Always RAW?

[mattprince]

Hi,

I got a Sony A200 and have been shotting in raw for all my photos. I have been doing this as i was told by someone that raw is the best quality and as most if not all photos are enhanced in photoshop then its better to start with a blank canvas.

Is that right?

Matt

[bartonflyer]

Matt,

I have a Sony A700 & usually shoot RAW + JPG (does the A200 have that option?), then if I get it right the jpg is fine for most purposes for me, but if there is something special needs tweaking or I get a really good shot (unusual for me ) then I always have the RAW file as well.
I do think it really depends on just what you are doing - if you're out taking snapshots then with the right camera settings you can captre most of what you want in jpg then not have a raft of processing, but for the time you slightly blow it, then having the RAW is an insurance policy - however I'm sure there'll be loads of opinions, mostly disagreeing
Cheers
Ian

[AsylumVoid]

I always use JPG. because i'm rubbish. LOL!

Most of my images look fine in it, whatever works for you, works for you. It is the image itself that is important, what format it's in doesn't really matter.

[mattprince]

I always use JPG. because i'm rubbish. LOL!

Most of my images look fine in it, whatever works for you, works for you. It is the image itself that is important, what format it's in doesn't really matter.

Hi,

Well from what i understand jpg is a loss file and raw is lossless.

So it does actually matter.

Matt

[tinysmall]

Yep, jpeg is a lossy file and raw is lossless. Every time you open and close a jpeg you loose data on it. I shoot only in raw and save all my images as tiff's and a copy as jpegs (for web use). It does depend on what you're shooting though. If it's just holliday snaps, jpegs are fine but for anything serious that you might want to edit, shoot in raw. Shooting raw+jpeg does have some small advantages as far as saving a bit of time goes but if you edit all your pictures like I do, its pointless and takes up too much memory. But again, that depends on how you use your camera.

[AsylumVoid]

I've noticed the difference when I use MSpaint, quite substantially, but not on my photographs.

As I said...i'm rubbish...so, it's probably my own ignorance.

[lostmysnorkel]

RAW all the way for me!

Back from a 300-shot wedding I'll probably only open 30-40 in Photoshop proper. Everything else is tweaked in ACR

[BarryM]

jpeg for studio work cos i have total control (well my kind of control) of the lighting etc and no issues,
but on weddings its raw raw raw, as Snorks said, final tweaks with colour balance, exposures slightly adjusted etc are all done in raw, its a great failsafe measure too in case a shot is over exposed or under with the mad rushing i do at a wedding. And the raw workflow can be done in less than half an hour, all batch tweaked then converted over to jpeg,

I then have a raw folder, final jpeg folder for each wedding