Should I shoot in raw?

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jambogaz

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No
If yes, why?
And what should I use to view,convert ect ect ?
 
If you are shooting sports you may want to use fast continuous shutter option, i' would do test exposures/get them right and use jpeg for quicker write speed to the card, not filling up the camera buffer too much with large Raw files.
You can always tweak jpegs a little afterwards in Photoshop.
 
Am replying from my phone so can't link to the tutorial section but simply put yes.

Raw will give you more flexibility and allow you to save some of those near misses and a better chance to correct those White balances which weren't quite right.

For processing canon comes with dpp or photoshop can open raw images, along with many others, whichever your more comfortable with.
 
With sports I have been doing jpeg only lately and find it far better, as said, setup in camera and you can make slight adjustments in your editing software (lightroom for me) once done
 
No need at all to shoot RAW, you only really need to do basic editing in sports photography and a JPEG is fine. RAW will also slow down your camera's FPS (and your processing) significantly, and that isn't good.
 
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No, it will only slow your frame rate, slow how long it takes to upload to laptop and slow your posr processing, sports shooters usually need a very quick turn round so RAW is a no, no.
 
Another one for NOT shooting RAW in sports..
 
Funnily enough - I don't mind shooting RAW and I do sports all the time.
One reason why I like it is that I need to shoot in some very challenging conditions with the basketball - and I like the little extra play-room that RAW gives me.
And personally I don't think it really adds steps to my 'editing' ...
Dragging the pics from memory card takes a minute or two (for 4GB card) - browse through in PhotoMechanic... open in CS4.. tweak the contrast (mostly the only thing I do) open image.. crop if needed and 'bob's your uncle'.

And for me it has come handy few times that I have the RAW files - due to that some of my images have chosen over others when client has needed something more specific..

Having said all that - I do understand the majority view and would maybe even suggest you go with JPEG instead of RAW...

WHat works for 99 people out of 100 - might not work for that 1 remaining person....
 
I guess I'm also one of the few that always shoots RAW for sports.
 
As stated above, it comes down to the sport!
I shoot point-to-point racing so need a fast continuous shutter, on my D90 its not fantastically quick but obviously shooting raw+jpg fills the buffer a lot quicker!

If its a race with a big field I tend to switch to jpg only to make sure I get a shot of the majority of riders, if the field is smaller or a nicely spread out I ALWAYS shoot raw+jpg as it does give you that extra bit of flexibility as previously stated!
 
I suppose the answer is it depends on your sport,workflow and equipment. For the paper based people then it's all about speed so smaller filesize is important, and they've probably got the better kit/experience so don't make as many mistakes. With the smaller filesize it's quicker to load, edit, ftp upload.

I don't spray and pray (much) and can get 10-12 raw shots into the buffer before my 50D starts to pause and it's very rarely I ever hit that, 1Dmk4 can do 28 raw (or 121 jpegs) in its buffer. I have time to deliver to websites plus any shots I sell are generally printed, so Im, probably the worse case. I shoot Raw and small jpeg, raw for processing, small jpeg just for instant(ish) loading into the ipad on site.
 
i use RAW for sports, but i dont machine gun the shutter so dont need FPS. generally i have 24 hours to get shots online too.

but as above it will vary according to your needs, there is no "right" answer.
 
I shoot RAW at the moment and PP in Lightroom 3. You should shoot whatever your most comfortable with, at the end of the day it's your time and your pictures.
 
I'm another who uses RAW. But I have no deadline and my D300s seems to shoot fast enough with RAW for what I need.

Only real advantage for me is it seems to give me slightly better control in post for floodlights or harsh sun light.

Personally Id suggest trying both and seeing what works for you? (just incase you're in the strange group that shoot sports in RAW)
 
What size RAW files are you guys shooting for sport ?

I personally shoot JPG but I use two cards the CF is on Large JPG and the SD card is on either Small or Medium JPG. I think the large JPG's are in the order of 10Meg files and the smaller JPG's on the SD card are 1.5Meg and the Medium setting is approx 4 Meg. The write speed of the SD card is slower than the CF's I am using, hence the smaller files size choice
.

I have a feeling the guys who are saying dont use RAW is because they have to wire images in quickly to picture desks and the larger RAW images take just too long to import and then edit.

I think if smaller RAW files are used, then it does allow slightly more latitude if exposure errors are made during capture.

I will stick to JJPG's for now. Very interesting thread though.
 
I've just done a search for threads about RAW and sports, and got side tracked by the 'last' Soccersnapper thread. :eek: Don't know how I missed that, as I pop in most days. :shrug: :lol: Very interesting, though I didn't know the full background to the thread. :)

Anyway, the reason I was searching. I thought I'd seen a thread where some of the Pro's had said that they shoot Jpeg, and so assumed that all Pro's did that. :shrug: As has been said in this thread, and in similar threads, for the speed, either in capture, editing, or data transfer. I know not everyone does everything the same, but still, I thought that was 'what the Pro's did'.

I was surprised then when I read in this months Digital SLR Photography magazine that Pro Photographer Richard Pelham shoots in RAW. :eek:

I always shoot RAW, even for sports, so it is nice to see that I'm not the only one going against the perceived wisdom for sports pics. ;) :lol:
 
It seems to be quite simple and self explanatory in my mind. RAW is the medium for greater control and best quality of the final image. Jpeg gives reasonable/good images at speed. So take your pick, what suits the situation and your needs best? Use this formula whether it's sports or anything else.
 
I shoot jpg 95% of the time for the reasons stated above but if I'm not confident on the white balance and it's coming out totally wrong on the screen, I'll switch to RAW. Trouble is importing into Lightroom, it seems to throw in some adjustments into the RAW files on import that totally changes the photo (for worse)
 
Why not shoot both? Then you have the jpeg for immediate use - if you have to send for publication for next days papers or whatever - and RAW to fine tune for less urgent - particulary if you are shooting under mixed lighting (shade and sun or a later game where floodlights start to kick in)
 
RAW + JPG slows things down further.

I tend to shoot JPG and try to get it right in camera. RAW adds a layer of slowness and storage implications which aren't necessary for sports photography. For other genres of photography, then yes.
 
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