Ask the Teaboy

Q:My digital camera has a RAW image format - should I use this, and why?

A: Some enthusiast and pro digital cameras give a RAW image file option. Depending on your particular type of photography, especially if you make a living from your camera, you may find this a useful part of your workflow if extracting the absolute best image quality out of your camera is vital.

A RAW file, as the name implies, is RAW data from the camera - recorded without having various camera settings applied (like white balance, sharpening, etc.). RAW files are proprietory - meaning that the various camera manufacturers have their own RAW file format. In order for you to be able to use the RAW image file in conventional image editing software, the file needs to be converted from RAW to a standard file format (like TIFF for example). The various camera settings can be applied at this conversion stage.

A simplistic approach to explaining the attributes of RAW would be to look back to the 'good old days' of having your film processed. A RAW file is a bit like a film negative, and a JPEG file could be likened to the photograph that you get back from the lab. A laboratory applies various corrections (colour, contrast, etc.) to the image it reads from your negative when producing a photograph, so your photograph is actually an 'optimised' version of your negative. Because individual labs and lab operators may print a little differently, you can, if the resulting photographs are not what you expect, always take your negative back for a second attempt with different settings being applied for a different result. A JPEG, like a printed photograph, has had various settings applied to it which cannot be undone unless you have a negative (RAW file) with which to have a second attempt. Additionally, a small amount of data is lost when an image is saved as a JPEG - no data is lost when an image is saved as a RAW file.

Having said all that, there are many reasons why shooting JPEG will be found preferable for most digital camera consumers: 1) shooting RAW takes up at least double the space as JPEG, 2) RAW file conversion can take considerable amounts of time, 3) The amount of data lost when your camera saves JPEG files is miniscule - particularly if set to the 'Fine' mode. Unless you are printing your images at very large sizes you'd be hard pressed to spot the difference between one shot on RAW or JPEG.

To summarise - if you're a perfectionist with time to kill, and you own a well-specified computer with image editing software and the skills to use it, then shooting RAW may well be for you. If, however, you'd rather not spend all your free time in front of a computer (labouring over each photograph you take) - then shooting JPEG would be recommended as a much more practical option.