Camera Labs

I'm doing a whole course on Photoshop and I'm still in two minds about shooting in Raw. When I get my D80 I'm sure I'll take a few Raw images and have a play around with them in PS to see what they're like. So anyway, I thought I'd run this poll to see what other people do and how often and it'd be really interesting to hear from people who do all the post processing of raw images and find that it really does make a huge difference.

Apologies if I missed any options, I tried to cover everything I could think of.

I occasionally shoot in Raw if it's a one off special scene that I want to be perfect.

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Canon Rebel Xti (400D), EF-S 18-55, 50mm f/1.8, Sandisk Extreme III 2gb.
Http://cr4zyh3ad.sisimple.ca

Hi Cr4zYH3aD, I agree - me too...

Gordon

I never even think about it. My RAW+jpeg is always on.
You have to see what you can get out of a RAW to believe it. My feeling is at least one stop in highlights and an additional stop in the shadows.
This together with the excellent metering of the D80 is an insurance that you never have to bother about exposure

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

My D80 is pretty much set to Jpeg-normal with the occasional shot in RAW.

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My Flickr

I went for 50/50

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Roy
EOS 350D, 40D + BG-E2N, EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM, EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM, 430 EX Speedlite




My Fotopic

I only ever shoot in RAW. Unless images were being taken for email purposes I really can't understand why anyone would want to shoot any other way. I can always get a better result from a RAW after some pp than the camera comes up with in JPEG. I can understand why Thomas might use both but I'm at a loss to understand why someone would only shoot in JPEG. No offence guys.

Zorro.

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http://zorrofox4.deviantart.com/



Various lenses, SB800 & Manfrotto 190 with 460MG head

I'm shooting exclusively in RAW nowadays - but I will switch to JPEG if/when longer bursts are needed...

Darrin

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Nikon D40 | Nikkor 18-55 VR | Nikkor 55-200 VR | Voigtländer Ultron 40mm SL-II | Nikon Speedlight SB-400

I am doing a lot more shooting purely raw these days, it has happened since I downloaded the trial version of Nikon Capture NX, it deals with colours and white balance a lot more accurately than PS ever did with my camera, it also seems to offer a less complicated and more logical way of dealing with processing of shots. I liked it that much I bought a copy, or at least will when stock is available here down under. The processing applied by Capture NX is no more time consuming to achieve a decent shot in raw as it is in jpg but the results seem so far to be very good.

Thanks for voting and for your contributions. Well I had to go for my last option...haven't tried it yet but looking forward to trying it when I get my D80.

The more I read from other forums, it really seems to be a love hate thing. Some people swear by it and would never go back to jpeg and others don't want anything to do with Raw. As for me, I love playing around with Photoshop and I'm looking forward to using ACR for the first time. I think in the beginning I better stick with Raw + Jpeg though because with the amount of pics I plan to take in Hong Kong, it'd probably take me a year to process all the Raw files

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Mark
Nikon D300 / Sigma 10-20mm / Nikkor 17-55 f2.8 / Nikkor 18-200mm VR / Nikkor 50mm f1.8 / SB600 Speedlight
Mark Amy Photography
My Squidoo lens - Images of China

Oh, don't get me wrong. Although I always shoot RAW I also let the Camera produce a standard or small jpeg for easier handling.
So I use both.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

I never shoot in raw because I haven't got any software to do any pp. One day maybe I'll get some, then regret not shooting in raw from the outset...

Tony

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Nikon D80, 18 /200mm VR lens, B+W filters (UV & cir pol), Manfrotto 055proB/322RC2

Want to get some software to deal with RAW?

Zorro.

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http://zorrofox4.deviantart.com/



Various lenses, SB800 & Manfrotto 190 with 460MG head

Tony, if you want to try RAW, you could always download a trial version of Capture NX or Lightroom...

Even if you never intend to shoot exclusively in RAW (or don't yet have PP software), I would recommend using the format when you see a real killer shot or one you think you might tweak it in the future. It's great to have that 'digital negative' with all the info should you need it in the future.

RAW plus JPEG is a great option, although if your camera shoots a lower quality JPEG in RAW plus JPEG mode, I'd shoot two versions instead. One just in RAW and one in best quality JPEG mode.

Gordon

Yes I certainly would like to try RAW...I'll check out the trial versions you and Andrew mentioned Gordon.

What did you have in mind Z?

I'm off to the North coast of Scotland extremely early tomorrow morning for a four day whisky tour, so I'll be out of touch till I get back (er, literally I hope!).

Here's tae ye!

Tony

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Nikon D80, 18 /200mm VR lens, B+W filters (UV & cir pol), Manfrotto 055proB/322RC2