Joy Of Shooting In Camera Raw

[Emerger 0]

I have switched to shooting entirely in camera raw. What is the advantage? You get all the digital information the sensor collects. Then when you process the photo you can adjust the settings like color cast, white balance, brightness and sharpness. You can't change the focus, so you still need to get that right. But you will get better range in the extremes of light areas and dark shadows.What is the disadvantage? The files are larger so you can really fill up your hard drive. You have to post process every photo. You have to have a camera that will shoot in raw. If you shoot sports or fast action subjects, your burst photo number will be less due to the size of the files.Most cameras that can shoot RAW also come with software to take advantage of the files. You don't have to run out and buy photoshop.Try it you'll love it.

[LooneyMS 0]

Oh my god thank you very much this is freaking awsome and it workedthank you so much

[bluedragon 0]

Hey Emerger, I use a Lumix Fz-18. Since I bought it in Japan, i didn't notice this at first, but all the software that came along with this were in Japanese. Now, I don't even know a literal of japanese. The software for this RAW thingy is also japanese. I cant even read the name.. can u tell me what should i do to process the RAW images. Is there a freeware to read these. I tried irfanView but it cannot. As far as I know, the RAW for different camera manufacturers is different. Its like specific to that camera only. I am shooting in JPEGs only

[room2593 0]

I believe that the gimp has a plugin that will process raw images.
https://www.gimp.org/downloads/
and this is the plugin to edit RAW files
http://registry.gimp.org/node/31

It's totally free. The gimp is quite high power, but it takes some getting used to (just like any program).
If you're still not convinced, the gimp has many user-produced plugins and filters that make life easy and fun.

And of course the biggest selling point is that it's free.

[onscreen 0]

Alternatively, Adobe Lightroom supports RAW format too. Or the applications that come with your DSLR. If the language isnt the one you want, you can download from your camera site.True, GIMP have support on opening specific and generic RAW but do take note that either one of the plugin is outdated.

[room2593 0]

Whether or not the gimp is outdated at all, it's still very powerful...Also, they're coming out with a new version (that I know of).I'd rather have something good for free than something good for money...So I'll use the gimp.Money is precious, and I am too.

[gauntfly 0]

Photoshop supports RAW too. Also in raw you can change the white balance of the image without losing quality. Changing white balance of a JPEG image is destructive editing.

[room2593 0]

Someone needs to say this, though:If you are not a camera enthusiast, or a photographer, or an editor, there is no reason to shoot in RAW. To all of the moms out there that are reading this post, just because your camera shoots in RAW is no reason to switch to it, unless there is an actual pressing need for you to do so. Trust me, JPEG is fine for your photo albums.But if you are one of those things, and you have the hard drive space for it, then RAW is a good idea.

[Cat5e 0]

My mom has a Nikon D-80, and it can shoot in RAW or JPEG or even both at the same time. But we just use JPEG, because she likes to take her camera to CVS to use their machines to make prints and edits. She's not into using our computer (we only have old ones anyway). The problem with RAW is that the computers at stores that offer digital prints don't support RAW yet, at least where I live. Oh well, thanks for the info. I actually didn't know that stuff. It will be useful in the future when RAW becomes popular enough to be mass supported.