RAW - where can I find out about it - beginners question !

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stevewestern

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OK, I know that it means no processing in-camera, and is meant to give better results than jpeg, but thats about all. Where can I find out all about it, and why I would want to spend many hours on the computer learning about it and photoshop (which I don't have - I have been using ACDSee, and can't process RAW images?
Sorry if it too stupid a question, but even I don't know everything....
Cheers
Steve
 
Shooting in RAW means that you can adjust the exposure levels on the PC rather than in the camera before every shot. It means you can be lazy on the day but means more work in the processing stages. Shooting in RAW also means you can combine different exposures of the same shot to create dramatic HDR effects and lighting.

If you like fiddling with your photos shoot in RAW, if you don't you might as well shoot in JPEG.
 
Many thanks - I am reading and trying to digest this and a thread I have found here by Old Git - I must spend more time searching before asking - my excuse is that we have very slow internet connection here, and asking is a lazy way to save me time !!
 
Next silly question - how long might you spend on an image - lets say I take 20 shots of my kids, and just want to show them to family friends etc - is it a 2 minute job per image, or 10 seconds each. I know it depends on what you are doing, but just simple snaps in this case..
 
In addition to what BBW said (and what Ken says in that article).

RAW is perfect for those that want to tweak their photos after the shoot. Many people see this as an excuse for poor technical skill in the field because it can be repaired on the computer. It's also easy for beginners to repair poor shots and make them look fantastic.

I've been striving to improve my technical skill recently and I've been trying to achieve better shots in-camera so as to not have to do as much editing on the computer.

However, I still like to tweak my images on LR and PS after the shoot. I'm a big fan of the cross-processing colour effects that can't be achieved in-camera.

*Edit*
Just to answer your second question:
It depends on how good the shot was to begin with. As I was saying before, I've been trying to make my out of camera shots better so they need less editing with other software. One of the good things about Lightroom is that once you've applied your changes to one image, you can make the same changes to all the other photos in that set with the click of a button with a batch command. It really depends how much control you want over each individual shot.

I've been known to take an hour perfecting a single image (but then it was pretty poor to start with and needed a lot of recovery) having said that, I might also take 2 minutes to auto level and add a boarder...


Panzer
 
I shoot almost entirely Jpegs, say 90/10 in favour of Jpegs.

I'm an 'older' person, who has shot film for over 40 years, and so I'm in the habit of setting up a shot manually. It feels right for me.

I'm not against RAW, I'll be the first to admit that it has it's benefits, but it is a means to an end, rather than an end in it'self.

I use Photoshop now, more than I used to, and it can be quite useful. That said, you don't have to shoot RAW to use it. I can quite happily adjust all the necessary parameters in PS, ie, exposure, white balance, sharpness, levels/curves, brightness, saturation, ad nauseum, with my Jpegs. It's not easier, or more difficult, even, it's just that you have a wee bit more latitude with RAW captures.

I have to say this - If I had a really important shoot, I would shoot a copy of both RAW and jpg, and I'd bracket exposure as well, just to be on the safe side.

Digital film is very cheap these days!!:D

Good luck.
 
Doug,
I too used film for many years, but for the last 6 or so, have used digital compacts, then a Canon 300d. This has all contributed to me getting lazy, forgetting all the hard learned lessons, and now I am making lots of silly mistakes (such as setting the camera for minus 2 stops, taking my pictures, and next time, forgetting to re-set things, resulting in lost or badly exposed pictures.. This makes RAW seem like a good idea, but as has been said, is no substitute for good technique (given that, for me, not being a pro, any lost images ought to be a lesson, not a lost pay packet..)
I am working on getting better at camera technique, and with the new gear and revived interest, hope to be more focused, and I have lots of other time consuming things, like kids and music, as well as a wife and work, so time on the computer tweaking needs to be kept at a minimum, thus making jpegs appealing.
Guess I should try some RAW stuff, and take it from there. Now, you saw you might shoot in both RAW and jpeg - not all cameras will do that - I have a 300d at present, and am hoping to get a 30d soon - will the 30d do that anyone ? (I will have a play, but assume the 300d won't)
Lastly, thanks to all for the help given so rapidly !
Steve
 
The 300D has a jpeg embedded within the RAW, this can be extracted with the canon software
 
If you search my old posts to the forum I was a jpegs are fine person originally - but I have been converted and shoot RAW only now.

You can spend as little or as much time as you like processing but you will nearly always get a better result and certainly have more options. As to time taken I'd expect to spend 2 or 3 hours to do 400 odd pictures with rawshooter.

I recently downloaded the free Picasa2 from Google and was surprised how easily it handled RAWs. Not a tool of choice for me but it might be an easy introduction.

I expect the also free but now discontinued rawshooter essentials can still be downloaded somewhere. It has a good help file and will soon show you what RAW can do.
 
Susane,
Thanks for that - I have downloaded it and taken a few pictures in rAW to try out. First impressions are that everything is much sharper than in jpeg..
I guess there is a learning curve ahead of me - any pointers towards tutorials, or should I read the user guide ?
I took a few pictures either under-exposing by 2 stops or over-exposing by 2 stops, and will see if I have that much room for mistakes - better get on now - no rest for the wicked, and even less for the rightious, as they say - not too sure where I fit in then...
 
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