Cornman Loc: Grand Rapids, Michigan

To all you Hogs, and Hogettes, a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, and a Happy New Year. I have not posted any shots in a while, and have been silent, but have a burning question. I shoot with a Nikon D800 and just love it. Recently went thru a divorce, bought a new condo that I renovated, and had a few of my shots blown up for the walls. I took the files to a lab here, they use the JPEG versions, didn't touch the Raw files, and when I got them back (30 inches by 40 inches in size), they were stunning and I have gotten numerous complements on them, printed on both metal and canvas. So why should I be shooting in Raw and JPEG again? Please help me understand, I don't think I will shoot in Raw again, please help me understand. Thank you.

moonhawk Loc: Land of Enchantment

There's absolutely no reason that you should as long as you're happy turning all the creative decision making processes over to your camera and the people in your local lab, and if you have no desire to expand your own knowledge and involvement with your own photography.

Bozsik Loc: Orangevale, California

If you are happy with what you are getting, keep shooting in jpg. Simple. And you have a wonderful Christmas as well. Hope we can see some of the wonderful shots you have been taking recntly.

photoshack Loc: Irvine, CA

Depending on the situation, the camera jpg conversion (which is what it is doing; it starts raw and "decides" how to process that image) can be terrible.

Sometimes too much noise reduction, sometimes too much saturation.

If you really are uncomfortable "developing" your own images in software, then you have to accept the faults that come with the jpg your camera converts. I like the combination if your camera supports it (jpg + RAW)...that way you get your super saturated landscape shots right out of the camera and can use them if you want.

Weddingguy Loc: British Columbia - Canada

If you do not understand the advantages of RAW . . . or do not have the post processing abilities to take advantage of of the RAW files . . . then you are quite right to be shooting JPG only.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Take your D800 out on a bright day. Shoot both RAW and JPEG of some scenes with deep dark and burning bright areas. Put them in Lightroom and play with four sliders, Exposure, Contrast, Highlights and Shadows. Do it again at sunrise or sunset.

If you like the JPEGs better, do it that way.

My wife shoots JPEGs with a Panasonic camera that has a setting called "Happy Color". (Really!). She gets more than her share of "wall hangers".

My son gets glorious JPEG results. He uses a damned smartphone and pays no attention to my advice.

Getting great prints comes from your brain, not your file format choice.

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

Cornman,

Let us address your last question first, shooting RAW +jpg. A primary reason for shooting both is to enable you to compare both types of processing. Your limitations in processing a .jpg image, the limitations the camera produces when it saves the capture to a .jpg image file.

If you are happy with what your camera provides in .jpg, and print the original .jpg image with no processing from you, then do nothing and accept all the defaults from your camera. On the other hand, if you believe you need to use some Post Processing (PP) on your computer to set the physical size for printing, (resize), cropping, sharpening, modifying the brightness/contrast ratio, Chroma intensity, etc., then you might consider PP the RAW file to see what you can do in your photographic creativity.

By exploring both options, you can learn the advantages and disadvantages of both options, and make the best decisions for your style of photography.

RAW captures provide the widest range of exposure capture possible with your camera. JPG captures are faster, and require far less time on the computer for making a printable image.

The choice is yours, and only you can decide which method is right for you. You can only make that informed decision if you try both.

Michael G

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

These guys are missing the important point. How did you go through a divorce and still be able to afford a 30 X 40 print? :shock:

I used to always shoot RAW plus jpeg, but the file sizes with the D800 has me rethinking that - big files, more storage, slower downloads, buffer fills quicker, slower post processing, etc.

If you're getting good shots, you can still do quite a lot of adjustment to jpeg's.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

(1) Sorry to hear about your divorce.

(2) I just answered this question in another thread. Check out http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-269567-2.html#4544247

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

JPEGS can be very nice.

topcat Loc: Alameda, CA

That is the truth. If you are not processing your images, you don't need to shoot raw. But if you like to play with your images, then RAW is the way to go.

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

There is no reason to shoot both. For me I shoot RAW and have a Lightroom import that begins the processing by adding the same JPEG settings the camera would. In this way I start with the RAW file processed like a JPEG, but have a much greater dynamic range. Now you have the best of both worlds, a RAW file that was processed exactly like the camera would do to create a JPEG. IN fact if you were to shoot with my process in RAW + JPEG used the import preset to import only the RAW's, then imported the JPEG's separately, you would not be able to tell one was RAW and one was JPEG.

At least now I have the option of processing more out of that RAW file. In fact my processing rarely stops with the import preset.

The entire purpose of a D800 is to get those extra MP's and dynamic range. Kind of a waste of money to shoot in JPEG with a D800.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Simply put.....If you have to ask that question, then you shouldn't be shooting RAW at all.

Cornman Loc: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Thanks to all of you for your input, I am going to change and shoot JPEG only, I do not like to sit in front of a computer, and the Lab I use has a wonderful young lady who does all the post processing for my pictures I am printing, for free!! I would much rather be in the field shooting, and if I can figure out why my images won't copy to the Hog, I will send them to you so you can see them!! Thanks again, JPEG forever!! (well, at least for now!!)

Nikon_DonB Loc: Chicago

My daughter does the same with her iPhone. Drives me Nuts!