RAW soft images :(

locostbob

locostbob

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Hey up...

just wondering if anybody can throw any light on this...

Shooting at Oulton Park on monday, the light was pants so decided to shoot RAW...

the images look really soft on the computer, and i have been fairly hacked off with the quality, to the point i have been puttiong of editing for ages!. Now i have converted to jpeg the sharpness is back to a good level... is there any reason for this, never really noticed it before with RAW?!"

many thanks

bob :)
 
An unedited RAW file will always look pretty soft and dull as it's simply the light captured by your sensor with no editing applied whatsoever.

You have to process a RAW file to turn it into your digital photograph in the same way that, with film, you have to develop the negative to create the print :)
 
All raw images need some sharpening to get the best out of them, any jpeg that comes from the camera will usually have had some in camera sharpening done to it, hence the difference. Post some images as the softness could be down other things than just the raw thing.

Edit, Beaten to it, doh.
 
Sort out an action for your sharpening and just run them as a batch. Saves ages :)
 
cheers guys and gals for the help... so wished i had asked a few days ago and i would not have been pondering on it so long! :)

cant really post any images as when i process they become sharp again! :) not something i have ever noticed before, its not all that often i shoot in RAW..

just a novice learning something new! :)

again, many thanks

bob:)
 
No worries Bob, the technical explanation is that the softness is due to the antialiasing filter that sits up front of the sensor. The camera is a clever little box of tricks and sort this out in JPEG but because it's RAW expects you to sort it out by applying the amount of sharpening you choose. :)
 
This is an excellent case for not shooting RAW. Crikey!!! let the camera do the work. The latest SLR's can do in seconds,,, manipulations that would take you ages to complete in RAW..... Unless you are shooting professionally, and need to control all aspects of your pictures,,, for weddings,,, glamour,,, and such,,, shooting RAW is a waste of time.
Ok,,,, you may be able to bring back from the brink,,,, shots that you have over-exposed or under-exposed. I would try to get this right when the pic is taken,,,, that is a good discipline. My advice is,,, let the camera do the work, and don't spend your valuable snapping time on your bum,,, in front of a computer.
 
Not really Frankie, it's just another thing that you have control over afterwards in RAW. In JPEG you let the camera do it and if it's not right...in many cases...tough!

I do however wholeheartedly agree that there are times to shoot JPEG and times to shoot RAW.

On one training day my instructor started the day's shoot with "Shoot JPEG. Manual and I don't want to see any flip ups with exposure....Get it right!" OK, that was fun! :)
 
Nothing like getting it right first time,,,. It's 'hours on bums' i'm on about.:)
 
Tell me about it, I'm shooting a civil partnership tomorrow ;)

and I have an all day shoot on wednesday.

I regularly have 1000 images to sort and edit.
 
yeah, i agree jpeg is the way... just was a good meeting and wanted to make sure i got some good shots so thought would give RAW a go...

every thing has its place... just working out what and when! :)

cheers

bob :)
 
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