D300 RAW?

JonClarke · 31 Oct 2008

Hi, What will be the best setting to use?

TIFF (RGB) OR NEF (RAW)

Type:
lossless compressed
Compressed
Uncompressed

12-bit or 14-bit?

Will any effect the shooting speed?

Thanks

Wail · 31 Oct 2008

Persnoally, I shoot NEF, and uncompressed. As for the 14 vs. 12 bit, I never saw the improvement of the 14 bit, but I did notice a shooting speed drop. So, I now only shoot 12 bit.

hunter20ga · 1 Nov 2008

Wail said:
Persnoally, I shoot NEF, and uncompressed. As for the 14 vs. 12 bit, I never saw the improvement of the 14 bit, but I did notice a shooting speed drop. So, I now only shoot 12 bit.

I agree. 14 bit offered nothing for my type of shots; NEF gives me a great deal of control over the shot once captured. I've never really used TIFF, so can't really comment on positives or negatives.

Dogfish_magnet · 1 Nov 2008

14 -bit raw unless i need to use the higher fps of 12 -bit raw - why throw away all that extra data by shooting 12bit all of the time ? you may need it one day

DonnaM · 1 Nov 2008

NEF lossless compressed 14 bit unless you want fast frame rate.

Woodsy · 1 Nov 2008

Indeed. I dont have a D300, but unless you need to have fast frame rates, and what with the price of memory, it seems silly not to use the highest possible quality.

Wail · 2 Nov 2008

Dogfish_magnet said:
14 -bit raw unless i need to use the higher fps of 12 -bit raw - why throw away all that extra data by shooting 12bit all of the time ? you may need it one day

There is logic in what you, and others, say. I will give this a go today and see where it takes me. Not too fond of larger file size; unless, of course, it's tied to better quality somewhere along the road.

puddleduck · 2 Nov 2008

Its worth bearing in mind that the 14-bit output of the D300 has no measurable improvement on image quality.

The D90 is said to have slightly better IQ, and its "only" 12-bit.

Actually the D300's base sensor is really only 12-bit anyhow internally, the extra 2 bits are "bit shifted" off sensor.

Its a marketing "keep up with the Jones" feature, not an image quality improvement feature.

Dogfish_magnet · 2 Nov 2008

puddleduck said:
Its worth bearing in mind that the 14-bit output of the D300 has no measurable improvement on image quality.

The D90 is said to have slightly better IQ, and its "only" 12-bit.

Actually the D300's base sensor is really only 12-bit anyhow internally, the extra 2 bits are "bit shifted" off sensor.

Its a marketing "keep up with the Jones" feature, not an image quality improvement feature.

Some one better let Nikon R&D dept into this nugget of info i'm sure they'd like to shave off a few million off their buget.....all that money to keep up with me...

Monkey · 2 Nov 2008

puddleduck said:
Its worth bearing in mind that the 14-bit output of the D300 has no measurable improvement on image quality.

The D90 is said to have slightly better IQ, and its "only" 12-bit.

Actually the D300's base sensor is really only 12-bit anyhow internally, the extra 2 bits are "bit shifted" off sensor.

Its a marketing "keep up with the Jones" feature, not an image quality improvement feature.

^^^ What he said ^^^

The human eye cant actually resolve much more that 8-bit anyway, so its hardly surprising there is no noticeable difference.