JPEG Or RAW?

Question

Could somebody please explain the difference between them?Do RAW take up alot of space on computers?

Answer 1

RAW photography is not for a beginner to worry about. See http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=RAW for a clear definition and http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d200/quality-settings.htm for reasons why you don't need to worry about it for now. It stores EVERY BIT of information from your photography, which might help you do some adjustments once you are very savvy with Photoshop or other image editting programs.

RAW files are 2-3 times larger than the largest JPEG files as they are uncompressed. My 10 MP camera creates 12 MP RAW files while most fine JPEG's are about 6 MP and some are smaller.

Answer 2

JPEG is a file format which is very popular just because the image/photo is compressed. That so the file size it is relative decent small. But the shortcoming is that with higher compression the photo/image start loosing details and as a result you may say is loosing in quality.

RAW it is the so called "digital negative". It is a file which contain the whole photo as is coming from the digital cameras "eye" or sensor (if you want). To see or manipulate a RAW file you need special software just because RAW format it is not an universal standard. Each digital camera will generate a different RAW file format that so you need a software which know to read your specific RAW file format. RAW files are big ! you may look at 30 Megabytes for an 8Megapixels digital camera or more. Anyway if you intend to print a photo at a local photolab or on any color printer, after you manipulate a RAW file, ...you may have to convert it into ... JPG file ( lol ). That so RAW is a wonderful idea but not a practical one.

so ... if you don't intend to sell a photo to a magazine ...stick with JPG.

Answer 3

Jpeg was best for downloading your photos within few seconds/minutes,Raw was taken long hours ,maybe Raw taken a lot of spaces,you need more than 6 pieces of CD-Rom.I have experiences for these two files.

Answer 4

I only use RAW images.

The advantages:

*white balance is never an issue because you can set it after you shoot the image.

*it adds about 4 -5 stops of dynamic range giving you lots of room for underexposure and about a stop or two of overexposure.

*contrast and saturation is never an issue because you can set it after you shoot the image

*they are saved as 16bit images giving you a lot to work with without loosing image quality as you would with JPG.

*you get less noise (grain) at high iso's as you would with JPG. You don't get higher resolution but you DO get more detail than you can with JPG even if you set your JPG to the highest quality.

Disadvantages:

*they use a heck of a lot more room on your memory card than jpg's do

*you can't print them directly - you need to convert them in photoshop or the likes.