fine, raw or jpeg: As a beginner photographer, what setting should you suggest I use, fine, raw or jpeg.

2CWorld

As a beginner photographer, what setting should you suggest I use, fine, raw or jpeg.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

First what camera are you using? Fine usually refers to fine JPEG. It's not really a separate type, just a higher resolution jpeg. Jpeg images are the finished product with in-camera settings such as contrast and sharpness added in, and contain a subset of all the shooting information . You can print, view, and give them to others to view.. in your case, at this time, fine JPEG is the best option for you. Raw images contain all the shooting information and are primarily intended for those who plan on performing post processing on their images in a program like Photoshop.

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

You can set your camera to raw and jpeg and fine all at once. If you plan to do Post Production on your pictures you would use the raw files, if you just want to post your shots use jpeg. Fine gives you the best pictures out of the camera. You can only use jpegs on this forum, so you have to convert
your pictures to jpegs to post them here.

WayneT Loc: Paris, TN

If you enjoy doing the post processing on your photos I'd stay with RAW. You can always change the format later. If you just want to point, shoot and use, than stay with jpeg. RAW will give you a lot more latitude in how you process your photo, with jpeg, even set to fine, you will be somewhat limited. You will still be able to work with the jpeg file in post without the full range of processing you can do with RAW.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

2CWorld wrote:

As a beginner photographer, what setting should you suggest I use, fine, raw or jpeg.

Talk about opening a can of worms!

The simplest way to do this is to shoot JPEG. You can still process the images, but they will be ready to go straight out of the camera, if necessary. If you shoot raw, you have to process them to make them look decent, especially the focus.

I process everything I use, so I always shoot raw, just to allow some leeway for processing. A raw file that wasn't exposed properly can easily be processed and saved, but in most cases, a good camera produces good results.

I don't have the links on this computer, but Google will offer you many articles on raw vs JPEG. One school of thought is for beginners to shoot JEPG, and the other (Fro Knows Photo) is for beginners to shoot raw.

https://www.slrlounge.com/workshop/dynamic-range-and-raw-vs-jpeg/
http://christinagreve.com/jpeg-raw-beginners-guide-start-shooting-raw-image-mode-easy/
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/41863226
https://www.google.com/search?q=beginners+shoot+raw+or+jpeg&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS729US729&oq=beginners+shoot+raw+or+jpeg&aqs=chrome..69i57.8311j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Rongnongno Loc: FL

jerryc41 wrote:

Talk about opening a can of worms! .../...

The worms here are not fit for bait. They are rotten.

As toanswering the op:
Shoot raw+JPG fine. Reason? JPG will be fine for a while then when you realize what raw can do for you will not kick your own ass for not having selected raw. So...

It is your decision. The rest is pure BS.

I suspect that this thread as being weird... You signed up in 2012!!! If you have not seen all the crap threads surrounding JPG/raw/PNG you have been sleeping.

chevman Loc: Matthews, North Carolina

ebbote wrote:

You can set your camera to raw and jpeg and fine all at once. If you plan to do Post Production on your pictures you would use the raw files, if you just want to post your shots use jpeg. Fine gives you the best pictures out of the camera. You can only use jpegs on this forum, so you have to convert
your pictures to jpegs to post them here.

“You can only use jpegs on this forum,..........”. Hey! I just got through looking at someone’s photos in an earlier post and they were .PNGs. What do you think? One time I clicked on a post and there were no thumb nails just the download link so I clicked it and got CR2s, ha ha ha! They actually looked fine, actually they looked good. They were probably adjusted and saved as a RAW file with adjustments.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

2CWorld wrote:

As a beginner photographer, what setting should you suggest I use, fine, raw or jpeg.

Linda,

You've been a member of this forum for five and a half years. Have you been using a camera so infrequently for all that time that you still consider yourself a beginning photographer? I have noted that almost all of your posts are from this year. I'm guessing you upgraded to a better camera.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Rongnongno wrote:

Shoot raw+JPG fine. Reason? JPG will be fine for a while then when you realize what raw can do for you will not kick your own ass for not having selected raw.

Yeah, but what I want to know is, does the OP drink Coke or Pepsi?

chevman Loc: Matthews, North Carolina

rgrenaderphoto wrote:

Yeah, but what I want to know is, does the OP drink Coke or Pepsi?

😜👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

It is a common statement that to post process you must use RAW. "Ain't so!" I process fine jpegs. There is an abundant amount of detail in fine, 'tho not as much as RAW, but enough for my purposes which is to document where I have been and what I saw. If I were going to sell photos, those I would shoot in RAW to be able to get the best possible. I just can't justify all the space needed in the camera and on my hard drive to keep so many RAW files. I usually keep all the photos I didn't delete at the time I took them, so there are many.

BebuLamar

I use uncompressed RAW+JPEG fine. I see no reason not to because the buffer is good enough for what I do and I never run out of buffer space and this is the only reason why I should use only JPEG. As far a memory card I don't care either because I never fill a 32GB for a shoot.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

2CWorld wrote:

As a beginner photographer, what setting should you suggest I use, fine, raw or jpeg.

You are talking about quality settings for in-camera jpegs, and whether or not you are keeping the raw files.

You did not include the size setting for jpegs, which many cameras offer - Small, Medium and Large, in addition to the quality settings of Basic (high compression of 1:16), Normal (medium compression of 1:8) and Fine (low compression of 1:4). Selecting one of these does NOTHING to change the resolution of the image. Only the file size and viewing quality is affected.

There are sometimes raw bit depth and compressed, non-compressed, and lossless compressed options.

I am not sure what being a beginning photographer has to do with choosing a quality setting for jpeg files. But being a beginner, you may want to start with just shooting raw files - since they are far easier to edit, and more forgiving of under exposure. Most cameras come with a raw editing software option, and there is always On1Raw, Photoshop/Lightroom, DXO, and my favorite - Capture One. Keep in mind that in most cases, raw converters do not produce finished images, but they come really close.

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Come on Jerry, lets keep it simple for the guy, he will learn all the rest as he goes along. I once posted a 45mp BMP shot here and got away with it, Ha Ha Ha.

chevman wrote:

“You can only use jpegs on this forum,..........”. Hey! I just got through looking at someone’s photos in an earlier post and they were .PNGs. What do you think? One time I clicked on a post and there were no thumb nails just the download link so I clicked it and got CR2s, ha ha ha! They actually looked fine, actually they looked good. They were probably adjusted and saved as a RAW file with adjustments.

LarryFitz Loc: Beacon NY

I suggest raw + Jpeg. But start slow, learn the camera first, then composition, last worry about post processing and Raw. Saving RAW today will allow you to reprocess your image a year from now.