bioteacher Loc: Brooklyn, NY

You also need a card rated 6 or above to take video.

Hunter Lou 1947 Loc: Minnesota

Anyone out there please help me. If I have, say Photo Shop program and don't shoot in the Raw with my point and shoot SX40 can I still use Photo Shop or any other program to adjust a picture I have taken? Maybe I've missed something along the line.

Hunter Lou 1947 Loc: Minnesota

Can anyone out here help me? If I'm using a point and shoot SX40 which is not in "Raw" can I still adjust the pic in say PhotoShop or any other program?

steinr98

You can use any Photo Processing program to post process a photo file. They range greatly in price from free(Picasa- to PhotoShop) There is no need to purchase a PhotoShop program at $699 until you master the process. I feel the greatest share of us use PhotoShop Elements (Amazon is about $79 bucks). Everyone has their favorites!! Just be sure to use one of the more popular programs as if you have questions, someone can help you!!!

Hunter Lou 1947 Loc: Minnesota

Thanks very much. I mainly asked the question because there was some discussion on how to save a pic and if you did not do it correctly you lose the available function to edit.

tsomes Loc: Fargo ND

Photo-Al: your avatar made me not only LOL, but a good belly laugh at that. Very good, and thanks for the uplifting moment.

MtnMan Loc: ID

From what I have learned so far the only additional editing functionality you get with RAW files is that it is easy to adjust the white balance.

The down side is that if you want to get pictures that look nice you have to do manually the things your camera automatically does for you when creating jpegs, including making color adjustments for white balance, adjusting saturation and hue, adjusting contrast and sharpening.

The latter are called "Picture Controls" by Nikon and are user adjustable in your camera. You can use pre-selected ones (e.g. Standard, Vivid) and you make custom ones that will do it the same to all your pics when you have set the camera to use that control setting.

Some will say that adjusting those things manually after-the-fact on each photo is exactly why you should shoot RAW.

I have tried RAW for a while but rarely use it now. If I have an image that allows the time, is likely to be one time deal (e.g. on travel), and I expect I'll want to fiddle with a lot then I will shot RAW + jpeg Fine on it. I hardly ever do that any more...just shoot jpeg Fine.

Even though the RAW files are large that is not longer an issue with the large capacity cards. I use a 32 GB card.

I tried RAW + jpeg for a while but found having two files for every pic annoying.

brokeweb Loc: Philadelphia

The preview in your camera's lcd screen is in jpeg. I don't think it makes any sense to shoot in RAW+jpeg since your camera already embeds a jpeg thumbnail into the raw file.

I suggest that you shoot in bursts in raw. My camera only shoots 7 fps in RAW and it takes forever to write. It is something I have learned to live with and compensated for until I can justify the expense of a fast-writing camera.

I always shoot in burst mode...always.

CocoaRoger Loc: Cocoa Florida

In answer to your first two questions which have been answered yes, being that RAW is so much larger than Jpeg your burst speed will slow. When I shoot jpeg I can just keep it held down continuously but with RAW I have to pause after about 10 or so shots. But I've learned my way around that by pausing just enough while shooting at moments when I know those quick shots won't be acceptable. But it's something that needs to be learned. You'll look for moments when you won't want that shot and just back off knowing that you are allowing the buffer to catch up if even for a second. Maybe your shooting an air show and you know that jet is going to pass behind someones head or the announcers stand for just a split second so let up, let the buffer catch up a little and continue. I like shooting birds and butterflies and bees etc.. in flight but if I see it passing into shade or behind a tree, while it may only be for a second I pause maybe not long enough for it to completely catch up but it may allow 2 or 3 more photo's to be buffered and saved in that time and I can continue. It's just a learned thing but once you get into those situations and practice this you'll see what I mean. And yes, the transfer speed on your card helps too.

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

I shoot continuous when at the rodeo and shoot raw. The rodeos I go to are held in the evenings and after an hour I start to lose the light. Raw has its advantages in situations like this but...

Shooting raw continuous at 8 fps gives me less than 2 seconds before my camera starts to slow down. Many rides only last that long but on a full ride, 8 seconds, it can be frustrating at times. For the first time I am considering shooting jpg till I start to lose the light. This would increase my burst rate from 15 to 94 continuous shots, amost 12 seconds.

Shooting raw + jpg would only give me 6 continuous shots before slowing down, no good at all.

I should mention I shoot cards with 60 MB/second read/write speeds (400X).

Jim D

mountainman Loc: MOUNTAINS-NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA

I shot both the jpeg and raw on all my shots, and the
only draw back that some new photo shooters is that
each shot eats up a lot of memory. I use a 64 gb, class
10 card, and this overcomes most of that problem.

Photo-Al Loc: Sonoma County, CA

I really want to thank everyone for their comments and replies. This has been very helpful.

bawlmer Loc: Baltimore, MD

FWIW, I was at Staples yesterday, looking at SD cards. Their 32GB Class 10 cards are on sale for $39.99. And I wondered why so cheap? Then I noticed on the next hook down, they have these new UHS1 class cards, 32GB, 30MB/s transfer rate, $139.99

Photo-Al Loc: Sonoma County, CA

Dang it! I got all excited and looked at Staples here (Northern Calif) and the Kingston Class 10 32 MB card is $71.99. Must be a regional special.

bawlmer Loc: Baltimore, MD

The cards I was looking at were PNY.

http://www.staples.com/PNY-Professional-32GB-SD-SDHC-Class-10-Flash-Memory-Card/product_915098

Try this link.