Do you shoot in RAW?

Who shoots in RAW? When and/or Why?

I've been shooting in RAW for the past few day and have mixed feelings about it. I wanted to see who does, when and why and also what you feel about it.

I have been shooting in RAW off and on. I also have mixed feelings on it.It requires more work but affords more adjustability. It seems so far when I'm trying to shoot portraits I always use RAW. Mostly because I have a ghetto lighting setup and my white balance is always off. You can do so much in photoshop by itself, that sometimes it doesn't seem worth it. I guess it seems if the lightings tough or I think I'm gonna screw it up, I use RAW. When I first "discovered" RAW. I thought I'll never shoot jpg again.

I also have been shooting jpg if I know friends are gonna want the files. So it's easier to just shoot them on a cd. BUT, I just used windows explorer to put some pics on a cd. Some were Raw and some where jpg. Somehow they were all jpg and viewable on the other persons computer. So I dunno.

I shoot everything in RAW. After using it for 6 months, I can't imagine ever shooting in JPEG only again.

The Canon Raw processing software automatically defaults to the parameteres that the camera was set too, so if you like what you shot, you just drill them down. I use RAW mainly for the White Balance, Exposure, and Contrast settings. Because I shoot weddings, it is important that the couple's skin tones are all the same in ever photo of their album. Adjusting in Canon viewer gives me the ability to do so without losing data. If I wait till photoshop, I lose data.

I view with my clients in jpeg format, and then process only the RAW photos that they choose. I don't think it takes much more time, but the results are much better.

Daniel

See, My camera Raw defaults aren't the same as what I've shot. Maybe I've saved over the camera Raw defaults? Even if I turn auto adjustments off (which are on by default for me), my pics don't come out the same as Raw.

I shot jpg for a long time and never like RAW because it was foreign to me. I downloaded Pixmantec's RAWshooter Essentials and have not shot another jpg since. I feel like I have a lot more wiggle room with RAW than with jpg. I also shoot a lot of high ISO stuff or purposefully underexposed for the sake of shutter speed. RAW lets me recover a lot of the picture. I've saved many files that were overexposed or underexposed thanks to RAW. Another thing is that I keep all of my originals, and I was always worried that I would accidentally "Save" instead of "Save As" in photoshop and replace my orginal. Can't do that with my RAW files. And a few times I've processed a file two different ways to get a properly exposed building with a deep blue sky when I'm shooting into the sun.
Later
Tiff

Sometimes I don't wear a shirt, but I almost always have pants on...or does RAW mean something different???

Dave

-Steve

i shoot almost exclusively in jpg, only 'cause i only have a 1gb card and wanna get as many pics as possible. i do have it at its highest setting though. eventually, if/when i get more memory cards, i'll probably start shooting in raw format.

Dave, you better get with it or you will lose everyone here to DPReview.com :-)

Back to the subject. I pretty much stick to RAW because if you want all the detail the sensor is capable of on the 5D that's where you get it. Plus the Canon in cam jpeg engine sucks, if you apply any kind of strong settings it rewards you with halos.

I'm pretty much using Aperture (which converts RAW files automatically with excellent default settings most of the time) for my general bulk conversions and then CS2 when I really want to fine tune a shot. (Not because Aperture won't do a fine tune I just understand the PS convertor a lot better at this point. Plus as Tiff pointed out if you convert in PS your already for layer adjustments.

One thing to consider if you get that shot of a lifetime and your WB or exposure is off you'll have a lot easier time fixing it if you have the RAW version to work with.

Most sports I shoot in JPG espescialy when I was at the track and the photos were being sold on site. When shooting for an ad I used RAW. Also when shooting portraits I use RAW. really depends on how much effort I plan on or wantt o put into post.