Camera Labs

hello all Pentax K10D users, i'm a new in here, and in general in Dslr photography.

i would be very grateful if anyone, who owns K10D and shoots in raw, would explain all the process of doing it.

i'll state several questions, that i'm interested, and would like anyone to answer them and add something that is necessary to know. thanks in advance. so:

is ISO, WB, matter when in shooting in RAW?
does such things as saturation, contrast and sharpness matter?

if i shoot in raw, and then only make jpeg in camera with the same settings as my jpeg sharpness, saturation, contrast, will it will be different? (better quality)

how to get the best quality of images?

does pentax computer software for raw procesing is good? do i need a different one?

what is most important when converting raw into jpeg?

if i will not change any settings will it be beter quality, then simple jpeg shot in jpeg mode?

maybe some of these are a bit stupid questions, but, i'm totally not familiar with raw.

well if anyone will manage to explain something to me, i'll be very grateful.

_________________
sincerely,
Mystic-grapher
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14258831@N00/
Pentax K20D;
AF-540GZ flash;
Pentax DA 12-24mm f/4 AL ED [if]
Pentax DA* 50-135mm ED [if] SDM 1/2.8
Pentax FA 28-105mm f/3.2-4.5 AL [if]
Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro;

Hello mystic,


No.


It will be processed through the K10D's processor, therefore should be identical to shooting jpeg only. However you do get to do choose the WB, sharpness, contrast, saturation after you have taken the shot rather than before if you have shot jpeg only.


Shoot RAW, use good lens, use appropriate camera settings...


Pentax Photo Lab is decent and offer plenty of adjustments. Give it try first, if you don't find it useful in your need then you might as well look at Photoshop, Lightroom, Paintshop Pro etc.


Probably WB and maybe amount of compression.


I don't think so. Saving a raw file as jpeg is basically the same as shooting jpeg alone in the camera. They go through the same engine.

If you post process the raw file on a computer, then it might be different. Different software will handle the raw file differently.

Thanks byte,

your reply was very helpful.
today, i shot only in raw, and now will try to post process the files in Pentax lab,

I will experiment and if i'll stuck somewhere, i'll ask again!
appreciate your time, byte.

if anyone else has anything to contribute to my questions, i will read it carefully. thanks in advance.

_________________
sincerely,
Mystic-grapher
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14258831@N00/
Pentax K20D;
AF-540GZ flash;
Pentax DA 12-24mm f/4 AL ED [if]
Pentax DA* 50-135mm ED [if] SDM 1/2.8
Pentax FA 28-105mm f/3.2-4.5 AL [if]
Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro;

ISO

Sorry, ISO matters.

Bonjour,

Please find the results on my own RAW and JPEG tests about red clipping here and there.

On most of the cases, JPEG format proves to be fine. In specific cases however, JPEG doesn't suit and then shooting in RAW provides the opportunity to post-process and fine-tune the image. Pentax Laboratory, the software provided with the K10D, is great (and free!) and offers plenty of parameters to play with.

One practical solution is to start shooting on RAW+JPEG and to compare results. You'll learn when to trust the K10D built-in processing unit and when to avoid it. This is part of the learning curve.

In my case, shooting the moon required RAW format: see here.

Enjoy

_________________
--- rei_vilo
Pentax K-5 + BG4 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ
reivilophotography.weebly.com

thanks rei_vilo, for your suggestions.

i found pentax laboratory a bit weak, for raw processing i use cs3 plugin camera raw 4.2, it does much better job, and more parameters can be adjusted.

now, if i know that the photoshoot is important i shoot in raw+jpeg mode.

_________________
sincerely,
Mystic-grapher
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14258831@N00/
Pentax K20D;
AF-540GZ flash;
Pentax DA 12-24mm f/4 AL ED [if]
Pentax DA* 50-135mm ED [if] SDM 1/2.8
Pentax FA 28-105mm f/3.2-4.5 AL [if]
Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro;