RAW or JPEG

[Spunker]

wow, some great info, thanks guys!

[seahawks7757]

So think of the song Shots and the way it goes,

and replace it with RAW
RAW, RAW, RAW, RAW, RAW, RAW, RAW......

Just my .02

[megatop412]

While it is true about RAW yielding higher quality, you have to ask yourself if you want to be a slave to RAW or not. Because it can make you its little bitch if you let it.

The only people I knew who ever blew their stuff up large enough to see these differences shot film, and even then, you would still be looking at the picture as a whole, never a piece of it. None of the photo exhibitions I have been to had people sticking their noses right up against the prints, they were being viewed at a distance, because the perspective is all wrong up close.

I think it's neat to be able to magnify part of a digital image to 100, 200, even 400%, but that's really just a parlor trick for ****s and giggles. The beauty of an image(and that goes for a photo, drawing, painting, or piece of art) lies in the exposition of its entirety, the composition of elements, the rendering of color and shape. I can't justify wasting precious life time on an extensive RAW workflow that gives me minimal results, unless I end up having paying clients that I want to deliver the best possible products to. This obsession with sharpness, noise, megapixels, and 12-bit vs. 14-bit processing are solely artifacts of the digital revolution; where did the idea that noise is bad come from??? I never heard people say that with film. Back then people appreciated grain, it gave the shot some character.

Don't get me wrong, I love taking and looking at sharp photos. But given the applications most of us(on this forum here) apply our craft to, I think we've passed the threshold of practicality with the RAW/jpeg debate.

[gonzalu]

Fred, William,

You both have a GREAT point and are very valid and real. Indeed you MUST weigh your benefits to yourself and your style and desire. I ultimately decided I was in it for the pure excellence of it, to create the most purest form.

William, if you think of your analogy in another way, would you say the same thing? Sticking your nose up against a painting or not may not be your desire but I certainly do. I love to see the texture of the paints and oils and the texture of the medium, the canvas, the rag... There is something magical about touching good quality paper.

I can assure you that a good quality print is much better looking even at a distance when the original was absolutely the highest quality. This again, is MY taste and not trying to convince you to switch. It is down to what we want to achieve for ourselves. Another way to see it is if you were asked to select your favorite color from a set of 10 color choices or from a set of 100 choices, you may find yours in the set of 10, but I guarantee you the large majority of the sample asked would rather select from a larger palette. Such is my stuggle. Looking at 100% crops is what is all about... 100% is the REAL DEAL... any other zoom level is fake in any direction :-)

I look at the ENTIRE image at 100% and I look for things like CA and focus... all important when printing either small or large.

And finally, YOU have to look at yourself in the mirror and if you;re happy with your results, you have won... wehter 8 bit JPG or 14 bit RAW...

I have about 90% of my shots perfectly shot when I pressed the shutter, as Fred put it, and I am very happy with the JPGs... Heck I myself have given entire shoots to clients straight from JPGs. and I still like to have the RAW files for that just in case, for that enlargement that may come. If you KNOW and can deal with the fact that all you need is a web version, by all means, the JPG will likely suffice. I have tons of family events shot strictly on JPG :-) But I imagined the subject here was about Airliners and ultimate quality results.

Finally, Fred mentioned P&S vs. DSLR and you'd be amazed at how my D3 is set: Vivid, Sharpness at max and saturation at max... I like my images to POP OFF THE SCREEN when I cull images on ingestion. Also that way if I want to use an image straight out of camera, they are ready to go...

This can be debated for years. Entire websites are devoted to the debate. I love the debate and really just want to spread knowledge, not really change minds. That is up to the photographer. Armed with good solid knowledge we make better decisions.

Happy shooting to all and may your JPGs be pure! LOL

Now, can someone please hold down that Finnair MD-11 cargo in good light so I can get a shot of it? Thank you!!