Resolution Question Help Appreciated

[statebirdme]

Hey I had a question about my Nikon D50. This question may seem fairly obvious to most of you ,but I never thought to ask anyone before now about this.....Currently my pictures are recorded in the Large JPEG fine size. In this setting each picture only takes up roughly 3 megabytes, and I was wondering if it's better to record as NEF images or NEF + jpeg basic instead of jpeg fine, because the NEF takes up the 6 megabytes , and would have more detail? Also, can I print NEF+JPEG Basic images and would these images have more detail than the JPEG Fine images I have been taking? I'm slightly confused so any assistance with this is immensely appreciated!

[another view]

This question may seem fairly obvious to most of you ,but I never thought to ask anyone before now about this.....

It was all new to us at one point! You're really not gaining detail with NEF or RAW files but you're gaining more flexibility with post-processing - working in Photoshop, for example. Different people will give you different reasons for why they use RAW files, but to me the biggest advantage is in the bit depth. A jpeg is an 8-bit file by definition and a RAW file is probably 12-bit. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it's exponential. There's a lot more color information in a 12-bit file. This comes in handy if you need to get aggressive with Curves and Levels so that the subtle differences in colors remain just that. One example would be a wide angle shot with a lot of clear blue sky. Towards the horizon the color is different than higher overhead, and with too little color information you might see banding which are defined lines separating colors. Doesn't happen too often and probably wouldn't in this case - but it's extra insurance. You also have the ability to change WB after the fact among other reasons.

However - RAW files also take more time to deal with so a lot of people shoot jpegs because of this. Some people shoot both - it's a matter of the right tool for the job, basically.

[freygr]

Hey I had a question about my Nikon D50. This question may seem fairly obvious to most of you ,but I never thought to ask anyone before now about this.....Currently my pictures are recorded in the Large JPEG fine size. In this setting each picture only takes up roughly 3 megabytes, and I was wondering if it's better to record as NEF images or NEF + jpeg basic instead of jpeg fine, because the NEF takes up the 6 megabytes , and would have more detail? Also, can I print NEF+JPEG Basic images and would these images have more detail than the JPEG Fine images I have been taking? I'm slightly confused so any assistance with this is immensely appreciated!

Well with 1Gig cards, the file size really is not an issue unless you are traveling without a lap top or other way to move the photos off the memory card(s). For sun raises and sun sets using NEF image is a must.