Online photography lessons & affordable photograhpy seminars for photographers of all skill levels

Digital SLR cameras allow you to toggle between using a couple of different file types for your images. Most camera models actually allow you to record both file types simultaneously. However, I get asked what these different file types are a lot! So first things first, lets cover what they are…

JPEG: JPEG files is a very common file type (probably because it was agreed upon by the Joint Photographic Experts Group committee back in like 1994 or so, and the initials make up the file name). A JPEG is basically a method of compressing an image. This compression can be adjusted for size and image quality constraints. This means that these files can vary greatly. If you opt for better image quality over file size then it will take up more space on your memory card, hard drive and whatnot. Keeping the file size down and sacrificing in quality (shrunk for the web and for download purposes) could also be important given your specific needs. In your camera menu, you can choose between various JPEG settings. There is compressed/uncompressed, JPEG Fine, Normal and Basic, or something along those lines. My Nikon’s for example ask me for Size Priority (which is default) or Optimal Quality. I always set my camera’s to the latter option. My JPEG file size is always set to JPEG Fine for the best quality possible. I get the largest JPEG files under these circumstances but also the best image. JPEG Normal and Basic give you smaller files with lesser detail and will not produce an optimal image. The problem with JPEGs is that it is a compressed format. You can notice it in the files too… Take a look at the blocks that start to appear in the file with different levels of compression. The first file is the largest in size while the last one is the smallest. This is due to sacrificing image detail.

The cool thing about JPEG is that you can instantly do SOMETHING with the images that you just took. First off, you can set the sharpness, saturation and contrast of your images in camera and the JPEG will take those settings into affect. That means your images can look good and edited at time of capture. No the file can’t do skin retouching or whatnot so Photoshop ‘may’ still be needed. However, for all intents and purposes shooting in JPEG is very convenient. That means you can run over to a photo lab and start printing right then and there. You could also go back home and push those images to Flickr, Facebook, MySpace or even blog about the pics. Not so easy with RAW!

Now, I only shoot JPEG when shooting sports. That is it! Why? Well because of a little something called RAW! JPEGs are good for sports because it allows me to store more files on my memory card and so I can take more photos in burst when ramping up to the apex of the play. This ensures me that I get the shot. Now let’s talk about RAW.

RAW: A RAW file is the closest thing to a Film Negative. That is why RAW files are quite often called digital negatives. Mind you, I can get well over 1000+ images on a 16gb memory card when shooting JPEG and only 800 when shooting RAW. That means you will get less shots per memory card but it is WELL worth it! Each camera provider has their own type of RAW file. That means if you shoot Canon, your file extensions will be a *.CR2, Nikon will be a *.NEF and so on for every other camera company. With a RAW file, the in-camera sharpness, saturation and contrast settings are thrown away and it is up to you to set all those things when editing the photos. This is good and bad… The good is that you can fine tune every image. The bad is that you HAVE to edit every image. You also need special RAW processing software to do so enter Photoshop Camera RAW, Lightroom, Aperture, Capture One and various others. A plus is that your camera should come with their own software to edit their RAW images with as well to save some cash. The big perk with having to edit all your files is that you can always add or remove sharpness, contrast, saturation or whatever else. A lot of the software handles RAW images in a non-destructive manor so you can always get back to square one if you mess things up. Good luck trying to lessen those effects in a JPEG! Once you set them in camera then you are pretty much married to them unless you want to do massive Photoshop work to correct.

So another perk about RAW files is the fact that you have more flexibility. If you blow out highlights in a JPEG image then you can do very little to get the data in the white area back. RAW files have a lot more flexibility and have brought images back to usable conditions that were 2-3 stops under/over exposed. There is even highlight recovery sliders that will bring back highlight detail for you. So this is good especially if you are new to photography, maybe new to Manual mode and doing the settings on your own or whatever… By having the flexibility you can play with your settings and know that you sort of have that “fail safe” of being able to have that added recovery mechanism if need be. This also means one can start getting careless and to start relying on software to fix their images. Remember, garbage in = garbage out! It is always best to start with a well exposed image for the most flexibility with your images. End of story! Another great feature is the white balance correction. With RAW, you can click on a gray, black or white point and instantly get a better (and more accurate) color rendition of your image. JPEG requires a lot more clickity clicking to fix in Photoshop.

Something else that is a HUGE help with RAW images is that you can do something called batch processing in the RAW software. That means you can edit one image and apply the same setting to as many other images as you want. Take a look at my little article and video on batch processing HERE. This can REALLY save you time.

Now for the cons to RAW… You cannot go to a photo kiosk and get your recent pics printed until you go to a computer and work on them and then export them to a JPEG. Another con are the file sizes and storage situations. You need bigger memory cards, hard drive space and quite often find yourself having to save both the RAW and JPEG file on your computer… That means pay up for external hard drives! Another thing with the computers is that the RAW processing does take a toll on the processor and memory so you should have a fairly well decked out computer with like 2-4gb RAM and a decent processor. This will ultimately help you save time and so you can spend less time waiting for your computer to chug away on various actions.

All in all, the cons are nothing to me compared to the pros of shooting in RAW. Back in the day it was a toss-up between JPEG and RAW but nowadays, the technology of both the hardware and software have made RAW the best file type to use for photographers.

I would love to hear your thoughts so comment below. Thanks for reading and check back for a Master Class Monday article.