Raw Conversion?

[Rafiqul]

Hi,
Plz tell me something about RAW conversion.

[Photo-John]

Welcome to PhotographyREVIEW.com, Rafiqul! I moved your post out of the thread you posted it in so it would get more attention.

That's a pretty broad question. Maybe you can narrow it down a bit? What kind of camera are you using? Have you been shooting RAW or are you just considering it? What software do you have?

[AMPedFJAdam]

Ditto to what John said.

When I load the images from my Nikon into Photoshop, the Adobe RAW pops open first and allows me to do the majority of my processing directly on the raw image, so that when I start to work on it in Photoshop, I only have minor things to do and I can be done quickly. It also allows me to save shots I might have accidentally blown out, or bring out the detail in an area that is too dark on the image. Very easy to use software.

I know others are out there, but that is the one to use with Photoshop, if you ask me.

[Rafiqul]

Raw files contain embedded JPEG images..

[wfooshee]

It sounds as if you don't quite understand what a RAW file actually is. It's not actually an image file in the manner of a JPG or TIF file, but rather it's a file containing the data recorded by the camera's sensor. You ask, "Well, isn't that data a picture?" but the answer is, "Not yet."

The RAW file contains everything the image sensor recorded, as well as data about the camera's settings, and location data if the camera is GPS-equipped. There is indeed a JPEG preview file embedded in the RAW file, for quick viewing in computer software without requiring conversion.

The RAW file records a much wider range of image information than a file already recorded as JPEG or TIFF. Detail can be recovered from dark areas that look black, or light areas that look white. You might be able to "push" an underexposed RAW file as many as 4 stops and recover a usable image, where if the camera only gave you an already-rendered JPEG, you would have just a very dark picture.

As for how to convert RAW to an image, you need software. Nikon has software for their cameras, Canon for theirs. Photoshop and Lightroom can read RAW files from any of the cameras. When a new camera comes out, it may take a few days for Adobe to release a RAW file update to accommodate.

[SmartWombat]

True, Rafiqul. There is often a low resolution jpg image embedded in the raw file so that software can easily make a thumbnail image without having to read and decode the larger image's RAW data.
But the real benefit of using RAW is that you can get much more exposure information out of the full data (12 or 14 bit) than you can out of an 8 bit JPG image.
As software improves and the rendering of the image can be bettered, you can go back to your RAW files and reprocess them with different software to extract more detail.
Something you can't do with jpg.

[PWhite214]

I bought my first 'real' digital SLR used. I did not get the manufacturer's software, so I started out with two free packages, RawTherapee and Irfanview. After learning some basics, I started using Light Room, which is my primary photo editor today.

I still have Irfanview, which I use to go through my day's photos to 'cull' obvious duplicates, out of focus, blown exposure, ETC before sending to Lightroom.

Phil

[jogeshocp]

Thanks for your good information. This was also my query.