External portable Hard drive: I want to know if I use a "External portable Hard drive" with my Chromebook 15 Laptop computer, may I use it exclusively for RAW images storage only? I do...

Silverman Loc: Michigan

I want to know if I use a "External portable Hard drive" with my Chromebook 15 Laptop computer, may I use it exclusively for RAW images storage only?
I do not want to mix any JPEG files I may create, in with RAW files.
Will I need to create all my RAW images on a separate 64gb Memory card and not combine any JPEG files on the same card?
I am a relative NEWBIE of approximately 3 years in Digital Photography, have NEVER created RAW images on my Nikon D3300, just apprehensive about RAW, not knowledgeable concerning RAW PHOTOGRAPHY.
Hopefully my questions make sense.
Looking forward to hearing and learning from other more skilled and experienced Photographers here at UHH.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Sure you can. It's just up to you to be diligent enough to copy them over once you have them transferred to the computer. Are you planning on using this drive for archive/backup or as a working drive?
--Bob

Silverman wrote:

I want to know if I use a "External portable ... (show quote)

Bison Bud

Raw is nothing but the unprocessed data straight from the camera's sensor, which allows you more flexibility and capability to edit them yourself. There is nothing to fear, but you will need to edit and convert them to use them normally and/or send them to friends and some viewers will not display RAW files anyway. Yes, you can keep them separate and on an external drive, but it might be a better option to keep them together with the .JPEGs so they can be readily viewed in Windows, etc. and still be able to edit the Raw File if needed.

Silverman Loc: Michigan

rmalarz wrote:

Sure you can. It's just up to you to be diligent enough to copy them over once you have them transferred to the computer. Are you planning on using this drive for archive/backup or as a working drive?
--Bob

A Archive/Backup, but also want to be able to retrieve a particular image and be able to "Post-Process" or "Edit" the image, then be able to make a Print of the Final edited image. ( Does this make sense?)

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

It makes perfectly good sense. All you'd have to do is copy the file from the external drive to a directory on your computer. Name that directory something sensible, such as working files, Now once you work on that RAW file in your working directory, there is going to be created a sidecar file that lets your processing software know how to make that file appear. This is a record of your RAW processor settings. From there you save your final work and then save your final work as a jpg.

I use Photoshop. So, I'll save a completely processed image as a psd file. Then, I'll save it as a jpg. That way if I want to go back to what I did and change some of the processing settings, I can. I hope this makes sense.
--Bob

Silverman wrote:

A Archive/Backup, but also want to be able to retrieve a particular image and be able to "Post-Process" or "Edit" the image, then be able to make a Print of the Final edited image. ( Does this make sense?)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

You can select Raw+JPG and save both kinds on the same card. That will make it easy to separate them later. Of course, you will need enough storage space on the card.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Silverman wrote:

I want to know if I use a "External portable ... (show quote)

There is not a month goes by that I don't get a customer in my store complaining that their images always look "soft" or "flat". Almost every conversation reveals they are shooting in RAW because they saw on the internet thats "the ONLY WAY to get great images". Then I find out they are simply converting those RAW files to JPG files without processing.
RAW files MUST BE DILIGENTLY PROCESSED in order to produce nice bright, sharp, colorful images! PERIOD!
Failure to spend the time needed to properly process those RAWs will never produce acceptable images that are anywhere nearly as nice as the cameras own processed JPG images. Simply "converting" to JPG is never acceptable if you ever want GOOD images.
I always advise customers to ignore RAW until they are of an experience level to understand the demands and requirements of turning that RAW data into a proper image. Otherwise you will never be happy with the results.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I tried separating RAW and JPEG. It didn't last long.
Since I don't edit every image until I want to use it,
I found that having them in separate places was a pain in the butt
since I normally review JPEGS in Windows Explorer to see what I want to edit.
Having them in separate places required a duplicate directory structure for me also.
They're all back together now.

Silverman Loc: Michigan

rmalarz wrote:

It makes perfectly good sense. All you'd have to d... (show quote)

I am Sorry, No this has got me all discombobulated, I am not a Tecky, so at 68 years old, I am finding Digital Photography Photo Processing RAW images very difficult to comprehend and follow the excellent advice and suggestions I have read here at UHH. I am very apprehensive about RAW image processing. I do understand the concept of the RAW IMAGES containing more image information or data, and I really need to learn and totally Understand this whole Process of RAW PHOTOGRAPHY. Everyone, please have Patience with this, Non-technical Photographer, trying to understand it all. Thanks

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Silverman wrote:

I am Sorry, No this has got me all discombobulated... (show quote)

RAW processing is easy, try not to be intimidated. You just have a different set of adjustment sliders to work with. Typically more options. Once you do it a few times you'll get the hang of it. I just adjust the sliders the way I want them and then <in the editor I use> convert & save as a JPEG.
(I'm 67½)

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Silverman wrote:

I want to know if I use a "External portable ... (show quote)

I shoot RAW and JPEG in case I need to do a quick turn around for some reason. However, I rarely save the SOOC JPEGs separately since they are already embedded in the RAW file.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Longshadow wrote:

RAW processing is easy, try not to be intimidated. You just have a different set of adjustment sliders to work with. Typically more options. Once you do it a few times you'll get the hang of it. I just adjust the sliders the way I want them and then <in the editor I use> convert & save as a JPEG.
(I'm 67½)

JD750 Loc: SoCal

MT Shooter wrote:

There is not a month goes by that I don't get a cu... (show quote)

That is the best advice I have seen here regarding raw vs jpeg. Hear hear!

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Silverman wrote:

I am Sorry, No this has got me all discombobulated... (show quote)

Please read Mt Shooter’s post above. It is sage advice.

Please understand that if you shoot raw and simply save it, the results will not be as good as the camera JPEG. You have to process the raw file to reap the benefits. You also have to create a JPEG or TIFF to share or print. Raw fines are not easily shared.

If you wish to learn how to process raw fines I suggest you shoot both raw + JPEG then practice processing the raw while comparing it to the JPEG.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Silverman wrote:

I want to know if I use a "External portable ... (show quote)

Well, its up to you what you want to put on your drive and what not! Nobedy forces you to do different!