the files that you really love on a disk somewhere, you may eventually decide to get more robust software and want to tweak some of your favorite pics.

Take care,
John

 

[WOODMAN]

My camera is the trusty C5050, so I guess I would have to adjust to a slower write speed, although maybe one of those faster XD cards might help here a little? (I think that's the H series, if memory serves me?)

 

[justleesa]

Ah, good! Your PS elements 4 should be able to process RAW pictures from your oly - I have 3 and it did

 

[RonFrank]

I have Photoshop Elements 4, and also the ubiquitous Picasa (you gotta love that one:10: ) but I never could see my way clear to the expense and complexity of Photoshop CS. Now, my question is, is shooting in RAW of any advantage , given my limited processing tools? I have not seen anything in Elements that uses this mode specifically, although I am by no means master of this program yet. Any thoughts? Woody

Another RAW fan. I shoot RAW + JPG Basic so I can do fast edits, and previews on the JPG. My understanding is that PS Elements has the same ACR processing engine as CS2. I do not know this for sure, but it would make sense that Adobe would not redesign their software just to dumb it down for RAW processing.

When you bring up a RAW image you should see a bunch of options with sliders to control WB, HUE, Saturation, Exposure, and in the advanced mode you have three tabs and finer channel control. If that is what you see, then it is similar to CS2. If not, then explore what options are provided to see if it helps, but my bet is it will make RAW worthwhile.

Unfortunately OLY's past RAW software has been lacking to say the least with very little controls over much of anything. I'm not sure if this has changed in the past year or two, but with the 5050 you may need to use a third party RAW tool like PS.

 

[WOODMAN]

Am I able to shoot both RAW and JPEG on this camera? How do I set it for this?

 

[gert7to3]

I can't tell the specific choices you have with your camera, but the interface looks very similar to the SP-350's menu. If you go into [Mode]>>>[Picture] (the second tab down in [Mode]) the top tab is the control for the type of image capture format currently applied. Click on that top tab then select [RAW] from the menu. If there is an arrow to the right of the [RAW] tab, that would lead you whatever RAW+JPG image capture combinations are available.

This page at imaging-resource.com describes the C-5050 camera storage options:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/C5050/C55A10.HTM

On this page, under "Camera Menus" there is an animated illustration of the [Mode] menu:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/C5050/C55A9.HTM

 

[alcina]

Don't try to write to the XD card except after you've filled the CF - that it totally slow. Write to the CF card - much faster!