julian.gang

Is there really anything wrong with a picture taken with a JPEG camera converted to TIFF?...Julian

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Nope! That's assuming exposure and focus are right on.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

What is important; does it make you happy? If you find the Jpeg output satifies, and as Jerry said focus/exposure are on the mark, No, nothing wrong at all. If you did decide to PP, you would be limited in adjustments, but could still accomplish some changes. The file sizes sure are much easier to work with!!

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

You have to define "wrong" for you. For me, I don't like the camera making a lot of creative decisions for me including things like white point, contrast, whether to blow out the highlights or shadows, and sharpening. I also don't like the lossy data compression scheme they use and certainly don't like having my pixels truncated down to 8 bits per color.

I think of it this way, If I want, I can make a jpg in post to match the one that comes out of the camera, but I can never get the original raw file back. The raw file gives me much more flexibility in post.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

"Wrong" is relative, just ask a perfectionist.

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

There is nothing "wrong" with an image recorded as a jpeg in the camera. There are some outstanding examples of camera generated jpegs all over the place. But when you start to push the limits of a camera's capability, raw files give you a lot more to work with.

There is no benefit to converting a jpeg to tiff (or psd) other than being able to use layers when editing. Jpegs cannot do layers. Editing a jpeg in Photoshop will open it as a psd by default or a tiff if you want. Saving that file as a jpeg will flatten it losing all the layer structure.

ronpier Loc: Poland Ohio

Nothing wrong. To each his own. I shoot JPEG and am very satisfied with the results and have not been kicked off the UHH site. Others prefer RAW or TIFF. If it makes you happy.....that’s all that matters.

bleirer

To make a jpeg, your camera starts with the raw data from the exposure then applies your various settings for sharpness, saturation, white balance, and on and on, and then converts it all to a jpeg and throws away the raw data. So it is fine as long as you don't want to make many changes later. You still can make some changes later, just more limited and maybe more difficult.

To make a raw file your camera stores the raw data and camera setting information so you can change settings as many times as you wish, then export a jpeg or any other file type.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I have a simple solution. I am shooting just about every assignment in both modes Jpeg and RAW. Sure, I get fewer shots on every card but I have dozens of cards!

It's a habit I carried over from the film days. I employed the zone system and later on the Chroma-Zone system for many years. This required intentional under and overexposure and manipulated processing. When I used to shoot every job in large format I could mark the film holder accordingly. With roll film and 35mmm work, I used to use multiple cameras. Nowadays it's easy, I shot in both modes and I have an instantly usable shot that I can transmit to clients even from the location or site I am workg on and I have a RAW file if I need to do any more complex post-processing work.

Jpeg files can still be manipulated and corrected in post-processing but not to the same extent. If I use auto-bracketing, I can have files to the right and the left and process away.

Back in the day, I would no go out on a job with one to two rolls of film, nor do I go out with one or two cards- a pocket full is more like it!

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

When I got my first DSLR I shot jpg for about a year. It was what I knew.

Eventually I screwed up and changed a setting but forgot to change it back. White balance was all wrong. And the photos I took were important and nonrepeatable. It took me a couple hours to get things looking reasonable (never got them looking good) but I was still learning postprocessing and had limited tools available. But from that point on, I shot raw.

When I was shooting jpg, the photos were just fine most of the time. There was nothing wrong with them. I started to shoot raw+jpg as insurance just in case I screwed up again.

When I got more than 10,000 photos in my photopile I was having trouble finding things. Since I had started to use Lightroom as an editor, I started to also use it as an organizer for my photos. Now everything goes into Lightroom. Everything. Using Lightroom I can find old photos in seconds. I can even find photos I forgot I took (something that occurs with increasing frequency at my age).

As long as I'm putting the images into Lightroom, there's no incentive for me to shoot jpg. I might just as well shoot raw. Lightroom doesn't care. And shooting raw gives me more leverage in the postprocessing. I usually don't really need it unless I screw up again, but the ability is there. As long as Lightroom is in the workflow, I just dropped the jpg from the shooting. I don't need instant results because my DSLR is not connected to social media except through my desktop or laptop, and I don't carry those around with me. Also, now that I have the Photography Package, it's easy to take an image and transmogrify it in Photoshop, then return it to Lightroom for the organization. Winwin for me.

repleo Loc: Boston

Nothing wrong with jpeg if you are happy with the results. I shot in jpeg only for years and couldn't see the point of RAW. However, now that I have learned some basic PP techniques - just use of sliders - I wish I could have all of those jpegs in RAW.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I hope there is nothing wrong with jpeg. That's all I shoot. I've never shot raw in my life. And I hate post processing! Lipstick on a pig! If I can't get it ROOC I don't spend hours hunched over the computer trying to fix it. I go back out and reshoot. I would much rather be out in the field shooting live! JMHO

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

Julian from your March 15, 2020 Post... " I am thinking about taking the digital photography course they have there at the museum of art. I am just wondering, is it worth the money to take this course?"

Julian maybe you should have taken this course... so you wouldn't have to post your query on .jpegs
Sorry I'm only the messenger here...

Bottom Line? If you are shooting for clients can you meet their expectations shooting in .jpeg format?
If so chill and continue on course... I actually have highly successful wedding shooter colleagues that shoot only .jpegs albeit they have fine tuned their camera's internal .jpeg processing to meet their needs (not a simple task btw).

Like most who have replied I shoot RAW and jpeg since memory is so cheap...
However I'm a portrait and fashion photographer and my clients can (and often are) rather demanding.

Final Note: If you post process in Photoshop you have the ability to convert the 8-bit jpeg to 16-bits... This is a godsend since it virtually tames the "banding" issue with editing in 8-bits...

For future posts you might share the genre you work in and if you are shooting commercially... That helps us in providing meaningfully guidance...

All the best on your journey Julian...
Have a joyful and safe Holiday Season,
And please lead in your community with safe Covid-19 practice by being a stellar example.

sueyeisert Loc: New Jersey

leftyD500 Loc: Ocala, Florida

Firstly, allow me to clarify, I am by no means a professional, nor an expert photographer. I am, at best, an avid hobbyist. But, I did get caught up in the thinking that I was good, I could sell my work, and people would flock my website to purchase my photos. I shot only in raw, and only in manual mode. But lately, I decided to let my camera store one image as a raw file on slot 1 card, and on slot 2 card, store it as a jpeg. Honestly, I cannot tell you the difference between the two, even after I post process. I am more proud of that shot that comes straight out of the camera, needing no further processing, IMHO, So, for me, I just go out and shoot, and enjoy my jpeg results. I say, do what makes you happy, to each his/her own.