RAW verses JPEG

thanks for that cliff, i’ll give it a try!!

Holty,

The Canon 350D can save the picture you take as a RAW and JPEG at the same time. It takes longer to save to the card so would not use this mode for a whole shoot.

Just for a bit of fun take a couple of shots using this mode, it may help you decide wich is better for you.

regards

Cliff

Happy Canon 350D owner 🙂

I have a Canon 20D and always shoot RAW… I take all my images in RAW format so they are converted in PShop to JPEGS which gives an image size of 6144x4096px @402pixels per inch apprx 6-7mb

Firstly,

A 20D is an 8mp camera. 6144×4096 is 25mp. Something seriously wrong with your conversion – its upsizing the image which will significantly degrade it. A Canon 20D should produce images that are approx 3500×2333 pixels (can’t remember the exact numbers), which is what mine does. So firstly, find out why your conversion is interpolating up the size of the image and stop it doing that.

Secondly, if ALL you are interested in is airliners.net (or any webspace) then pixels per inch is irrelevent. Pictures are displayed on screens according to the resolution of the screen (in pixels across) and the number of pixels in the image. What I mean by this is that if a screen is set to 1024×768 (in Windows or whatever) then a 1024 pixel image will fill the screen, if a screen is set to 1600×1200 pixels, that same 1024 pixel image will occupy around 60% of the width of the screen – i.e. the image resolution is irrelevent for screen display.

Beyond that, you already have some good workflow suggestions.

Andy

You’re quite right; both the free Nikon View and Picture Project programs will convert Nikon RAW (NEF) files to jpeg or tiff files. Nikon Capture (not free after a trial period) provides the user with much more powerful tools. Another very good free option to convert RAW files is Rawshooter Essentials, which can be downloaded at this site http://esd.element5.com/demoreg.html?productid=545269&languageid=1&stylefrom=545269

I couldnt find out how to convert them, it was proberably realy obvious. I like Rawshooter.

I’m a Canon owner myself, but I understand that Nikon View and Nikon PictureProject will both convert Nikon RAW files and are available as free downloads.

The more sophisticated and capable Nikon Capture software is not free.

I’m sure a Nikon user will correct me if this isn’t the case. 🙂

You’re quite right; both the free Nikon View and Picture Project programs will convert Nikon RAW (NEF) files to jpeg or tiff files. Nikon Capture (not free after a trial period) provides the user with much more powerful tools. Another very good free option to convert RAW files is Rawshooter Essentials, which can be downloaded at this site http://esd.element5.com/demoreg.html?productid=545269&languageid=1&stylefrom=545269

I’m a Canon owner myself, but I understand that Nikon View and Nikon PictureProject will both convert Nikon RAW files and are available as free downloads.

The more sophisticated and capable Nikon Capture software is not free.

I’m sure a Nikon user will correct me if this isn’t the case. 🙂

Having just shot a load of photos with my d50 in Raw and then realised i dont have the software to convert raws i am a bit stuck.
Does anyone know of any free software that will convert it, i already have on my machine Picasa, Paint shop pro 7 and picture project. Will any of them do it?

Correct me if I’m wrong, Canon supply software with their camera’s to convert RAW to JPEG or similar?

So surely Nikon would supply the same with their cameras, in which case why would you be needing software to down load any pictures taken in RAW if, in theory, the relevant software was already supplied with the camera.

If it wasn’t, then shouldn’t you be jumping up and down at the person who supplied you with the camera ? Or maybe take time out to read the instruction manual. Or would that be too obvious ?

Thank you.

http://www.pixmantec.com/

Having just shot a load of photos with my d50 in Raw and then realised i dont have the software to convert raws i am a bit stuck.
Does anyone know of any free software that will convert it, i already have on my machine Picasa, Paint shop pro 7 and picture project. Will any of them do it?

Hi Mark,

Gerry’s previous post/workflow seems fine, but guessing he’s more of a pro?

I use a much quicker approach to airliners net, and although I’ve used RAW, I tend to stick to jpeg for quicker processing. It can still take me many hours to shift through an afternoons shooting….and I’ve other hobbies to fit into a weekend… :rolleyes:

My current stats roughly…78% accepted, 829 pics with nearly 500,000 hits. 😎

I’m shooting with a 300D, and mostly a 100-400L lens.

My workflow PS Elements,
(if the aircraft’s not 75% filling frame of original I don’t even try):-

Level any ground shots to horizon/verticals.
Crop to compose/frame.
Resize to 1024 wide. (height must be 683 minimum).
‘View actual pixels’
Equilize to check for dust spots.
Un equalize.
Clone out spots if required.
Adjust brightness/contrast/colour saturation if required.
Unsharp mask at 500% 0.2 0 once and re-save.
Re open pic, might do another unsharp mask at 150%, 0.2 0 if required, and save once more.

I do 10 to 20 at a time, then leave them until the next day, click through to double check quality, then upload the best/nicest looking ones.
Its good fun to slip in a lower quality one now and again…them screeners can still be beat… :dev2:

Thank you very much……….i will try again

Hi Mark…

I take all my images in RAW format so they are converted in PShop to JPEGS which gives an image size of 6144x4096px @402pixels per inch apprx 6-7mb

Stop there, your first sentence has a problem

{I’m a using Nikon D70 and a cheap 70-300mm lens.
I’m shooting NEF RAW and usually have few problems at a.net touch wood}

My version, quickly:

Take the RAW (NEF) image, tweak white balance/colour/exposure (if required) and then convert it to a TIF.
My 3000×2000 RAW NEF is about 5,000Kb… the TIF file will become 17,000KB
retaining all the detail.

Take the 17,000Kb file and maniplulate that file with extra saturation, curves
or nothing at all, but do whatever you need to do to it now.
Sometime I will may even add some unsharp mask before resizing to 1024px x 700px or 1200px x 800px
depending on your preference.
Other will say that is very wrong, and I accept that, but applying a little
unsharp mask filter on a 3000px image before resizing to a 1024px image
does work for me.
On the 1024px image:
The finishing unsharp mask sharpening (lasso selected) and a soft sharpening ‘brush’
with a light amount applied over the subject and a small ‘blur’ or ‘smoothing’ brush
over any jaggies that are left in the image viewing it at 400% on the monitor is sufficient for me.

Once you are finally finished with your (approx) 1024×700 pixel TIF image, make
a high quality/low compression JPEG copy from that TIF file.
Mines are around the 400Kb region. Hardly ever above 550KB unless there
is a lot of grass and trees (it contains more detail)
My shots of aircraft flying in blue sky are about 350Kb low compression.
Absolutely no need to go for maximum 1Mb uploads to a.net/jp.net/pp.net
Even in these hard times at a.net, it will usually get uploaded without many quality problems… 🙂

By the way, I’m using the freeware ‘GIMP’, no $$$$ Photoshop!

I’m over +1800 images on a.net, so I must be doing something right.

I never bother with ppi. Work everything in pixels.
It’s pixels that matter most.

Good luck.

Gerry Hill

www.edinburgh-images.co.uk

RAW vs JPEG

This is my first post on this board so forgive me if I repeat a question already answered elsewhere – I have a Canon 20D and always shoot RAW as it gives the flexibility to correct underexposure problems with practically no loss of quality.

I have been trying for months to get my photographs on airliners.net and I am yet to succeed. My images keep getting rejected for being poor quality. Whether this is just an excuse or I’m doing something very wrong in the resizing department of Photoshop CS2.

I take all my images in RAW format so they are converted in PShop to JPEGS which gives an image size of 6144x4096px @402pixels per inch apprx 6-7mb
I use 402ppi as this is the size my printers use to conform to their machine.
I then resize to 1196x797px @300ppi and save it at JPEG quality 7 – this then gives a file size of approx 1mb (to match the requirment of airliners.net)

If someone could give me some advice on resizing or even constructive criticism if I have got it totally wrong, I would be most appreciated.

Kind Regards

Mark
www.mw-photography.co.uk

Jur,

John has a D70s not a D2X, 5 FPS doesn’t come cheap with a DSLR.

Septic

One aspect that does not seem to have been mentioned in the Raw v JPEG debate is the speed in which the camera can upload the data.

I have a Nikon D100 and when in raw mode the ‘writing’ speed can be quite slow. This can be frustrating at times, one of few areas where the old 35mm SLR still has a slight advantage, In fine JPEG mode it copes fine though.

Septic.

With my D2x and Sandisk Extreme III cards (4gb) writing speed in Raw is no issue at all, not even a 5 fps or 8 fps (in crop mode).

One aspect that does not seem to have been mentioned in the Raw v JPEG debate is the speed in which the camera can upload the data.

I have a Nikon D100 and when in raw mode the ‘writing’ speed can be quite slow. This can be frustrating at times, one of few areas where the old 35mm SLR still has a slight advantage, In fine JPEG mode it copes fine though.

Almost all of my images are now taken in raw, its only when I’m in a hurry that I revert to JPEG.

Septic.

well after following everyones advice i managed to get these
any advice or comments would be most welcome

Thanks for all this wealth of info, I have just got back from a short break in London so only just got chance to read this thread.

There seem to be a good debate as to Raw or JPEG, From what I can see if you are commercial proffesional then RAW, But for normal amatures like me then I think I will try JPEG for a little bit longer.

I have only done about 3000 static shots so far and the airshow season is fast aproaching so I will see how the year pans out.

Once again, Thanks for th input!!

Regards,

John.

2272×1704 in comparison to 1600×1200 results in roughly a doubling of filesize. The remaining difference that lets you get 4x as many pics on a card is the greater compression the camera applies to “standard” quality images versus “fine” quality images. More compression (i.e. the more data that’s taken out of an image) means lower quality, and some of the compressed data can never be recovered no matter if you save the file as tiff in PS. Its hard to put a rule on it, but a standard image will almost certainly be fine if your final intent is to put images on the web, and probably OK for images at 7×5 and maybe even at A4. However, once you go above that size you’re likely to get pixelation and qualuty loss in printed images.

Absolutely nothing wrong with shooting jpegs, nor anything wrong with shooting “standard” rather than “fine” – they will satisfy 99% of users. The only problem comes if you put your pics on airliners.net or a commercial aviation photo site, and then a potential paying client says that they want to buy the image for a full-page magazine spread or larger format commercial printing.

Andy

Andy

I use my photographs mainly as reference material for doing scale and picture drawings. A4 is about the max. I enlarge the image to draw from and I only started last year to post pictures to the web. (See link below) After much experimenting I found these settings ideal for me, the camera I have and what I want to use the images for.

We have all got different views on how cameras should be set up but I believe it is up to the individual to experiment with their camera until they are happy with the pictures they are getting from it for what ever purpose they want to use the images for.

Keep on snapping. 😀

Brian