gdotts

Never worked with RAW. Sideline football photographer 35 years. Going to do an Blue Angel's airshow and in RAW. Bought a new camera and lens just for the airshow, this time a NIKON!!.... D800 and a Sigma 150-600mm. I had for years shot football and I ran all Canon gear but got anamered with the Nikon colors and sharpening.

Now to the question Nikon D800 can shoot 36MP sized RAW files....What size Raw files should I shoot? I can do post and convert RAW to TIFF and resize but what RAW size to start with???

Thanks guys

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Just leave it at raw.
I do not know if D800 has compressed raw but do not compress.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

What’s the downside of compressed raw?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Don't confuse pixels with bytes. More pixels does typically mean more bytes of storage, but the relationship isn't a direct 1:1 relation, especially for a camera that can create 'compressed' RAW files, as well as varying the bit-depth of the files.

Your camera manual is a great source for technical details. Page 436 gives you the capacity estimates the various RAW settings available from this camera, options of 12- vs 14-bit and the type of compression used. Unfortunately, this older model lists example storage counts against an 8GB card type. If you use a 64GB card, you might generalize / round the statistics on page 436 to about 1000 RAW files per 64GB card.

If you want to maximize the data in the RAW and your investment in this body, you'd shoot in 14-bit. Alas, this also impacts how many images can be stored in the buffer for a multi-second burst you might perform at an airshow. Your editing software and computer also should be considered. Are you running industrial-strength software like the Adobe subscription?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I use a couple of D800s. I have them set to uncompressed RAW. Now, it would help if you let us know which processing program you use, as it may not be necessary to convert to tif.

I use Ps and open RAW files in ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) for my initial processing steps. Within ACR I can specify an output size. That size is brought into Ps for final processing and the photograph can be saved in Ps, if you wish to save layers, etc. or it can be saved straight away as a jpg file.
--Bob

R.G. Loc: Scotland

The size of the raw files is determined in-camera by the quality setting which should include Lossless Compressed as well as Uncompressed and Lossy compressed. It's generally accepted that Lossless Compressed is to all intents and purposes genuinely lossless, but you'll probably find that it affects the frames per second that the camera is capable of when using continuous shutter release. If bit depth is another choice you should choose the highest number that's available to you if image quality is your main concern. Compression and a low bit depth won't make a huge difference to file size, so if frame rate and image quality are priorities you should just stick with uncompressed and maximum bit depth.

Orphoto Loc: Oregon

Let's start from the beginning. The D800 can only shoot full sized RAW images, there is no option for small or medium raws. That means each raw image will utilize the full 36MP of the sensor.

Now the file sizes produced will vary whether or not you select any form of compression or 12/14 bit depth. I agree with RG that lossless compressed is the way to go. You don't sacrifice any quality. File sizes produced by 14 bit lossless compressed will vary based on the complexity of the image. Those with lots of sky compress somewhat more. Expect file sizes of from 40-45 megabytes per image with 14 bit.

Don't do tiffs. they just generate huge files.

If you see something like RAW/small, it means you are shooting RAW for one card and small JPGs on the other. That is a workflow question that has been addressed several times here in the archives.

TonyP Loc: New Zealand

Might also depend on what you are going to use the files for?

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

My D800 will produce raw files uncompressed or lossless compressed or compressed (with some loss). I generally use lossless compressed because the files are a bit smaller and the compression is reversible. The manual claims the compression is 20-40% and I have never tried to measure it.

The raw files will be your original files. I see no point in converting to tif unless your end use requires it. The only differences between a tif and a jpg are the compression of the jpg and the size of the tif. The compression of the jpg generally creates small effects that are not noticeable in 99% of applications as long as a reasonable compression level is used. The tif has all the data of the raw file baked into an image by applying the processing parameters, so you lose the advantage of the wide range of data available in the raw file. The tif can be 16 bit while the jpg is 8 bit, but some tifs are 8 bit also.

If you use a good postprocessing program that is parametric, there is no need to convert the image to anything until you need to send it to someone or put it online, and a moderate to low compression jpg is probably just fine for 99% of applications. If a tif is required, your software can produce a tif instead of a jpg. Or a png. A parametric program will save the editing parameters and apply them to the raw file. The editor will change the parameters. The raw file is never changed*. Saving the parameters means that you can just go into the program years later and apply the parameters to the raw file and get the same result**.

* some people consider dng a form of raw file. Editing programs that support dng will add an updated preview whenever an image is edited. That changes the raw file, but the raw data contained in the file is never changed.

** As technology advances, new algorithms are developed which may change the editing result if you use a newer version of your program.

gdotts

Thanks guys, for years and 500,000 pictures I had just done all in jpeg. Now I have seen what RAW can do to enhance the picture I am learning. I appreciate all your help!!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I would NEVER record anything less than full size files, whether raw or JPEG. Get everything your sensor has to give you, and you'll be happy you have options to crop out parts of the scenes you don't need or want.

Be sure you are working on a custom-calibrated, custom-profiled monitor to edit your raw files. Raw editing is a whole different world. You can achieve far better results from raw files than from camera-generated JPEGs, but you must trust the monitor if others will use your images, and you must learn the controls in your post-processing software. They have a lot more control range in raw than they do in JPEG editing.

If you use a non-destructive editor such as Adobe Lightroom Classic, you need only keep your raw files and any intermediate TIFFs you might export to Photoshop and return to Lightroom Classic for export, printing, web posting, etc. Full size 16-bit TIFFs take up a lot more drive space than raw files, so I minimize my use of them.

photoman43

Here is what I set on my D 800e for RAW. The link has more info all settings you might want to set.

https://photographylife.com/recommended-nikon-d800-d800e-settings


Shooting Menu (partial list)
• Primary slot selection: CF
• Secondary slot function: Overflow
• Image quality: NEF (RAW)
• Image size: grayed out
• Image area:
• Auto DX crop: ON
• Choose image area: FX
• JPEG compression: Optimal quality
• NEF (RAW) recording:
• Type: Lossless compressed
• NEF (RAW) bit depth: 14-bit

mstracke

I shoot airshows all the time and in Oct will shoot the Blue Angels in Houston, again. I always shoot lossless compressed RAW and never RAW/JPG. You will need to take care to not outshoot your buffer, though. For the BA, unless it is a "low show" due to clouds, you will most likely be 400-600mm for most shots. Fill the frame and be ready to crank the Focal Length down as they close on you. I shoot d25 or auto area.

photoman43

I have shot the Blue Angels in Houston too. When the planes are in the air in a tight formation "close" to you, my focal length was 300mm with a Nikon 300mm f4 pf lens. That focal length also was used for two planes flying at each other. Make sure you use a fast shutter speed and pan. Shutter speeds like 1/800 to 1/1250.

I like to use two cameras, one with a 70-200mm on it and the other with a longer lens like a 300mm. A 100-400mm lens is ideal. That way you can get shots at different focal lengths. If the sky is pretty, shots with the planes smaller in the frame can be quite dramatic. If you only have one camera use your cell phone.

For prop planes I like to blurr the propeller and shoot at slower shutter speeds like 1/30.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Unless you have a shortage of memory cards or computer disk storage space, I would highly recommend just shooting the highest quality, uncompressed, 14 bit RAW files possible. You can always size files down later as needed. But you can't increase their sizes. (Well, you can, but it doesn't improve their quality.)

You might do a brief RAW + JPEG shoot, with both set to maximum quality, to see the difference in size. I think you'll find the RAW files are substantially larger than 36MP. That's the approx. size of JPEGs out of your camera. RAW files contain a lot more data, which is normally "thrown away" when a JPEG is made from the file (initially all digital cameras shoot a RAW file... but if you set them to save a JPEG they quickly process the file, convert it).

You're probably aware, you'll need some sort of software to do the post-processing. One of the advantages of working with RAW is that you can work on the file in 16-bit mode, which has a much, much larger "palette" of colors than the 8-bit mode of JPEGs. 16-bit TIFFs are what are usually "worked" in post-processing. Photoshop has their own file types, also 16-bit, if preferred (and using an Adobe product).

RAW files will appear lower in contrast with rather muted colors. The camera's white balance settings (color temp and color tint) are "honored", but that's about it and even that is "changeable" when working with a RAW file. Things like contrast, sharpening, noise reduction are NOT applied to the RAW file... but the camera's settings for these are recorded and will be applied if you click an "As Shot" option in the post-processing software (this ONLY works with the camera manufacturer's own software). Because all the original data is there and the file has its maximum bit depth you have the most flexibility with RAW files, to make changes after the fact. This can be particularly helpful when shooting difficult subjects where exposure is likely to be skewed (such as airplanes against a bright sky). Note: your camera probably shoots 14-bit or 12-bit, but this is interpolated to 16-bit by the editing software (EDIT: I just saw in another response that you can set the bit depth on your camera.... use 14-bit, i.e. the most possible.)

In most cases, once you have finished working on the image and resized it for whatever use is planned, doing sharpening as one of the final steps, it is usually best to save as an 8-bit JPEG (instead of a 16-bit TIFF). That JPEG is more than enough for most printing purposes and is definitely the best choice for images that will be viewed digitally and/or displayed online. Most photo quality inkjet manufacturers and many printing services specify 8-bit JPEGs, too. If you'll be printing yourself, you might do a test comparison of a 16-bit TIFF versus an 8-bit JPEG. I doubt you'll see much difference, if any. The 16-bit TIFF will probably just take longer to print and may use more ink, unnecessarily. If using a printing service, ask them what they prefer.