First, my question is NOT about Raw vs JPEG! This has been discussed extensively, so please don't go there!

I'd like to better understand what happens when a camera saves Raw data and JPEG files and how the Raw data is converted to an image viewable on a computer screen. (I use a Nikon D5300 with monochrome in-camera setting; I save both Raw and JPEG; I use Affinity for editing (just started!); having said that, my questions really go beyond specific cameras, in-camera settings, and editing software.)

So,

1) I understand that the JPEG file produced by the camera, saved to the card, and visible on your camera screen is based on your in-camera menu settings (monochrome, contrast, brightness, etc, etc). I've read that there is also a JPEG embedded in the Raw file. Is this the same JPEG saved to the card and seen on the camera screen? If not, how is the Raw-embedded JPEG different and when and how is it used?

2) I understand that the Raw data cannot be viewed directly; it has to be processed to some extent. When you open a Raw file in a program like Affinity or LR you see the image, so it must have been processed to some extent. In Affinity this initial "Raw made viewable" image is apparently not based on the saved JPEG (my JPEGS are set to monochrome but the initial Raw image shown is in color!) What kind of processing has taken place to give you a viewable image in the editing program? Does it depend on the editing program?

3) Is it significant to know what processing has taken place in the creation of the initial viewable image from the Raw file? Or can you get to the same processing end point regardless of the starting point you work from?

I'd appreciate any constructive comments you might have....(I'll even take "don't worry about it, go out and shoot, and just push the PP sliders around")

First, my question is NOT about Raw vs JPEG! This has been discussed extensively, so please don't go there!

I'd like to better understand what happens when a camera saves Raw data and JPEG files and how the Raw data is converted to an image viewable on a computer screen. (I use a Nikon D5300 with monochrome in-camera setting; I save both Raw and JPEG; I use Affinity for editing (just started!); having said that, my questions really go beyond specific cameras, in-camera settings, and editing software.)

So,

1) I understand that the JPEG file produced by the camera, saved to the card, and visible on your camera screen is based on your in-camera menu settings (monochrome, contrast, brightness, etc, etc). I've read that there is also a JPEG embedded in the Raw file. Is this the same JPEG saved to the card and seen on the camera screen? If not, how is the Raw-embedded JPEG different and when and how is it used?

2) I understand that the Raw data cannot be viewed directly; it has to be processed to some extent. When you open a Raw file in a program like Affinity or LR you see the image, so it must have been processed to some extent. In Affinity this initial "Raw made viewable" image is apparently not based on the saved JPEG (my JPEGS are set to monochrome but the initial Raw image shown is in color!) What kind of processing has taken place to give you a viewable image in the editing program? Does it depend on the editing program?

3) Is it significant to know what processing has taken place in the creation of the initial viewable image from the Raw file? Or can you get to the same processing end point regardless of the starting point you work from?

I'd appreciate any constructive comments you might have....(I'll even take "don't worry about it, go out and shoot, and just push the PP sliders around")

First, my question is NOT about Raw vs JPEG! This has been discussed extensively, so please don't go there!

I'd like to better understand what happens when a camera saves Raw data and JPEG files and how the Raw data is converted to an image viewable on a computer screen. (I use a Nikon D5300 with monochrome in-camera setting; I save both Raw and JPEG; I use Affinity for editing (just started!); having said that, my questions really go beyond specific cameras, in-camera settings, and editing software.)

So,

1) I understand that the JPEG file produced by the camera, saved to the card, and visible on your camera screen is based on your in-camera menu settings (monochrome, contrast, brightness, etc, etc). I've read that there is also a JPEG embedded in the Raw file. Is this the same JPEG saved to the card and seen on the camera screen? If not, how is the Raw-embedded JPEG different and when and how is it used?

2) I understand that the Raw data cannot be viewed directly; it has to be processed to some extent. When you open a Raw file in a program like Affinity or LR you see the image, so it must have been processed to some extent. In Affinity this initial "Raw made viewable" image is apparently not based on the saved JPEG (my JPEGS are set to monochrome but the initial Raw image shown is in color!) What kind of processing has taken place to give you a viewable image in the editing program? Does it depend on the editing program?

3) Is it significant to know what processing has taken place in the creation of the initial viewable image from the Raw file? Or can you get to the same processing end point regardless of the starting point you work from?

I'd appreciate any constructive comments you might have....(I'll even take "don't worry about it, go out and shoot, and just push the PP sliders around")

First, my question is NOT about Raw vs JPEG! This has been discussed extensively, so please don't go there!

I'd like to better understand what happens when a camera saves Raw data and JPEG files and how the Raw data is converted to an image viewable on a computer screen. (I use a Nikon D5300 with monochrome in-camera setting; I save both Raw and JPEG; I use Affinity for editing (just started!); having said that, my questions really go beyond specific cameras, in-camera settings, and editing software.)

So,

1) I understand that the JPEG file produced by the camera, saved to the card, and visible on your camera screen is based on your in-camera menu settings (monochrome, contrast, brightness, etc, etc). I've read that there is also a JPEG embedded in the Raw file. Is this the same JPEG saved to the card and seen on the camera screen? If not, how is the Raw-embedded JPEG different and when and how is it used?

2) I understand that the Raw data cannot be viewed directly; it has to be processed to some extent. When you open a Raw file in a program like Affinity or LR you see the image, so it must have been processed to some extent. In Affinity this initial "Raw made viewable" image is apparently not based on the saved JPEG (my JPEGS are set to monochrome but the initial Raw image shown is in color!) What kind of processing has taken place to give you a viewable image in the editing program? Does it depend on the editing program?

3) Is it significant to know what processing has taken place in the creation of the initial viewable image from the Raw file? Or can you get to the same processing end point regardless of the starting point you work from?

I'd appreciate any constructive comments you might have....(I'll even take "don't worry about it, go out and shoot, and just push the PP sliders around")

First, my question is NOT about Raw vs JPEG! This has been discussed extensively, so please don't go there!

I'd like to better understand what happens when a camera saves Raw data and JPEG files and how the Raw data is converted to an image viewable on a computer screen. (I use a Nikon D5300 with monochrome in-camera setting; I save both Raw and JPEG; I use Affinity for editing (just started!); having said that, my questions really go beyond specific cameras, in-camera settings, and editing software.)

So,

1) I understand that the JPEG file produced by the camera, saved to the card, and visible on your camera screen is based on your in-camera menu settings (monochrome, contrast, brightness, etc, etc). I've read that there is also a JPEG embedded in the Raw file. Is this the same JPEG saved to the card and seen on the camera screen? If not, how is the Raw-embedded JPEG different and when and how is it used?

2) I understand that the Raw data cannot be viewed directly; it has to be processed to some extent. When you open a Raw file in a program like Affinity or LR you see the image, so it must have been processed to some extent. In Affinity this initial "Raw made viewable" image is apparently not based on the saved JPEG (my JPEGS are set to monochrome but the initial Raw image shown is in color!) What kind of processing has taken place to give you a viewable image in the editing program? Does it depend on the editing program?

3) Is it significant to know what processing has taken place in the creation of the initial viewable image from the Raw file? Or can you get to the same processing end point regardless of the starting point you work from?

I'd appreciate any constructive comments you might have....(I'll even take "don't worry about it, go out and shoot, and just push the PP sliders around")

The RAW files I use are from a Canon G16 and Canon 70D. My evaluations of a number of RAW processors have led me to believe that (for me) the best are Canon’s Digital Photo Professional – latest version – and Capture One. Canon’s program was free with my cameras; Capture One is quite expensive, at least for my very limited finances. As a consequence, I use DPP, sometimes just to get the conversion, but sometimes for all the processing required for a particular photo. When I need more, I use ON1 Photo RAW 2019. If a photo needs very little processing, I most likely will use Adobe Photoshop Express, which is free, and surprisingly capable – and extremely easy and quick to use.
I did use the Adobe subscription (Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop) but have given that up. I may occasionally use one of the other programs I have had for some time, but very seldom, and only for a specific attribute. Those include Paint Shop Pro, DxO, Topaz, Photomatix, easyHDR and Franzis software, again, on a very limited basis.

I have found that while some programs are better overall than others, there is none which is best at everything, and even then it is dependent upon the photo being processed. Incidentally, one of my reasons for not using Lightroom is that I much prefer the file handling capabilities of ON1.

Loren – Baguio City

This is incorrect - it is not because "there is no standard" that raw files are all different, it is because every different chip produces a unique set of data - and that data stream is the raw file. A raw file (no capitalization needed) is not an image at all until it is "de-mosaiced", whereas JPEG (or TIF or PNG or other) file is actually an image file. Image files specify a particular RGB value for each picture element (pixel) in the array of pixels that make up an image, raw files do not. This makes sense once you understand how a digital sensor works.

Think of a digital image as a matrix of rows and columns, where an array of 6000 by 4000 would yield 24 million "dots" or pixels (picture elements). An image file consists of pixels that have clearly specified colors in terms of Red, Green and Blue values (RGB). So, for each pixel of an image file, there is a precise RGB value.

A raw file is the stream of data that comes from the sensor. With a few exceptions (Leica's monochrome, Foveon) ALL digital sensors, from that new Hasselblad to your smart phone camera, work as follows: while they too have a matrix of dots (called photo sites), each of those photo sites is covered with a colored filter that is either Red, Green or Blue. This is because the sensor chip itself is natively "color blind", each photo site can only register how many photons have struck it when exposed. The pattern of those colored filters (called the Bayer pattern) is R-G-G-B (for upper left, upper right,, lower left, lower right) - and there are twice as many green filters as there are red or blue because the human eye is more sensitive to green. Fuji's X-Trans chip uses a different pattern, but the concept is the same.

When an exposure is made, the data captured by the imaging chip is a bunch of values that represent how much light hit each photo site - and those measurements are all based on the light that made it through those filters. As a thought experiment, imagine a subject that was only pure blue - the photo sites with red and green filters above them would not register anything! Lots of black gaps in that file, eh?

So a raw file first needs to be rejiggered (to use the technical term!) to become a true image file, where each pixel has a stated RGB value. On the raw file, each spot has only an R OR a B OR a G value, but they are not blended. That process is called de-mosaicing, and the output of the process is the resultant image. Obviously there are a lot of calculations required to do this, but that's what the computer built into the camera (or phone) does. Cameras that only output JPEG do in fact create raw files to start with (there is no other option) but they quickly do the calculations and discard the raw file when the JPEG is created. And I believe the current iteration of iOS will allow for raw file storage on iPhones.

So, unlike a JPEG or TIF etc. file, the computer processing a raw file must interpret what actual color should appear at a given pixel, based on the readings made from the surrounding photo sites. There is no absolute lookup table, as there is for image file RGB values, to decide what color purple a given spot should be if one adjacent red reading was 500, another from the blue filter was 644 and yet another from a green filter spot was 42, or whatever.

For those who say "yeah but you need a computer to interpret" any digital file!” I say that is actually incorrect - where a JPG or TIF or PNG specifies that exact RGB value at each pixel (and leaves it to the hardware drivers and gear to not screw it up) the various demosaicing programs can actually result in different outputs from the same original raw file. Apple includes demosaicing software in OS X, but DxO, Phase One's Capture One, Adobe and others (including the camera manufacturers themselves) all have their own demosaicing software. While different software won't completely change the look of a given image, the subtle tonalities can well be different if you take an image and process it with C1 and compare that to the same raw file run through Adobe Lightroom.

By the bye, since you CANNOT see a raw image what you are looking at (on the back of the camera when you chimp, or on a computer screen) is a demosaiced image that has been interpreted by a computer, be it in the camera or on your desktop.

What happens is that each and every pixel is represented by 14-bit code that could be 1 of 16 million different choices. Now, that is for each and every single pixel, and they are proprietary to the camera makers design. Multiply that times how ever many pixels across and down for the size of the sensor. Then use the manufacturers software code to decode and make the pixels appear as a photo on your computer screen. Then, companies like Adobe reverse engineer or sometimes get the proprietary code from the camera maker, and then incorporate that into their raw engine so that they can decode and represent the picture while you view it on your screen. The "codec" is the decoding factor for viewing the raw files on your computer screen.