Digital SLR Cameras Forum

Digital SLRs Forum Discuss digital SLRs, lenses, RAW conversion, or anything else related to digital SLRs. You may also want to see the Nikon, Canon, and Sony camera forums.
Digital Camera Pro Reviews >>
Read and Write Digital SLR Reviews >>
Digital SLR Buyer's Guide >>
Results 1 to 9 of 9
  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    95

    Jpeg, Raw, or Tiff?

    Do you shoot in jpeg, raw, or tiff, and why? What's the differance? Is it important? Just wondering.

  2. #2
    Learning more with every "click" mjs1973's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Mineral Point, WI, USA
    Posts
    7,561

    Re: Jpeg, Raw, or Tiff?

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul in OKC
    Do you shoot in jpeg, raw, or tiff, and why? What's the differance? Is it important? Just wondering.

    For me it's jpeg. I have tried shooting raw, and I like it, and would do it again in the future, if my PC was able to handle them. The large size of the raw files is just way to much for my old PC to deal with. Sure I loose a little bit of control over my photos in post processing and maybe a little image quality, but to me, it's not noticable. When I choose a file to work on, and eventually get printed, I always save as a psd file and leave the original jpeg alone. Once I get the file finalized and ready for print, I save it as a tiff file for uploading to www.mpix.com, or else I print from the original psd file myself. I also like the fact of getting more photo's out of my CF card with jpeg vs raw. I can shoot about 300 large jpegs vs about 100 or so raw files on my 1gb card. It's the only card I have right now, so quantiy is pretty important for me. That is a big differance when out in the field. So for now, I'm sticking with the jpegs, and converting to other file types as needed for printing and post processing.
    Mike

    My website
    Twitter
    Blog


    "I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view."
    Aldo Leopold

  3. #3
    Erstwhile Vagabond armed with camera Lionheart's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    California
    Posts
    1,110

    Re: Jpeg, Raw, or Tiff?

    I've reverted back to JPG for much of my photos, despite having a screaming pc (P4 3.3 GHz, 4 GB Corsair twinxpro RAM in dual channel setup, GeForce 6800 GT (256MB DDR2), and 320 GB hard drive space, 52x cd-r, 16x dvd-r) just because RAW workflow is time consuming, inconvenient, and for most of my photos outside the office, non critical. We shoot RAW for our cosmetic and reconstruction photos at the office, so the C1 Pro software isn't a total waste, but I'm not getting much out-of-office use from it. For my studio photography I still shoot RAW because of the latitude it gives for post processing, but outside the studio, it's pretty much JPG at the largest resolution and lowest compression settings.
    Last edited by Lionheart; 02-01-2005 at 10:05 PM.
    Seek the Son and the shadows fall behind you.

    slowly inching to 2000

    Mac's Rule, Windblows drools
    Friends don't let Friends use WindBlows XPee
    <img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/schrackman/clover.jpg">Lionheart O'Canon Feel Free to Help

  4. #4
    Sitting in a Leaky Dingy Michael Fanelli's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Perryville, MD
    Posts
    926

    Re: Jpeg, Raw, or Tiff?

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul in OKC
    Do you shoot in jpeg, raw, or tiff, and why? What's the differance? Is it important? Just wondering.
    I use RAW all the time. This is your "digital negative." If you don't like the entire workflow process, just convert all the RAW in batch mode to jpeg and keep the RAWs in a safe place. With both jpeg and TIFF, you are locked into whatever you set at the time of the shot (much like slide film). RAW lets you have total control over the image.

    .
    "Every great decision creates ripples--like a huge boulder dropped in a lake. The ripples merge and rebound off the banks in unforseeable ways.

  5. #5
    Ghost
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Crystal Lake, IL
    Posts
    1,028

    Re: Jpeg, Raw, or Tiff?

    There's a similar discussion that took place a while ago which can be found here:
    Why RAW??

  6. #6
    Panarus biarmicus Moderator (Sports) SmartWombat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    11,750

    Re: Jpeg, Raw, or Tiff?

    Raw, for preference.
    I only use Jpeg if it's not important.
    So for all my motor racing, it's RAW format.
    PAul

    Scroll down to the Sports Forum and post your sports pictures !

  7. #7
    Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    From
    Posts
    332

    Re: Jpeg, Raw, or Tiff?

    I shoot jpg, if I didn't shoot much and had all the time in the world to edit photos I might shoot raw but the difference isn't great enough for me to justify the overhead.

  8. #8
    has-been... another view's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Rockford, IL
    Posts
    7,649

    Re: Jpeg, Raw, or Tiff?

    Both RAW and Jpeg. Different tools for the job but most of the time Jpeg works just fine.

    I don't see any reason to shoot a TIF, basically the same as a Jpeg but without the compression. To me, the biggest benefits of RAW are the larger bit depth and adjustable white balance (in that order, too). As long as you're shooting Jpegs at the highest quality setting you'll have a high quality file - and a TIF is a huge file, even larger than RAW and doesn't have the above two advantages.

    I also use Mpix but have been sending them Jpegs for printing (saved in Photoshop at a quality of 12 which is the highest). I save the finished file as a TIF and convert to Jpeg before sending them (it's quicker and no real-world loss of quality).

  9. #9
    Techno Junkie peted56's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Canberra, ACT, Australia
    Posts
    50

    Re: Jpeg, Raw, or Tiff?

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul in OKC
    Do you shoot in jpeg, raw, or tiff, and why? What's the differance? Is it important? Just wondering.
    I think it is important also to differentiate between using the photos commercially or if you are just taking "happy snaps". If taking them for commercial use then RAW is the answer most of the time. If you are doing it for yourself then you have to choose dependant on your own usage, sometimes you would choose to shoot RAW but other times the pictures may not need it.

    I shoot all three types but really see little difference between them with the type of shooting that I am currently doing, you milage may vary depending on what you are shooting.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Lossless JPEG Editing
    By Photo-John in forum Camera News & Rumors
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 10-25-2004, 05:01 PM
  2. RAW vs JPEG
    By russj in forum Digital SLRs
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 09-12-2004, 01:52 PM
  3. yet another RAW vs JPEG question
    By opus in forum Digital SLRs
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 08-12-2004, 12:40 PM
  4. Buying on basis of RAW v. JPEG?
    By chfphoto in forum Digital SLRs
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 04-22-2004, 06:50 AM
  5. TIFF vs RAW
    By Ultra Magnus in forum ViewFinder
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 04-19-2004, 08:45 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •