Raw setting

I have pretty much ignored the RAW setting on my IstD. I have heard others say that they will not shoot any other way now. I have also heard that a RAW image takes up lots of space and you cannot get many images on a 513 card.

I loaded a raw plug-in from adobe some time ago, and do not know how this works.

Can someone explain what needs to be done when shooting in this setting?

What size card do you need to use to hold a good number of images?

What would you need to do in using a special program or plug in once you download the images into the computer?

If you start shooting RAW you have to take some things in account.

1) your workflow will dramatically change, but once you got the hang of it the results will be great.

2) you need to profile your monitor, either with Wiziwyg or with a hardware profiling device.

3) invest in memory cards... Since you mention a 'D' so you have CF cards you are lucky because they are quite cheap. I have a DS which uses SD cards and I get around 90 to 95 images on a 1GB card when shooting raw.

Point 2 is the most important because you need to do all adjustments yourself, the camera just dumps the data from the CCD onto the memory card. I just found out that allthough I have profiled my TFT screen with Wiziwyg the colour rendition was quite a bit off when compared to some prints I have ordered.
I took my old 19" CRT monitor back into service so that colour rendition is as it should be.
Instead of investing in a good TFT screen from which you will never really know if it is good I will invest in a new PC which isn't really that more expensive then a good TFT screen.

We have two diametrically opposed viewpoints on this forum, the RAW users and the JPEG users, and there are good arguments for each opinion.

My feeling is that as you are having to ask so much that is basic, you really do need to get a suitable book or article to start you off. You might be better just taking some fantastic JPEG images and forgetting about RAW, which will have its own very steep learning curve.

Don't forget that some very high profile professionals use JPEG, although it is true that many use RAW.

The difference in number of images per card will be found in your camera's Manual, and if you do decide to shoot RAW you will need large cards. You will then need to convert your RAW images to JPEG or TIFF (preferably TIFF) to use them in Photoshop. The golden rule is, once you have opened the file whenever you save it after that, always use a "lossless" file type, such as PSD or TIFF. Definitely do not re-save a JPEG as a JPEG.

There's too much to cover in this reply, but hopefully it will be of some help.

Ava,
I would say that you should get a very good working experience with JPG first

Processing RAW takes some practise (I would suggest at least a couple of weeks solid), and if you are struggling with other aspects of the *ist-D I would delay the use of RAW until you are completely happy with everything else.

But to answer your questions (in part) - I use two 2Gb cards and one 1Gb. That does me just fine. However, if I am away from my PC for a while I need to carry a 40Gb portable storage device (Flashtrax) to empty the cards. It's not unusual for me to take 10Gb in a couple of weeks

If you are asking because you want "cleaner" images for action photography, then I'd suggest using JPG ISO400 (and turning "Sensitivity Correction = off". That should give you a little extra room. However, you need to work out whether your problems are down to camera shake, mis-focussing, or just too slow an exposure. Work that out first, and then try the other options available to you.

Alternatively there are several noise reducing plugins available that can clean up higher ISO JPG images. I have NeatImage (and I provided the *ist-D profiles for NeatImage), but there are free ones out there that do a pretty excellent job of cleaning up image noise. You will probably find that an easier path first of all.

Once you can identify where the "weak" areas are, you may then decide to move onto RAW processing. If you still need help, I can dig out some online guides to using RAW convertors.

Matt

Thank you very much. I will try to work out learning the istD and where my problems are coming from first!

and while you're learning, save up and buy FAST Cards! eg: I use sandisk cards. I have one regular and the newer Extremes...the Extreme cards read and write faster which allows the camera to clear the buffer when shooting in burst mode. two or three extra frames before the camera slows down in raw. the extreme card folds in half to expose a usb plug so no adaptor needed to dump images to my macbook with those memory cards.
1-2 gig cards (buy twice as many as you think you'll need).

The Lexar cards with Write Acceleration tecnology work on the Pentax DSLR's. WA makes the camera read the card a lot faster, so it's worth the extra expense to get decent Lexar WA enabled cards.