RAW Versus Jpeg

wannabefotopro

How is shooting in RAW different from shooting in Jpeg? I do know that RAW makes it easier for editing later, but other than that are there any other benefits?

jsheedick

I've read that RAW is good because the camera won't do the processing for you. This way you can process it yourself in whichever program the way you would like.

I've been taking photos in RAW, but because I don't know how to use my settings yet, I cannot tell you the difference in image quality from personal experience.

I will say though that if you're looking to edit photos, photoshop and lightroom seem so much easier to use when you shoot in RAW and you have a lot more options since the photo isn't already processed.

houghs

RAW is the best way to shoot, but only when you do post-processing afterwards.

If not, RAW is completely useless and annoying. I do not like post-processing so I usually shoot in jpeg.

During winter time, on snow and when difficult lighting conditions are on the scene, I shoot in RAW. You can easily set white balance and correct exposure +-1 EV without destroying the quality of the picture during post-processing.

Moose

Hey @wannabefotopro - As @jsheedick and @houghs touched on, RAW is the original un-processed image captured by your D3100.

When shooting in JPEG, the D3100 first captures the image as a RAW file and then "processes" it through the internal engine, applying white balance, sharpness, boost in color, etc...

Ultimately it comes down to control. If you want to control how much sharpness or saturation is applied to an image, then RAW is the way to go. In addition, RAW retains more light data, which allows you to save highlights or bring up shadows when editing your images in photoshop or lightroom.

Generally speaking, I shoot RAW for all my professional stuff, except when shooting sports and I need to take thousands of images in a single shoot. Hope that helps and happy shooting!