If you do any regular editing, and most images out of a digital camera need some editing, then shooting in RAW will give you more options and allows you to have more control over what you can do.
If you shoot in Jpeg the camera settings are locked into the image at time of capture, and some information is thrown away. The settings used in camera for Picture Control (Contrast, Brightness, Sharpening, Saturation and Hue/Tone) and White Balance will be locked into the image during the Jpeg conversion.
You can edit a Jpeg image and can do quite a bit to an image. Some things though, like if an image has too much sharpening, is difficult to undo. And sharpening an already sharpened image can introduce unwanted artefacts, depending on how much sharpening you need to add. I can add the correct amount of sharpening to every image, not the blanket amount for every image the camera may add.
If images are taken at high ISO there will Noise, and the camera may apply some noise reduction to the Jpeg. It will apply the same amount of noise reduction to each image. I can apply (what I think is) the correct amount of noise reduction to an image, on a per image basis. But you can apply noise reduction to a Jpeg some will say, and yes, you can, but you may be applying noise reduction to an image that has already had noise reduction applied in camera.
And just like sharpening an already sharpened image may not give the best results, applying noise reduction to an image which has already had noise reduction applied may not give the best image too. And as with sharpening, it is almost impossible to take the noise reduction off. Some would rather a bit of noise to keep the sharpness of the image, which noise reduction can sometimes take away. If I add the noise reduction, I can choose that balance that is best for the image.
Exposure. Get the right, and I mean particularly not overexposing when you don't want to, and everything is pretty much fine with a Jpeg. Overexpose though, and most of the time that part of the image that has overexposed has gone for good. In a RAW file, there is sometimes information still there to be recovered. Underexpose, and you can recover some information, but there is more information to be had in a RAW file.
All the Picture Controls and WB settings that the camera locks into the Jpeg are not locked into a RAW file. A lot of people say that being able to change all these things, and correcting exposure is for people who don't get things right in the camera leads to some people being lazy at capture, and it will, for some. Lazy people will use RAW like that. But RAW, imho, should be for optimising every image (every image you wish to make into a picture, you don't have to process every RAW file) to get the best image you can. Just like with any format you use, the closer you can get to what you want at capture will give a better file to work with and minimise any processing needed.
I can understand KIPAX's view on Jpegs, because he is (I assume) mostly taking images for his business, and he takes a lot of images which he needs to get from camera to (hopefully
) client as quickly as possible. He doesn't get paid extra for editing.
Most non Pro's are taking images under no time constraints, and this may allow time to get the best image they can from an file. And while KIPAX's aim to get the best representation of the sport he is covering, I doubt (though he may correct me) he is taking the time to add any artistic flourishes to his images. I don't think he is playing around with skies and and shadows under trees for example.
That is not to say his images are not artistic, but his aim (again, correct me if I'm wrong) is to catch a perfectly timed, perfectly exposed and sharp image. Which is what we all want of course, but we may also want to add something extra.
KIPAX also has thousands of £s worth of cameras and lenses to help him get the perfect image more of the time. Most of us have equipment that is not the best, and sometimes editing has to be done to correct for the deficiencies of the equipment. (and technique) There are reasons why Pro's buy the top of the range equipment, it is because it works better and is more consistent, and consistency helps shooting Jpegs.
Shoot in whatever format is best for you, but at least know the implications of using each format. And there is nothing to stop anyone using both of course, and choose the best file for the result you want to get.
