mitchell j Loc: kingston georgia

Alrighty....I shoot with a Nikon D90 and I have always wondered if ..you shoot in RAW then you do the NEF (Raw) processing on the photos ..if it takes away from the quality of the picture??.......my question is basically what does the NEF (Raw) processing do to the picture???

gizzy.whicker Loc: Cumberland Co., Illinois

There are a lot of very good photographers on this site who shoot ONLY in raw. In the raw format you lose NOTHING in quality--everything is retained. It does require RAW processing software (usually supplied with your camera), and when you've mastered that, you'll have the very best photos your camera and lens can take... providing you did all the right things yourself. Others more knowledgeable than myself can fill you in in more detail.

mitchell j Loc: kingston georgia

Thanks for the info:)

les_stockton Loc: Eastern Oklahoma

I shoot in RAW, edit with software (Gimp, Photoshop, or the software supplied with the camera), and get it the way I want, and then do a batch export of my photos to a folder in jpg format.
This works pretty well.
And if I ever decide I want to edit again, I go back to the RAW and edit from there. Think of the RAW file as a negative. Nothing is lost there.

notnoBuddha

I would add to the other reply -
While you may well have the "best" photos your camera can take it depends on how you define "best". It will be best as to the amount of information recorded and you will have the best file to do post post editing on in that it is the most information. But - while you have more choices in editing to make you must make more of the correct ones. As the other reply wrote, and it should be stressed it is of upmost importence you know the editing software. You will also use considerably more storage space for RAW files very likely more time involved. I use RAW myself only when I believe I may need several copies, or enlargements. It is an ongoing debate that I believe most spend way too much time being concerned with, but we each choose are own concerns.

LarryD Loc: Mojave Desert

Raw isn't an acronym... it means raw data.. You must convert to something in order to render the raw data into a visible image..

You can use NEF (Nikon Electronic Format) or Adobe's DNG (Digital Negative), or another compatible raw convertor, but you must use something..

So, the answer is that any raw converter simply takes the raw data and assembles it into a visible digital format.. you lose nothing.

ShakyShutter Loc: Arizona

Advise not to commit shooting in RAW until you understand first the work flow for processing your images and second how to manage the increased file sizes you will have to store.

This is where software like Adobe Lightroom 3 comes into play. It lets you manage the huge RAW files easily and it forces you to adapt some sort of discipline for identifying your images as well as giving you an excellent processing (developing) tool kit. Some people, professionals included, use Lightroom exclusively for processing, sorting and enhancing.

There is, of course, other software out there but this is the easiest to explain quickly.

Use caution unless you understand the process, if you shoot with the setting that gives you a JPG + RAW file at the same time. The RAW will be full size and resolution, while the JPG in this mode is much smaller in quality than if you shot the JPG alone as in FINE Large setting.

MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy

A raw file is essentially the data (think of it like the old film negative) that the camera has recorded along with some additional information tagged on. A JPG file is one that has had the camera applies a form of conversation, adds white balance, contrast, and saturation, and then has had some level of destructive compression applied.

So in a nut shell the RAW file is larger, contains more data has no contrast, saturation, w/b added in camera. The JPEG file has the above added as well as is compressed to a smaller sized file, thus why you can save more images on your memory card if you shot JPEG vs. RAW.

I personally only shot RAW.

Igore Loc: Wisconsin

The easy thing to start with is to set your camera to shoot 1 RAW and 1 Jpeg at the same time. After I saw how bad the Jpeg looked compared to the RAW photos I mostly shoot in RAW unless I plan to export to somewhere that will only take Jpeg. The memory cards for cameras are so cheap now that lack of storage in your camera is a not a big deal.

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

Raw is always the best to shoot in because it offers the full file that the camera outputs. Nef files are large files tho. To rectify the problem of the large size of the Nef files you can change the Nef files to DNG files using the DNG converter that is in Photoshop. DNG files are universal files that have the same amount of information as NEF files but they are half the size for storage. When I download my files I immediately convert the files to DNG. I dont need the NEF files and I can do the same things with a DNG file as with an NEF file. Nikon should change there output files to DNG, it would make things better for Nikon users.

les_stockton Loc: Eastern Oklahoma

I didn't realize this. Is it true with Canon's CR2 files?

AdkHiker Loc: Northeast

Here is another option. I am sure you can capture both a jpeg and RAW image at the same time. I have my camera set to do that when I want the chance to have the best and most options available to me during post editing

The disadvantage of this is that it does eat up card memory more quickly and the writing to the memory card takes longer than either just either jpeg or RAW alone. So it will slow down the shooting speed in the burst. I don't recall the number now but RAW uses more memory the jpeg. Your manual will tell you

hardknot Loc: Annapolis, MD

I have heard a nationally known professional give a RAW vs. JPG analogy as: You can turn an egg into a poached egg, fried egg, omelet, eggs benedict or scrambled. If you scramble it, you can only get scrambled eggs. RAW format is the unprocessed egg. JPG format is the scrambled or processed egg.

RAW files have their proprietary codecs introduced by the manufacturer of the camera. Canon RAW is CR2, Nikon is NEF, etc. By converting the RAW to the Adobe DNG format you obtain a digital negative that can be read regardless of manufacturer, therefore some convert their RAW to DNG. In my case, I don't think that Canon is going out of business soon and do not go to the trouble of converting to DNG even though there is some slight storage space advantage.

This subject has pretty good coverage if you Google it. A short example can be seen in an article at http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/u-raw-files.shtml ....as I have gained experience, I shoot only RAW except when using my point & shoot, which is JPG only. :D

JeffT Loc: Central NY

I have been shooting primarily in RAW (Canon) for the last two years. I use Lightroom 3 to process CR2 files to DNG and do most of my editing in LR3, exporting to JPG as needed.

My experience is that when first switching to RAW format you might be somewhat disappointed with the way your pictures look, somewhat dull and soft. This is the nature of RAW. The camera doe not make any changes (or minimal changes) to the file. Most cameras will apply some pre-processing to the file in jpg. For example, sharpen, white balance, saturation & contrast boosts to make the picture "pop" right out of the camera. Raw doesn't do this. It takes some time to develop your style of RAW processing at your computer. There are various presets that you can use to mimic the presets in your camera and these may be useful at first.

The beauty of RAW is that if you change your mind about how to process a file, its a simple matter to either create a virtual copy (not space requirements in LR) and do something different with no loss in quality or reset back to the original settings. As long as you work in RAW changes are simple and you can always start at the original file without other processing applied (of course this depends on working with software that supports RAW fully).

RockinRobinG Loc: The Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska

Recommendation: If you are going to shoot in RAW (I shoot RAW & JPEG at the same time) be sure you have an external hard drive with a lot of space...you can get a relatively good one for less than $100 at the right place. The RAW files will eat up the memory on your computer before you know it. I personally had this happen...lesson learned.