Working with raw files

[Ultra Magnus]

How do you guys work wiht raw files? Whatever I read about the Sony IDC or the adobe ARC programs, talk about the software as if the reader should already know all the ins out outs of raw files. It's a little hard to learn that way. As a proud owner of a new A700, I plan to start shooting more in raw. The FAQ's and reviews of this camera say the in camera jpg mode is less than wonderful, but excellent results can be had from shooting raw...

Is there an idiot's guide to raw files type guide out there (preferrably free ) I've used the ARC, and it just turns your raw files into DNG's, right? then there are so many options, how do you quickly process lots of pictures?

For now, I'm just going to shoot in jpeg x.fine, contrast +1, and sharpness +2, as suggested for the A700...

Thanks-
BM

[another view]

Start here. The thread may be old, but I'm sure (without re-reading all of it) that it's all - or at least mostly all - still relevant. In ten words or less RAW gives you more power to work with the image later in the computer, but also requires it, where a jpeg captured correctly in camera doesn't. Guess I'm not too good at math.

[Frog]

Once you figure it out...I just played with it to see what it would do but that was with photoshop elements 5...you'll always have your original which you can go back to over and over without loss of information which is what I think the biggest advantage of shooting raw is.

[Ultra Magnus]

I'm totally aware of the benefits of RAW files. What I want to know is how to work with them efficiently. I don't have 20mins to work on EVERY picture I take. The 2nd problem is one that came up in the tread that another view posted. I've not been able to get better results from RAW files than what I get from in-camera jpegs.

What's the secret?

BM

[jorgemonkey]

The secret is practice.

When I first started using Adobe Lightroom to process my jpegs & Raw files, they weren't coming out nearly as good as when I used Nikon Capture. Now that I've gotten some experience at Lightroom, my files are coming out waay better than they ever have before.

One nice thing about Lightroom is I had about 40-50 photos from a recent shoot that were all about the same exposures. I tweaked one file, then in a batch I copied the settings to all the other photos. It took me about 10 mins total.

Also for me working with Raw made me more picky when I shoot. I don't have the time to edit 100s of photos from a shoot, so I pick & choose which ones I'll work on.

[another view]

I've not been able to get better results from RAW files than what I get from in-camera jpegs.

Aaah - got it now. Let me back up a second, calibrating your monitor would be the first step. If you're not already doing that check the "sticky" thread in Digital Imaging and Computers for info. If you're not using a calibrated monitor, you're basically trying to shoot a moving target.

Most images in RAW shouldn't take you more than about two minutes - literally. When I shot my Fuji S2 I used Photoshop CS to handle the RAW files. I set white balance in the RAW converter but usually did nothing else at that point. I'd adjust contrast and mid-point with levels. I turned off in-camera sharpening and got used to what a good starting point would be (125/2/3) and would tweak it from there. Usually this is all it would take and I'd be out of the image within two minutes. Sometimes I'd adjust hue/saturation, clone something minor out of the shot, etc but that (even being not fast with it) wouldn't take anymore than a few minutes. Scott Kelby's book helped a lot for a quick reference on fixing perspective distortion, etc. I really didn't do much with Layers but most people use it a lot. Basically, doing it many times will make you faster - but get it as close as possible in-camera (other than sharpening). I can probably count on one hand how many images (other than scanned film) that I've spent more than 15 minutes working on in Photoshop.

Lately I've been using a Nikon D200 and Capture NX, and it's a whole new world. I really haven't had the experience with this stuff, but still my goal is to be out of an image quickly.

[Canuck935]

Adobe Lightroom. Try it. It will quickly become your best friend. It's the one stop shot. The beast thing is that working with RAW is seamless. No more fiddling with external RAW converter plug-ins and such. Plus it allows you to easily process many images at once. Also it never actually changes the files you import into it, so your originals are always intact.

RAW used to be so tedious to work with that I rarely shot it, but now that I have Lightroom it is a total joy and I shooting nothing but RAW.

Try it! You will be blown away.

[Ultra Magnus]

I downloaded the trial version Lightroom way back when it first came out, and was instantly put off by it when the first thing it did was try to catalog EVERY picture on my hard drive. Nothing irritates me more than that. I recently installed the Sony software that came with my camera, and it tried to do the same thing. Why must they do that? Can it be switched off?

There are a LOT of pictures that I don't want catalogged. iTunes did that too, with all the stupid video clips I've saved over the years.

All I want out of a photo editing program, is somethign like PS or Irfanview, where I just open the photo I want to mess with, and save it when I'm done, and be over it. To make matters worse, all my photos are on an external USB drive so every once it a while it'll change drive letters on me. The whatever catalogging program can't find any of my photos anymore. Highly irritating.

BM

[Canuck935]

Well, you don't have to catalog all of your images. Just skip it when it asks you to do it. You can selectively import only what you want, which is what I did. About the drive letter changing, yeah that sounds like it can be irritating. I wonder if you can assign it to a fixed drive letter?

I don't know what else to tell you. Right now Lightroom is above all others when it comes to handling RAW files IMO.

Switch to Mac and try Aperture?

[Ultra Magnus]

I'm downloading it right now, I'll post back how it turn out for me.

As for the pc vs. mac, I'm on the pc for lots of other reasons other than photo work (like for my paying gig)... not a feasable change and this time.

BM

[jorgemonkey]

To make matters worse, all my photos are on an external USB drive so every once it a while it'll change drive letters on me. The whatever catalogging program can't find any of my photos anymore. Highly irritating.

BM

If you're using a PC, you could possibly create a network path to that drive, which would give it a static drive name.

[freygr]

How do you guys work wiht raw files? Whatever I read about the Sony IDC or the adobe ARC programs, talk about the software as if the reader should already know all the ins out outs of raw files. It's a little hard to learn that way. As a proud owner of a new A700, I plan to start shooting more in raw. The FAQ's and reviews of this camera say the in camera jpg mode is less than wonderful, but excellent results can be had from shooting raw...

Is there an idiot's guide to raw files type guide out there (preferrably free ) I've used the ARC, and it just turns your raw files into DNG's, right? then there are so many options, how do you quickly process lots of pictures?

For now, I'm just going to shoot in jpeg x.fine, contrast +1, and sharpness +2, as suggested for the A700...

Thanks-
BM

I have no problems work with RAW files. I just had to make sure I have the most current patches and plug-ins for the program I use to catalog my photos. I use Thumbs Plus, with all of its plug-ins loaded. There are cheaper cataloging and viewing programs and more costly to but it will do all the basic image fixing and cropping I need 98% of the time. I can aways generate a TIFF, JPG, or DNG file from the RAW file. I can see the difference between JPG and RAW on a few of my photos but not all. And with Memory Cards being so cheap unless I'm at an event where I'm shooting a lot, I'm not going back to JPG.

[F-15_Flyer]

I recommend using Adobe Bridge CS3 and Adobe Photoshop CS3 in coalition.

[Ultra Magnus]

I recommend using Adobe Bridge CS3 and Adobe Photoshop CS3 in coalition.

Can you describe the process or send me a link that shows a step by step procedure for processing RAW files through bridge?

As for file size, on the A700, the X.fine jpeg with the +1 contrast +2 sharpness generats files about the same size as a cRAW... The only downside is the processing steps.

BM