saltysarge

Can some give me a SIMPLE explanation between JPEG and RAW?

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

RAW is a file that includes ALL the data the camera can capture. JPEG is a smart and clever compression of that same data to a smaller file with only the important parts. In most cases you probably can't see the difference. Usually the RAW will give you more latitude for processing in your computer.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

A RAW image is what the camera captures. A JPG, the camera captures the RAW image and then converts it into a JPG, The camera does the
conversion, changes colors and brightness etc as it see fit. Then sends the JPG to the card . The camera always shoots in RAW mode but it saves it the way you tell it to save it, in this case a JPG.

tusketwedge Loc: Nova Scotia Canada

Raw has to be processed by a program, most used is PS. Jpeg is an image that has been processed in camera ,discarding what it things is not important. So do you want to have control over what your Image is to look like, or are you one to let camera do it for you ?

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

One very important consideration is that JPG is standardized and universal - whereas, every manufacturer has their own idea of how RAW should be interpolated - so you need special softwares to handle it - along with time and LOTS of memory and computer power.

saltysarge

Thanks so much.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

BTW, you can also post process jpg's - you do not have to "take" what the camera gives you !

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

You ask for a simple explanation on UHH? ROTFLMAO!

JPEG is good enough for many purposes. JPEG is like eating at McDonald's, raw is like dining at Jules Verne.

https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/full-menu.html

http://www.lejulesverne-paris.com/en

Encore, une fois, peut t'être?

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

Can you give me a SIMPLE explanation between a finished cake (jpg) and the ingredients needed (raw) to bake it?

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

Raw is digital capture data. All cameras shoot raw, but not all cameras can deliver a raw file, leaving you with usually just one choice with some sub-choices - which would be a jpeg file. These can be fixed in size, regardless of the amount of data, or you can have them dynamically sized which will give you a relatively small file size if you shoot a scene with little detail, like a star-filled sky, or a larger file size when you shoot a forest.

The advantage of getting a raw file out of the camera is that you get to make the choices individually if you desire, for each and every image. While with jpeg, you direct the camera to make adjustments to the images before you take them - you can set the color space, saturation, contrast, sharpening, color temperature - but most cameras make it inconvenient to adjust these settings on the fly, so once you set the camera you are less likely to change these settings later.

A jpg is a camera's bit mapped interpretation of the image based on the settings you've made on your camera. The camera decides nothing - it's all you. The other thing that limits a jpg's usefulness is that once the camera has applied your settings, it will discard anything that was not used to make the image. Adjusting white and color balance, contrast, sharpening, individual color saturation/luminace/hue, etc etc etc become more destructive the more you adjust them, to the extreme when you start getting banding and posterization. Luckily, most jpgs come out of the camera looking pretty good, and you can get away with little to no adjustments.

When you get a raw file out of a camera you can adjust all of the above, parametrically (globally iwithin the image) and individually for each image. If you have a group of photos that you'll need to apply the same adjustments to, you can copy the adjustment from one image to all the others with a couple of keystrokes. A color saturation setting that works for a flower may not work for a person's face. With jpeg you'd get one great result and possibly one mediocre result with a given in-camera setting. With raw, you can make a few simple adjustments to optimally reveal the best quality in each.

Raw processing is preferred by professionals because it is far faster and convenient than individually adjusting each image.

A raw workflow will start with the coarse, parametric adjustments being made to the raw file, then exported to a bit map or "pixel level" editor like Photoshop for very precise editing, and then exported as a jpeg once all the editing has been completed.

This is the short and simple answer to your question.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

A raw file contains a digitized version of EVERYTHING the sensor saw. ALL other image file formats are CONVERSIONS of that raw data, including the ones you view on a computer monitor or the back of your camera. You can create JPEGs in the camera, OR in post-processing software.

Therein lies the rub... Raw files are completely proprietary. No two camera manufacturers use the same raw file format. So all conversion programs must be equipped with a "raw profile" that describes each camera model's file format, and what's in it (usually the raw data, EXIF data (metadata, or data about data), and a preview JPEG (used to display the image on the camera LCD, AND, in some operating systems). That raw profile also tells the software the parameters of the hardware, such as color response gamut.

JPEG is an international standard image file format that has been around for decades. It is a format that uses lossy compression to make the file size smaller, so the file can be sent quickly over the Internet, LAN, or other network, and so it doesn't take up a lot of storage space. Nearly all cameras, photo labs, and software can deal with JPEGs. When used intelligently, JPEGs can result in extremely high quality images. But when compressed too much, or saved and re-saved multiple times, the quality deteriorates rapidly.

Again, raw is proprietary. It must be read and converted to an image in software. The result can be exported as TIFF, PNG, JPEG, BMP, or any standard image file format supported by the raw processor. When a raw file is opened, the software either applies the menu settings used by the camera to make the preview JPEG, OR software defaults, OR YOUR defaults, if you have entered them into the software. You can get infinite different "looks" from the same raw file!

Before a camera saves a JPEG, it creates a bitmap image, processed with the parameters you set in the camera's menus (Picture Style, Hue, Contrast, Color Tone, Sharpness, White Balance, and many more, depending on the camera). Then it converts the color of the image from the raw format to either sRGB (recommended for most uses) or Adobe RGB (for specialized, high-end uses only). It also converts it from the 14-bit or 12-bit sensor data to 8-bit data. Then, it compresses the file using the menu specifications you set for your JPEG output. Finally, of course, it saves the file.

Along the way, a lot of information that was present in the raw file is discarded. If you want to edit the color, brightness, white balance, or other parameters of the image at a later date, you have MUCH LESS to work with at that time.

The exact same thing happens in a software raw converter, but the difference is, you never actually change the raw file itself! You always export a copy of that data that has been converted to an image and processed. If there is an option to "save" a raw image, it is only saving a sidecar "recipe" for the conversion you've done. The raw data remains intact. Opening the image again opens the sidecar information, processes the raw data again, and displays it once again.

JPEG can be thought of as an image distribution file format. Raw is like a color negative... All the potential is still there. (But it's better, because dyes in negatives fade pretty rapidly! Numbers don't change.)

You CAN post-process JPEG images. But you have MUCH LESS LATITUDE to do so. So unless you really know your camera well, and want to use the discipline it takes at the camera to get the exposure perfect, the white balance just the way you want it, and all the other image quality parameters just the way you want THEM, it is much easier to save raw files and tweak the results in post-production. The down side of that is that you MUST do post-production (at least a default image file format conversion).

If you MUST edit a JPEG that is really important, consider doing this, an old trick from my days working in a lab with 100% JPEG workflow:

Open the JPEG in an advanced editor.
Convert the JPEG to a 16-bit TIFF file.
Convert the sRGB or Adobe RGB profile to ProPhoto RGB profile, if that is your working profile
Edit the file's image quality parameters, saving the TIFF in a lossless format (no compression, or LZW compression) as needed.
Retouch, add layers, add text, and do whatever other image manipulation you need to do, while the image is still a TIFF.
When you're done with everything, save the TIFF.
Convert the TIFF back to sRGB profile, then back to 8-bits.
Finally, save the file as a JPEG, at a high quality (minimal compression) setting.

Conversion to 16-bits adds NOTHING. But it makes *adjustments* smoother. Try it.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

Raw is all the data - jpg is what your camera manufacturer thinks is sufficient to use. Raw is specific to your camera model as well as manufacturer so the latest camera may not be 'listed' in editing programmes for a while. Jpg is a standardised file format.

There are lots of programmes that can read and manipulate Raw ! However Raw has to be converted in order to use layers etc in PSE, PS or Gimp.

If your camera can take Raw it can cost you nothing to try it out using a free raw pp program such as Irfan View. Equally, your camera software will also offer some Raw processing and options of file types to save 'your changes'.

For those wishing to PP to its fullest extent Raw is the preferred 'starting point'. For those happy with minimal PP Jpg is adequate. Depending on how far you want to work on your photographs 'outside of the camera' the choice is yours.

Have fun

Rongnongno Loc: FL

A single word:

Potential.

One has it, the other does not.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Concise and on target. Well said, Monsieur!

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Exactement mon ami.

To further complicate matters, think of it this way: RAW is a digital negative, with all the information captured that your camera's sensor possibly can. And, it takes no more "computing power" to convert and open RAW images than it does JPG. A JPG is a distillation of that RAW image into a more simplified format. Yes you can still post process a JPG, but you're starting behind the curve.

Personally, I shot JPGs for years, and knowing what I know today about RAW, I wish I could go back to all those great places and capture the images over again.