RAW or JPG shootout (handbags at dawn)

They dumbed the green "mode" down. You used to be able to set ISO, but k7 K5 are a bit more auto. There is a chart in the manual showing what you can alter.

Sprocketdog23 - have you taken a look at Darktable? It's a free Lightroom - and very impressive too. Someone on this forum recommended it to me and I've used nothing since! Fantastic bit of software.

http://www.darktable.org/

I used to shoot RAW + JPEG but once I got used to Adobe RAW editor I stopped bothering with JPEG altogether. I only ended up junking all of them anyway.
RAW means you can regain and enhance so much detail that may not even exist in JPEG's.
Regards David

I wish I could master RAW. I've struggled to get detailed images for years. I feel somewhat annoyed to think that I pay good money for a camera and unless I use RAW, I may not get full detail content.

Shocking really.

Best regards

There's nothing to be annoyed about - Physics is Physics and it can't be altered.

RAW is simply the output from the sensor, with no modifications added, or at least only enough so that the image can actually bew deciphered. JPEG is a preset interpretation in a way, but we can select the parameters of that.

The case for RAW, like many arguments, has a point but tends to be grossly over-stated. The JPEG output of Pentax DSLRs is splendid.

It's hard to tell when Gary is being serious sometimes, but I think the point about the benefit of raw being overstated, may have been precisely the point he was making, in a backhanded sort of way.

I have to come clean. I don't disagree with any of the benefits of RAW. Once I get one complaint or issue over images I provide regarding quality or lack of detail, I will look at ways to improve or determine if the issue is valid. If it is, I'll look at why it happened. Odds are that it would be down to me, not the kit or format.

[quote:3496ace15f="johnriley"]
Totally agree John and as I've said here before, my D7000 is set to match the JPEG's from my Pentax's. Oddly, the D700 is flatter than the D7000 and I don't tweak it.

I often get asked "what kit are you using" as I don't use manufacturers straps to advertise. When I say Pentax and Nikon, most people often ask why Pentax and I always reply "better IQ straight from the camera".

For most using DSLR's, just managing the rest of the many facets of handling, exposure, composition etc. is daunting enough.

Each to their own and there are plenty of excellent images produced regardless of output format.

TIFF anyone?

Best regards

Hi Gary, have you ever used the full version of Nikon Capture
on Nikon RAW (PEF?)files (Adobe and Nikon seem like they don't get
along so it doesn't take DNG files). If you have used it...
what do you think of it? It was developed by NIK I believe,
so it's possibly similar to Viveza... seems a pity that it
won't take DNG from what I've seen it looks quite powerful.

Only stuff I'm using is Photoshop. I have plenty of other stuff loaded on one machine but never get the time to play with it. I've never taken a picture in RAW with the Nikons. At some point, I'll have a play about but I never seem to have the time.

Long hours over here and a very busy weekend leaves so little time to try other software or master the art of good RAW conversion.

There seems to be merit in being able to pull the last bit of whatever out of a file but to most end users or clients, they couldn't tell the difference. They seem more impressed with the content than technical detail.

Best regards

Thanks Gary, I try to use Pentax jpegs as much as possible, but
also save the DNG files. I might download a demo of Viveza to see
what the selective controls can do.

http://www.niksoftware.com/viveza/usa/entry.php

I attended a meeting of the Rockingham Photography Club link last night. One of the members, Wayne Henry link was there and had submitted some excellent images for a club comp.

He uses a Pentax 645D. Images were straight from the camera and were JPEG's. Large number of Canikon owners there. The first question I was asked was "what kit do you shoot"? I replied (in this order) "Pentax, Minolta and Nikon". First responce was "oh".

Some very good images displayed,most, not all, were JPEG.

Each to their own.

Best regards